Sticker shock on new electric car leases

[cctop]

The lease on my 2016 SE is coming to an end, and it's time to find a replacement.

Per http://ev-vin.blogspot.com/ I'm surprised how high the lease offers are now.

VW has started offering leases on the 2018 eGolf at nearly twice the price I'm currently paying. That could be purely due to the limited supply of the eGolf, except that all the cars aside from the Fiat 500e are more expensive.

My guess would be that it's due to increased consumer demand partially caused by the longer ranges of current cars.

I might buy out my lease, but as much as I love my 2016, I'd like a car with longer range.

So I may extend my lease by 6 months and take a wait-and-see attitude, specifically waiting for the Hyundai Kona to arrive in California.

 

[johnnylingo]

In California, the white/green stickers expiring at the end of this month is not helping things, I'm sure. Plenty of people who need/want HOV lane access are scrambling for a new cars and finding no inventory for the e-Golf.

If looking for something right now, I'd revisit the Bolt. Momentum Chevrolet in San Jose currently has almost 200 in inventory and they're doing employee pricing until January 2nd. Seems like a $300/mo lease deal should be doable. If you can wait a few months, the new i3 with 40 kWh battery should be arriving early 2019. Not that those are cheap but the lease deals on them historically have been reasonable considering the $45-60k MSRP for the car.

 

[Snoopy]

cctop, I am in the same conundrum as you! My lease ends in a month, and there is no suitable replacement at a decent cost. I will probably just go back to driving my Jeep until I can figure out my next step. I want to check out all the new EV offerings from Kia/Hyundai (Kona, Niro, Soul), but they ain't out yet! I had bad experiences with a Pontiac Sunbird back in the '90s, so the Bolt is off my list, never again will I own a GM product. Fool me once....

I suppose, I could extend my lease 6 months, but then the car is off warranty. I only have 13k on my e-Golf, but I am getting a squeak coming from the right front wheel at low speeds, I think I just want to be done with the car. The range is killing me, I don't have convenient charging anymore. I drove 50 miles today, the car needs to be charged again since it's at 1/3. I figure I have about 85 mile range, no bueno for 2019, when 200 miles is the new norm.

I applied for and received the white stickers shortly after I bought the car, what a mistake! I never even used the stickers, they're still in the glovebox, since I didn't like how they looked, now I see that if I waited I could have gotten the red stickers and boosted the value of the car. C'est la vie....

 

[cctop]

I've had an occasional squeal from the right-front wheel since I first got the car. It sounds similar to when brakes need replacing. It happens usually when the temperature is below about 50 degrees Farenheit, and it goes away after driving a bit or if I press the brake pedal slightly. Occasionally it's taken up to 10 minutes to go away, and I felt low-class as I squealed down the road.

I took the car into the dealer once to check out the sound, but they couldn't reproduce it so they didn't do anything.

Also, I did the same as you with ordering the white stickers and never using them.

 

[johnnylingo]

I've noticed the squeaking sound coming from the front when breaking...I think. Personally I would describe it more of a creaking sound, like a rusty spring being stretched.

 

[forbin404]

cctop - That's a rock in the caliper, I had one last year. It sounded like brake scraping at low speeds.

johnnylingo - I don't know if you still need a VW , but I see that there are a few specials going on right now.
On http://ev-vin.blogspot.com/ the 2018 is going for $250 with about $3k down.

That's a far cry from my $206 with 0 down 2016 SE, but heck it has more features than mine (And the extended range)

 

[RonDawg]

EVs as a whole are about to get more expensive, as cobalt (needed for the batteries) is about to go up in price from the country that supplies over half of it: https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/12/battery-prices-likely-heading-for-the-ceiling-after-congo-raises-royalty-rate/

 

[pheonix]

My situation is almost the same as most of you guys as my lease will end in mid January! I don't think it will be possible to get anything close to my current lease of $3k down, $125/month, 36k miles (Especially i won't be qualified for the CA State Rebate anymore).
The current offers for EV are somewhat lacking! I am thinking of extending the lease for 6 months and hopefully something better will come along. However, it might not be the most economical option since i will have to pay to renew the registration, most likely replace all 4 tires (since the tires are around 6/32 now). The biggest issues are the car will be out of warranty and don't have HOV privilege anymore (this is probably the biggest issue for me as i am saving about 30 minutes/each way with the HOV).
So far, the cheapest lease option that i found for the EV Lease is the LEAF for about $290/month (total include down payment).
I am also exploring the purchase option as it seems to be more attractive at the moment! I read that some dealers are offer $6K off MSRP for the 2018 Egolf SE.

 

[f1geek]

I found the same poor lease options when I purchased my 2017 e-Golf this past March. I was able to get $7300 off MSRP and 0% interest for 60 months and $0 down, so while it will cost me more than the best lease options available at the time, with the $7500 tax credit, the car will end up costing me around $23k including sales tax. I hope it lasts 10-15 years with manageable battery degradation (I routinely charge to 80% SOC, and over 7000 miles I have only rapid charged the car three times).

 

[johnnylingo]

johnnylingo - I don't know if you still need a VW , but I see that there are a few specials going on right now.

I purchased a 2018 i3s / REx in June so I'm good. Not a cheap option though. I paid over $40k after rebates, just to put things in perspective. With the 2019 models now boasting a 42 kWh battery, I wish I had waited, or joined the Model 3 waitlist last year.

FYI - I'll likely be selling my 2016 SE in early 2019. Its red stickers just arrived and my asking price would be somewhere in the $15-16k range. I'm currently at 28 mo / 21,000 miles.

Realize buying is different from leasing, but seeing how the 2016s are currently depreciating at around $1500/yr, that's basically a $125/mo cost. Not a bad thing to consider if the 2015-2016 range is adequate.

 

[pheonix]

I found the same poor lease options when I purchased my 2017 e-Golf this past March. I was able to get $7300 off MSRP and 0% interest for 60 months and $0 down, so while it will cost me more than the best lease options available at the time, with the $7500 tax credit, the car will end up costing me around $23k including sales tax. I hope it lasts 10-15 years with manageable battery degradation (I routinely charge to 80% SOC, and over 7000 miles I have only rapid charged the car three times).

Same here! I tried many VW and even Nissan, BMW and Chevy dealers but could not get lease deal below $300/month. I ended up purchasing a 2018 eGolf SE with Fast Charging option. My deal was almost as good as your as they gave me $7,135 off MSRP and 0% interest for 60 months and ZERO down. I think it is a pretty good after i take the additional $7,500 for Fed Tax. Unfortunately i am not qualify for CA Rebate but i am more interested in the HOV stickers! Since this is strictly a commuter car for me so i don't intend to use Fast Charger and hopefully the battery will last long enough to make economic sense.