Leasing vs. Buying Tesla - what am I missing?
Hi everyone, I have a lease about to end on my current vehicle and have been laser focused on the Tesla Model Y. Haven't had an EV before so there's a degree of "we'll see how I like EVs" With that said, I'm pricing out between Lease + Finance and am curious what I'm missing. I was originally looking at the Juniper but with the current cost, concerns over the screen in the back for my 3 wild boys, and uncertainty of when a non launch edition will come out (and it's cost at that time perhaps without tax credit) I'm good with the 2024 year. With all that said here's what I'm mathing...
Option 1: Cash
Price: $44,404
Note: Cash isn't an option for me financially but showing this for comparison and point of reference.
Option 2: Lease
DP (0 but technically $2,627 from fees and first month payment)
Monthly: $433 (with taxes checked and gas savings unchecked)
Cost over entire lease: $17,782 (433 * 35 + the $2627 down)
Cost to purchase at end of lease: $28,033 (27,683+ 350 purchase price fee)
Total cost to own: $45, 815
Option 3: Finance
Finance: $738/mo over 72 months with 0 DP and 5.9 APR
Total Cost: 53,136
So looking at numbers, financing is a bad decision. I may or may not want to purchase at the end of the lease. If I do want to purchase I'd literally only be paying ~1k more. To me, the option to spread my money out is worth the extra 1k. And the finance route in abcense of the previous 0 apr deal, just doesn't seem like a good idea. Assuming the car depreciates by about 34% in 3 years it's value would be ~$29k which is right in range of the cost to purchase at the end of the lease (28k). So long story short, I think I'm going to lease. What am I missing?