I’m in Northern NJ and I’m strongly considering leasing or financing a new base 2024 Tesla Model 3. I looked at the 2023 but I’m a tech nerd and I want the latest and greatest. I’m currently leaning toward doing a 36mo lease 12k miles w/ 0$ down which comes out to around $490/mo on the calculator on their site. I can easily afford the payment and I’d prefer to do the $0 down so that I have more liquid cash on hand. Financing at 6-7% just seems crazy to me since it will be at least $200-250 more which I could also probably afford but I’m worried about being over exposed on my monthly cashflow. I’m aware of the pitfalls of Tesla leasing namely no buyout option, and I’ve read that their lease returns can be onerous and expensive. Yes, I know I’m affectively paying to rent the car but I’m mostly ok with that since I was underwater on my last car and I don’t necessarily want to take the depreciation hit on a finance and I’m cool with getting a new car in 3 years. I’m curious if anyone has experience with Tesla lease returns or any other tips / thoughts on leasing/financing Teslas?
