Nervous potential buyer -- lease? purchase?

We've been very pleased with leasing our EVs. The technology is improving so at the end of the 3 year lease you will have a risk-free upgrade. You do have to watch for great lease deals, ideally less than $3k to drive off and less than $250 a month.

The $7500 tax credit still inures to your benefit in a lease. It is used by the leasing company as capitalized cost reduction, thus reducing the depreciation, which is what your payments cover. This will show as a line item on the lease document.

The state incentives usually go straight to the customer in the form of a check whether you lease or buy. I'm not familiar with CT but it should be easy to find out.

Above all, we all congratulate and thank you for deciding to join the community of EV drivers!

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I am not worried because 50 mpg EV hits a sweet spot such that we never use gas unless we go on a long trip. Future improvements might increase EV to 70 but that would make no difference to me. I hate the idea of working weather we will exceed the mileage limits on a lease. And once rebates go away in 3-5 years its hard to imagine we will lose much selling a touring edition car that costs us only $26K after rebates.

 

Just a reminder on the $7500 Federal tax credit, it phases out after a car manufacturer sells 200,000 EVs. Tesla is expected to hit that number by the third quarter of this year. This means that it is likely that any Tesla vehicles purchased (owner taking delivery) in the first half of 2019 will only get a $3750 Federal tax credit and any Tesla purchased in the second half of 2019 will only get a $1875 Federal tax credit. Chevy has also sold a lot of Volts and Bolts so it is in a similar situation as Tesla.

Also, unless Mr. Trump revises his automobile import tariff of 25% on Japanese built vehicles, the price of a new Clarity could go up by $8000 or so dollars. Until 7/5/2018, Honda is offering an incentive of 0.9% financing for up to 36 months and 1.9% for up to 60 months. There is no lease incentive listed on the Honda website.

 

I would think a phev would depreciate more like a Prius and less like a Leaf. Improvements in battery tech mean a lot less when your car has a gas engine. We bought our Leaf in 2013 but I kind of wish we leased. We also bought our Clarity and I don't see it being a problem. The Clarity will probably drive the same in five years. The Leaf will hopefully have a new battery in five years, because it will need it. If not, it's electric range won't be much better than the Clarity's, and won't be worth much at all since there isn't a gas engine to keep it going.

 

Exactly, my Volt depreciated fast to $10k (private party, 14k retail), but stabilized there. It actually went up over the final 6 months before I sold it. It was almost 7 years old too. A similar Leaf is significantly less than $10k dealer price.

 

Just searched and don't find any used Clarity PHEVs for less than $30k. Maybe if all of them were dealer loaners, the rebate could still apply to the first purchaser but at least one is described as pre-owned.

 

It is too early to see used Claritys and come to any sort of meaningful conclusion on value. Wait until first leases are up in a couple years.

 

There are lots of ways, numbers-wise, to evaluate and make your decision, as is shown so well above. However one thing I'd like to offer is that in an intangible way, I very much like having bought into the EV (ok PHEV) market at this early stage. I like that it shows my kids that we put our money where our mouth is since integrity is inherent in such decisions. We like playing a part to help drive (ha pun) the market towards what we ultimately want to see more of...cleaner vehicles. I don't think you can put a price on it but I assure you the feeling is real and good and it makes me happy. If a clean environment is important to you, don't disregard it just because you can't count it in your analysis.
It doesn't hurt either that the car is sweet, I suppose.
Good luck with your decision!