Is Nissan's New $89 Per Month LEAF Lease Real? We Investigate
Nissan recently made a big splash with news of an $89 per month lease on the 2022 LEAF electric vehicle, which almost seems too good to be true.
Intrigued, we dug into the numbers to see if such a deal could truly be had.
The Fine Print
First, the fine print. The lease, as advertised on Nissan’s website, is for a base LEAF S with zero options. The lease allots 10,000 miles per year and requires $1,449 due at signing. As this is a manufacturer offer, rather than an actual offer from a dealer, it doesn’t include taxes, registration fees, or dealer document fees.
Taxes and fees easily add hundreds, if not thousands, to the actual amount due at signing, depending on location. For example, in California, dealer document processing fees are capped at $85, while the average document fee in Florida is a whopping $670. Furthermore, a few states, such as Texas and Virginia, apply sales tax (unfavorably) on the entire price of the car, rather than just the leased portion.
The $89 per month deal also requires a $1,137 discount off MSRP from the dealer, known as the “dealer contribution”, in order for the advertised offer to pencil out. While such a discount would have been common a year ago, the entire auto industry is reeling from the global microchip shortage, and dealer inventories are scant. Instead of discounting vehicles, many dealers are instead marking up the prices of vehicles to offset the loss in volume.
In other words, it will be difficult to find a dealer that will offer the discount needed to arrive at Nissan’s advertised $89 per month lease.
There Are Very Few 2022 LEAFs Right Now
Aside from the required dealer contribution, there’s another issue: it’s near impossible to find a 2022 LEAF in stock. While there are 1,082 Nissan dealers across the United States, there are approximately 100 of these cars available for sale across the country. That’s a one in 10 chance of a Nissan dealer carrying a LEAF!
So, if you want this $89 per month LEAF deal right now, it’s not likely going happen.
Have a question or a tip to share? Join the conversation on Leasehackr Forum!