Jay Leno says it's better to buy than lease

firehawk72 said:

Oddly enough, it simply isn't that easy with tax credits (state and federal in some cases) making some leases crazy cheap on EVs and EREVs. Blanket coverage simply doesn't work here. I am a huge hater of leases, but these types of cars make a lot of sense sometimes for a lease over a buy.

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This. I'm in a position that the lease tax benefits were just slightly more then what I'm paying in federal taxes now (thanks to a lot of before tax deductions to maximize every penny possible) . So I would have been "leaving money on the table" if I had bought instead of leased. I'm also in a state that exempts up to ~$30k (can't remember the exact number) of sales and motor vehicle use for EV's. If I had bought the Volt outright I would have owed at least SOME tax. I'll owe that if I buy out at the end of my lease, BUT if I end up going for a full EV by the end of the lease, there is a good chance the tax exemption will still be in place and I can "re-use" that on the new car. I turn my lease in, haven't paid any sales tax, and buy the new car (hopefully with the fed credit again) and then only have to pay state sales tax on the (small) portion that isn't exempted. Not a huge deal, but might save me an extra ~$400 or so in the long run if this flow of events takes place.