What to do at lease end

[MNEV]

I read that Nissan is offering to drop the residual buyout on the Lease for lease holders by $5,000.

http://evobsession.com/nissan-leaf-lease-holders-offered-5000-lease-buyout-credit/

I am about 1/2 through my lease with the FFE and have concluded that the price at the end is a too high (about $17,000)to hang onto the car at lease end. I just feel the value will drop a lot in the face of next gen EV's coming in 2017 which will be getting 125-200 miles as supercharge capability (I have been surprise how quickly superchargers are springing up all the twin citites) . Unfortunately, my lease is up in Jan '17 which will probably be before the next gen cars are widely available (I would guess they will be offered in CA first just like the last time).

IF ford were to offer such a $5K buyout credit of the FFE I would seriously consider buying it out at the end of the lease. I think its a great little car which would be worth $12K. The range is fine now but the prospect of the battery degrading to 70% over time would make the winter range more problematic.

What are people thoughts on the buy-out price at the end of the lease?

 

[jmueller065]

I doubt Ford will offer anything like Nissan did--there isn't enough FFE's out there to make a dent in used prices.

I will most likely simply lease another one. The price has dropped enough that a lease of a new one will be far more cost effective than purchasing the old car (and you'll have a new battery to boot).

I also think that if your battery is 70% good at the end of your lease you've been really flogging your car! I'm 2/3 the way through my lease and have noticed no appreciable battery degradation.

 

[damania]

This is why it's better the lease until the 150-200 mile car with dc charging is available. It's the leasing company's problem once you're done with your lease.

 

[brad]

I am about to return my 2013 and had it inspected by Ford's 3rd party lease inspector. I talked to an agent at Ford Credit about buying the car out at a lower price and was told that there is pretty much no chance. I guess Ford is writing these things off.

There is currently a $3500 rebate from Ford to buy a new 2015, plus 0% financing, so I couldn't resist buying a new car. With the additional $10k rebates from CA and the Feds, this car can now be bought for around $14k new + taxes, license and fees. PG&E employees get an additional $2k rebate so they have been snatching these up like crazy.

The 2015 has some nice changes and I can definitely notice the increased battery capacity. For the price, you can't beat this deal even compared to the Fiat 500E, Chevy Spark, or other cheap EVs.

 

[MNEV]

This is why it's better the lease until the 150-200 mile car with dc charging is available. It's the leasing company's problem once you're done with your lease.

My battery is fine now. This is more of a look at long term ownership. If I buy it I will likely hold onto it for another 10 years. In that time I would assume it will degrade down to at least 70%. If it degrades 5% a year or so, it would be at about 70% after 8 years. Hopefully it will be better than that but I don't think this is a unrealistic scenario "worst case" scenario.

Yes, I could lease again. I really do want to buy one at some point. The only reason I leased this car was because of evolving technology. I was hoping that the next gen would be out by the time my lease was up and I would buy at that point. I'd rather not have another leased car. It is rumored that the Leaf will beef up the battery for 2016 in the current car to 30KWH for a range over 100 miles as a bridge to the next gen. I like the FFE more than the Leaf but I definately want the supercharge and the extra miles would definately be attractive if Ford just continues to offer the same-old same-old.

It would be nice if Ford would put together a FFE loyalty to current expiring lease owner that may want to stay in an FFE until they can put out a competetive product. I just have a feeling that Ford will get left in the dust in 2017. Maybe they will surprise us.

 

[NightHawk]

Does Ford ever offer adding an extra year to extend an FFE lease?
That might extend it to when the higher range models come out.
I'm looking ahead for that as well, as my 3 year FFE lease ends in Sep 2017, though my end of lease buyout price is a bit lower ~$15K.
But I would like to plan on buying a model with 120+mile range when available rather than my 2014 FFE.

 

[hybridbear]

Does Ford ever offer adding an extra year to extend an FFE lease?
That might extend it to when the higher range models come out.
I'm looking ahead for that as well, as my 3 year FFE lease ends in Sep 2017, though my end of lease buyout price is a bit lower ~$15K.
But I would like to plan on buying a model with 120+mile range when available rather than my 2014 FFE.

I would definitely consider extending our lease for 8-10 months if we could. I've heard that Ford will allow you to do 2-3 months, but not more than that... I'd think they'd jump at the chance to have someone keep paying them because it lowers the loss they'll take on the car at auction.

 

[damania]

This is why it's better the lease until the 150-200 mile car with dc charging is available. It's the leasing company's problem once you're done with your lease.

My battery is fine now. This is more of a look at long term ownership. If I buy it I will likely hold onto it for another 10 years. In that time I would assume it will degrade down to at least 70%. If it degrades 5% a year or so, it would be at about 70% after 8 years. Hopefully it will be better than that but I don't think this is a unrealistic scenario "worst case" scenario.

Yes, I could lease again. I really do want to buy one at some point. The only reason I leased this car was because of evolving technology. I was hoping that the next gen would be out by the time my lease was up and I would buy at that point. I'd rather not have another leased car. It is rumored that the Leaf will beef up the battery for 2016 in the current car to 30KWH for a range over 100 miles as a bridge to the next gen. I like the FFE more than the Leaf but I definately want the supercharge and the extra miles would definately be attractive if Ford just continues to offer the same-old same-old.

It would be nice if Ford would put together a FFE loyalty to current expiring lease owner that may want to stay in an FFE until they can put out a competetive product. I just have a feeling that Ford will get left in the dust in 2017. Maybe they will surprise us.

It will be at least another 3 years before we get the miles and DC charging so leasing is still the best option.

 

[damania]

I am about to return my 2013 and had it inspected by Ford's 3rd party lease inspector. I talked to an agent at Ford Credit about buying the car out at a lower price and was told that there is pretty much no chance. I guess Ford is writing these things off.

There is currently a $3500 rebate from Ford to buy a new 2015, plus 0% financing, so I couldn't resist buying a new car. With the additional $10k rebates from CA and the Feds, this car can now be bought for around $14k new + taxes, license and fees. PG&E employees get an additional $2k rebate so they have been snatching these up like crazy.

The 2015 has some nice changes and I can definitely notice the increased battery capacity. For the price, you can't beat this deal even compared to the Fiat 500E, Chevy Spark, or other cheap EVs.

Hey Brad how much more battery are you seeing and also what other improvements do you notice vs your 2013?

 

[Kakkerlak]

I just wanted to post that I'd jump on an extension of my 36 month lease in a heartbeat, too.

Mine is up in August 2017, which is probably going to be right on the cusp of availability for next-generation Tesla, Nissan, and GM EVs.

If Ford has something new, or even an Energi variant of the Focus, I'll consider it. Until then I'm going to keep on smiling and charging.

 

[michael]

I wouldn't. My lease is expensive by current standards. If no better BEV is available I will probably lease a third Volt and switch back to a BEV when one of the other Volts come due

 

[brad]

Hey Brad how much more battery are you seeing and also what other improvements do you notice vs your 2013?

I have a 33 mile commute and I am seeing about 3-5% more battery remaining when I get home.

Other improvements include climate control, sun visor, quieter cabin, door cupholders, storage, and more.

 

[jdorff]

My FFE lease ends in Jan 2016. I'm hoping for good news from the auto shows.

The Leaf will probably have 110 miles / 30kWh in some trims, but I don't really like the Leaf.
The i3 is very quick and I like the driving and feel, but it's expensive and has conspicuous styling.
The e-Golf has the things I wish the FFE had; heat pump, CCS fast charge, larger trunk. However the e-Golf isn't sold in my state.. at least not yet.

For a PHEV the new Volt seems nice and the Audi A3 e-tron looks very sharp, but I've made it almost 3 years w/o gasoline so it seems defeatist to switch to a PHEV.

I'm impatiently waiting for the LA Auto Show, Detroit Auto Show, and Washington DC Auto Show (they always have some "green" stuff announced at the DC show).

 

[v_traveller]

My lease ends this January also, will most likely replace it with a new FFE if the current factory incentives are still intact. Will likely purchase this time if I can get a Platinum White with leather for $17K OTD, including Fed and CA incentives.

Don't need any more range for my 80-mile RT commute since I have L2 charging at work. Don't need CCS since I have other vehicles that will make longer treks, and it would annoy me anyway to have to stop every hour to charge up for 20 minutes on a long trip when I could just hop in the Volt and drive for well over 300 miles.

If an e-Golf SEL could be had for the same price as a FFE, I'd probably give it a test drive. But I really want a leather interior, not glorified vinyl.

I really like the 500e, but my wife keeps calling it a clown car and I don't want her to see me as less of a man than I really am.

She really wants me to get the B-Class ED, but I really don't need the extra range, and for the asking price it should be better looking than the FFE, but it's not. I wish it didn't look like a mini-minivan.

 

[jmueller065]

I really like the 500e, but my wife keeps calling it a clown car and I don't want her to see me as less of a man than I really am.

I've driven a 500e around, it feels like a clown car.

https://spareelectrons.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/driving-a-500e/

 

[hybridbear]

She really wants me to get the B-Class ED, but I really don't need the extra range, and for the asking price it should be better looking than the FFE, but it's not. I wish it didn't look like a mini-minivan.

The B-Class ED is also missing a lot of features. I did some research into it as a potential replacement for the FFE & quickly wrote it off as a poor attempt at an EV. As I research other EVs I continue to be impressed with the thought that Ford put into designing the FFE. Aside from range, no DCQC & heat, I think the FFE is the best non-Tesla EV available. It has the best system for managing charging locations & charging times, the best system for preconditioning, the best system for remote starting to precondition when not plugged in, the best trip summary data, the best trip meters to track your driving & kWh used, nearly the best acceleration, the best driver efficiency coaching & more. I'm very impressed with Ford's engineering of the FFE... Now I just wish they'd release the FFE 2.0 with a 120-150 mile range. Or better yet, a Fusion Electric with a 120 mile range.

 

[jmueller065]

Or better yet, a Fusion Electric with a 120 mile range.

I really want to see an Escape electric with 200 mile range. I think that would be the killer (especially since Ford sells as many Escapes as they can build--if they could build more they'd sell more).

 

[michael]

Anything from Ford with quality and value comparable to the FFE but 120-150 mile class range and I would go for it in a second.