For many consumers interested in an electric car, leasing has become the go-to option. Why? It’s simple: today’s electric cars are like smartphones. The cutting-edge technology on sale today will likely go obsolete in three year’s time, which makes leasing a perfect option to jump into the next best thing at the end of a term.
Bloomberg reported on the electric-car lease love affair on Wednesday and found 80 percent of U.S. drivers lease battery-electric cars and 55 percent of them lease plug-in hybrids. Compared to the average 30 percent lease rate for all U.S. drivers, the numbers are quite significant. It shows consumers understand that modern electric cars are still very much in infancy.
The large lease rate also creates another side effect: pre-owned electric cars remain dirt cheap. Foremost, used electric cars don’t qualify for federal tax credits and other incentives. It leaves thousands of Chevrolet Volts, Nissan Leafs and other electric cars on dealership lots to sell at a fraction of their original value. It does, however, make for some stellar deals if buyers can look past the fact they’re not getting the latest and greatest technology and capability.
Until electric cars reach their plateau, leasing will likely remain king. Unless car subscription services really begin to take off.
Comments
What is the current Chevy Bolt lease?
EV cars may end up like Cell Phones with the increase in investment and progress made. A car two years old could really fall out of failure fast in one year if it has an old battery system or lacks the new advancement.
We are seeing something similar with the onboard electronics now on regular cars. My 2012 Is very outdated compared to my 2017.
Leases for EV cars like the Apple Plan may be a good option if you want to be on the leading edge and remain there.
An old EV will be like owing a Apple 5 or Note 6 and not many want the oldest in this segment.
The Bolt EV’s leasing lender, GM Financial was liquidating them in Q4…Lease offers and incentives do change month to month but have had similar numbers all Q4…Also, GMF kicks in more “lease cash” for the CARB states…
https://leasehackr.com/blog/2017/10/16/bolt-ev-never-been-better-138-month-0-down
In CA, if you qualified the a lease loyalty or lease conquest and all incentives, true $0 out of pocket which kicks even the first month’s payment to the remaining 35 months of the 36 month lease, after you divide all rebates/incentives by 35, your “effective payment” is $138/mo, yet you’re paying the lender $245/mo…You also have to understand the dealerships offering these low deals are very high volume who sell well under invoice, going to a rural non-CA dealer would most likely not result in these numbers…
Current national offer is $3749 down and $299/mo, that’s before rebates but does not include tax, title and license…In a CARB state you can certainly beat that national offer by a lot…
Um, the reason in the article is not correct. As somewhat indicated (but not explicitly) in the comments above… To meet California CARB emission sales requirements, auto makers offer deep lease incentives that make it far cheaper than buying the car.
Putting it another way, a $99 lease on a Fiat 500e is made possible, only because FCA would lose more in fines if it didn’t sell enough electric cars. The Bolt is no different, they just discount less because the Bolt’s 300 mile range makes it far more desirable – so they don’t have to fire sale the car as much.
Sales incentives to hit state sales requirements aside, many people simply can’t take the full federal tax credit without leasing. It’s built into the lease, but with a purchase that non-refundable $7,500 is competing with every other credit you may take. In the absolute best case from 2017, someone could only take the full credit if they earned $53,395 and had no other deductions. If you’re getting an EV, there’s a pretty decent chance you own a place where you can install the charger, so in reality that number is probably much higher once you take the mortgage interest deduction, etc into account. Why risk not being able to full use that subsidy when leasing makes it easier? Also, there’s the time value of money, why wait up to a year or more to get that $7,500 when you can have it immediately?
With the standard deduction nearly doubling this coming year, I suspect that we’ll see an even greater push towards leasing in 2018.