In light of an EV lease that’s maturing at the end of Dec 2025, and the sunsetting of EV incentives at the end of Sept 2025, I’m trying to figure out the best course of action. Do I try to jump into another EV lease now to capture any deals, and potentially eat the remaining months on the existing lease? Do I just finish out my lease in Dec, and see what things are like then, or even ask for a lease extension to buy some time? Nissan also just sent me a letter saying that they will give me an additional $10,000 manufacturer’s rebate if I decide to buy by the end of this month. (Have other people gotten similar letters before?) Here are some more details:
==Current Lease==
I’m currently on an 18-month lease for a 2024 Nissan Ariya Evolve+ FWD (my first EV) that’s maturing at the end of Dec 2025. The drive-off / down payment was $2100 and the monthly payment is $295. Residual Value is $34,138.45. Nissan Motor Acceptance Company (NMAC) recently sent me a letter stating that they’d give me an additional $10,000 Manufacturer’s Rebate if I decide to buy out by the end of this month (“prior to last 3 payments applied to account”). Wonder if that’s enough of a discount to consider just buying it and selling it in 6+ months if I want to. (I have not looked much into a 3rd-party buyout. Any thoughts in this space are welcome.)
It seems like I could also easily ask for a 3 month lease extension to buy some time, but my request for a 6 month extension from NMAC has been denied so far. The 6 month extension is convenient because my DMV renewal would be due right around then, and also maybe the market will have figured itself out a bit more after the EV tax incentives have been gone for 9 months. (Curious to hear what people think the EV market will look like in 2026.)
==New Lease Offerings==
Dealer is offering me a new 2025 Ariya Evolve+ AWD for $2500 drive-off and $364 monthly payment for a 36 month lease. We’d of course have to finalize this by end of this month, and yet I still have 3 months left on the existing lease, or $295*3 = $885. They kind of weakly said maybe they’d help me with one of those months, but definitely not more than $295. Doing this deal basically then locks me into an Ariya lease for another 3 years, for a slightly more expensive effective monthly cost ($434/mon vs my current $412/mon).
I can of course consider other EV deals in the San Jose / Bay Area. But inventory in general seems kind of low, and then I lose out on avoiding the disposition fee ($395), any loyalty credits ($1000), etc. But in general, I’m looking for the lowest trims that still feature a 360 camera system (because parking spaces are often very tight where I live, so I use this bird’s eye view daily to make sure I don’t bump anything), if you have any deals to recommend. So far I’m aware of the following EVs with 360 cameras: Nissan Ariya Evolve+, Hyundai IONIQ5 Limited, VW ID.4 S Pro Plus, and KIA EV6 (a bit confused about which trim levels have 360 cameras).
Finally, depending on what the market looks like, I’m not ultimately tied to driving an EV if the numbers don’t make sense. Yes, I currently have very cheap $0.12/kW charging at work, so it’s appealing to continue with an EV. But I don’t want to have tunnel vision if there are better options overall.
Anyway, this is my first post. Thanks in advance for any thoughts!