Leasing Chevy Spark

[leo1958]

I saw a lot of people on this board leasing instead of buying the Spark EV could anybody enlightened me on the pros and cons of leasing this

 

[MrDRMorgan]

I saw a lot of people on this board leasing instead of buying the Spark EV could anybody enlightened me on the pros and cons of leasing this

I leased my 2015 Spark EV 2LT because the lease offer gave me an almost free car for 3 years. If you lease a BEV like the Spark EV, you do not get to claim the $7500 federal tax credit. However, your state and county may have BEV rebates you can claim. I claimed a $2500 California rebate and a $3000 San Joaquin County rebate. My lease was $0.00 down and 10K miles per year for 3 years. The contract lease cost per month was $163.00. But, taking the two rebates into consideration, my actual out of pocket monthly cost is $10.00. Annual insurance and license fees for either a lease or purchase would be the same.

Leasing gave me 3 years to learn all about the vehicle and see if I like it enough to buy it when the lease expires. Two months after taking delivery I had my answer. I found and purchased for $13,897 plus T&L, a used 2014 Spark EV 2LT in factory new condition with only 1500 miles on the ODO. Today, with 15,000 miles total on both cars, I am 100% sold on these two cars and I am planning to purchase the 2015 Spark EV from the lease company if we can agree on a fair price. I have had zero problems with either car.

 

[leo1958]

Thank you for answering my question so you lease the car to see if it worth buying or not. You are not leasing because the car may be discontinued soon?

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Thank you for answering my question so you lease the car to see if it worth buying or not. You are not leasing because the car may be discontinued soon?

The Spark EV being discontinued at the end of 2016 did not affect my decision to lease or purchase. I just did not want a car payment - PERIOD! Being able to qualify for the California and San Joaquin County rebates which, when combined, would cover all but $10.00 of my monthly lease cost, made my decision a no-brainer. Now I have 3 years to evaluate this car's technology in every way I can. If, at the end of the lease, I want to keep the car and I can get a fair price from the leasing company, then I will purchase the car. If not - it goes back. I will still have the 2014 Spark EV 2LT I purchased.

 

[KingUltra]

For the majority of people here, this car is our first EV.
I figured that my out of pocket for 3 years is
$113 x 35 -$2500 rebate = $ 1,455

I think I will depreciate more than $1,455 if I bought and sold it in 3 years.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

For the majority of people here, this car is our first EV.
I figured that my out of pocket for 3 years is
$113 x 35 -$2500 rebate = $ 1,455

I think I will depreciate more than $1,455 if I bought and sold it in 3 years.

At the end of May I will have had my 2015 Spark EV 2LT for 1 year. My lease contract shows I can purchase the car at the end of the 3-year lease for $14381. That is more than I paid ($13,897) for the used 2014 Spark EV 2LT I purchased in August of last year and it had only 1500 miles - basically new - on it at the time and is still under factory warranty. I am looking for GM to offer a lower buyout cost by the time the lease contract ends.

 

[Garrity]

Given that 2012 Leafs that retailed for over $30,000 can now be bought for $9500.00 you can pretty much bet that the Spark EV will be offered to you for less than the residual value listed on its lease papers.

My neighbor and I believe that we can probably buy our Spark Ev's for under $6,000.00 when our leases end in 2 years.

The main reason why, is because of all the tax credit, rebates, and obsolescence.

The 200 mile Ev's will start coming out end of this year, and will be in full force by 2019. Making the little Sparky EV obsolete. I love my little Spark EV's (I'm leasing two), but see no reason why to buy one when you can lease first then decide if you want to buy it or not at the end of the lease, with 99% certainty that you can buy it for less than residual value.

One important note about leasing: if you can do a "one payment" lease take it! I helped a friend lease a Spark EV and found out that Chevy automatically added their XS wear plan when you pay for the entire lease upfront. Basically, you can return the Spark Ev at end of lease with a lot more scratches, dents, cracks AND BALD TIRES without any penalties, as compared to without the XS wear plan.

I wish I had known about that, because when you have all that torque available, you can not help but floor the pedal once in a while, which is not good for the tires.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Given that 2012 Leafs that retailed for over $30,000 can now be bought for $9500.00 you can pretty much bet that the Spark EV will be offered to you for less than the residual value listed on its lease papers.

My neighbor and I believe that we can probably buy our Spark Ev's for under $6,000.00 when our leases end in 2 years.

The main reason why, is because of all the tax credit, rebates, and obsolescence.

The 200 mile Ev's will start coming out end of this year, and will be in full force by 2019. Making the little Sparky EV obsolete. I love my little Spark EV's (I'm leasing two), but see no reason why to buy one when you can lease first then decide if you want to buy it or not at the end of the lease, with 99% certainty that you can buy it for less than residual value.

One important note about leasing: if you can do a "one payment" lease take it! I helped a friend lease a Spark EV and found out that Chevy automatically added their XS wear plan when you pay for the entire lease upfront. Basically, you can return the Spark Ev at end of lease with a lot more scratches, dents, cracks AND BALD TIRES without any penalties, as compared to without the XS wear plan.

I wish I had known about that, because when you have all that torque available, you can not help but floor the pedal once in a while, which is not good for the tires.

My lease expires in May of 2018. It will be interesting to see if I can get a buyout price much lower than that given in the contract.

 

[Garrity]

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098384_2012-2013-nissan-leaf-electric-cars-get-5000-lease-buyout-credit

end of lease discussion on leaf forum:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16629&start=460

The Nissan incentive is up to $7,500 + possible $1,500 from dealer.

MrDrMorgan, my leases end 1 month before yours, ask me then what the deal is.

Will be watching closely when the 2014 Spark Ev leases start expiring next year.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098384_2012-2013-nissan-leaf-electric-cars-get-5000-lease-buyout-credit

end of lease discussion on leaf forum:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16629&start=460

The Nissan incentive is up to $7,500 + possible $1,500 from dealer.

MrDrMorgan, my leases end 1 month before yours, ask me then what the deal is.

Will be watching closely when the 2014 Spark Ev leases start expiring next year.

It will be interesting to see how the sales / leases of the 2016 Spark EV - essentially the same as the 2015 - will go this year knowing that it will eventually be discontinued this year or early next year. GM may have to offer some really good deals to clear their inventory. According to US sales reports from insideevs.com, only 4920 Spark EVs have been sold 2013 through March 2016. Battery degradation is a concern for the Spark EV too but not nearly to the extent it is for the Nissan Leaf. I have started tracking my calculated battery capacity at about the 50% use level to see if there is a trend down over time. I will not know for sure until I collect data for about a year but my current 2016 battery capacity average is about 1 kWh lower than what I had in 2015. This is true for both my 2014 and 2015 Spark EVs.