One can lease around $600/month with $5-6k down for 2 years.
This seems to be recent email blast to who subscribed.
Looks like the up front starts at 8500 
âMinimum $2,500 due at signing,â so you couldnât put zero down even if you wanted to. And $2,500 of whatever you put down goes to place your order and doesnât even count towards the âdue at signingâ minimum.
Assuming the absolute minimum price of $66,000, their online calculator tells me Iâd have to put at least $3,2381 down to lease a Model S 60. With minimum drive-off on a bare-bones configuration, the payment would be $713/month, with $5,000 due upfront (half to place order, half at signing). Not bad for a Tesla, but thatâs still more than Iâd want to put down for a lease. The $6,000 down that they recommend is, to me, completely out of the question.
There are some upsides. For this (again, bare-bones) configuration:
- The difference between a 24 and 36 month lease is only $6/month.
- The monthly cost difference between mileage programs is only $18-27, depending on term.
- If you exceed your mileage allowance, the overage is $0.25/mile, which is pretty competitive.
Overall, a mixed bag. A 36 month lease seems like the best value at minimum down and $719-754/month depending on mileage. The marginally higher monthly payment would be vastly offset by the up-front costs being stretched across three years instead of two.
For a better-equipped Model S 60 (premium package, next-gen leather seats, glass roof, metallic paint, Obech wood trim), it comes to $5,000 up-front and $837/mo for a 36/10k lease. Far from the worst lease deal Iâve ever seen, but I wouldnât call it a bargain either. The âdealâ is definitely more enticing if you happen to live in a state with sales tax exemption for zero-emission vehicles.
1 This estimate is for New Jersey, so it assumes sales tax exemption. Down payment would be lower if your state/county levies sales tax on EVs, but the minimum due-at-signing remains the same no matter what.
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Definitely no crazy leasehackr deals with a Tesla lease. If you want a new Tesla, you are gonna pay no matter what. Especially in MD, which charges FULL sales tax on a lease. Easily looking at over an equivalent $1k/month, $0 down with a bare bones, 24 month Model S lease.
Iâve written my Congressman about changing Virginiaâs car sales tax lease laws to taxing the lease payment. Iâm sure it will go directly in the trash can. If anything, I predict more states will tax the full âsaleâ price of a lease in order to collect more tax revenues. I do not think it is fair, as I am not buying the car, and as far as I know, no other property rentals are taxed in the same manner.
Seriously, it is pretty messed up.
It was actually even WORSE in MD than it is now. Prior to 1995, people leasing cars were taxed 3 times on a car lease! Once on the whole price of the car up front. Then again when they were taxed on the monthly payment on top of the full sales tax you already paid (so if you rolled tax into the monthly payments, youâd be paying tax on the tax). THEN, as a final kick in the nuts, if you wanted to buy your leased car at lease end, you would need to pay MD tax a THIRD time on the residual price (tax on tax on tax).
It was so bad manufacturers actually asterisked any lease offer, with a â*not applicable in MDâ fine print.
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The selling price of every non-demo Tesla is MSRP, so thatâs why the leases are super expensive. But, hey, no haggling!
I do wonder if the residuals stay the same on discounted âinventoryâ cars.
Do you know if there is a cap on the mileage overage? Like would you be able to drive 2x the original amount and face no penalty other than $0.25 / mile?
That really sucks. I am glad I am not in MD.
I wonder what the residuals are like on the Model S!? 900/month + 2500 down on a 65k car seems really high. I thought the resale value for Teslas were ridiculously high?
I have a deposit on a Model 3. Wonât be leasing it, but I was curious about it anyway.