Huh, these conditions don’t seem so great? Only 4 years, high downpayment, low residual value. Did the other offer even worse conditions?
How is it will all-year tyres? Are they too unsafe?
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What would you do after the 48 months? Pay the residual value and own the car? Or return it? Or buy it and sell it? How much of the 60k are lost money after the 4 years?
I’d say:
Buying
Costs to own car:
CHF 57’380 (Buying Price)
Leasing
Costs to own car:
CHF 17’380 (Initial payment)
48*CHF 546.70 (Lease Payments)
CHF 17’787 (Residual Value)
= CHF 61’408.60
→ you pay CHF 4’028.60 more for the car with leasing if you buy it at the end of the lease
But maybe there’s a flaw in my logic somewhere.
The effective interest rate for this lease contract is 3.55%.
We reduced it down to 4 years. My girlfriend will be 30 then and maybe we’ll need a bigger car (kids). We also plan to buy it at the end. Either keep it or sell it.
I researched all-tyres as well and they are just bad-okish summer/winter tyres. You’ll end up replacing them more often than summer/winter tires (30’000-40’000km instead of 40’000-50’000km) too.
@Burningstone
Effective interest is 3.03%. We’ll spend 7% more on the car, but the opportunity costs are much higher than that.
I was more curious about the depreciation after 4 years, regardless if you sell it, buy it etc.
How do you calculate that figure?
Using the leasing calculator from moneyland, I get an effective interest rate of 3.482%, resp. a nominal interest rate of 3.428% with the figures you provided assuming you pay monthly at the end of the month.
And 3.55% effective interest rate, resp. 3.493% nominal interest rate if you pay monthly at the beginning of the month.
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Well it’s the number which is listed in the leasing contract. CHF 4’029 is the interest we’re going to pay for a CHF 40’000 loan.
But if I enter the numbers online, I get 3.493% nominal and 3.549% effective. How are they coming up with 2.99/3.03%?
Edit: Asked them now. With SwissQuote und LeaseTeq it’s really 3.03%. With Cembra it’s 3.55%. Now lets see.
In my eyes, 3 additional things to consider:
a) You’re kind of paying for the “option” which you might / not want to use in X years, and that obviously needs to cost some money.
b) Also need to consider opportunity costs of not investing the money that went into the car straight up.
c) “Real”/market residual value is likely going to be higher than that one defined in the leasing contract - unless you destroy the car over those leasing years.
In my example, c) meant:
- contractual residual value: 4’800chf (for a 6.5 y/o Mazda 3 at 100k km, hilarious valuation IMO)
- actual market value at the time of leasing expiration: ~12’000chf
But yes, part of this valuation probably lies in the recent state of chippage worldwide too. 
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Yes, I know there are other things to consider, I was simply showing the calculation of the loss on lease vs. buy
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Do you guys think we’ll be able to drive the Model 3 for 10 years (300-400k km)?
Why not? What is your concern? And how come you let yourself get bamboozled by Cembra? They advertised the nominal rate and not the effective rate? In Poland they always need to show the effective rate, it’s by law.
I sent 3 mails today.
- to Cembra to clarify why they basically offer 3.55% instead of 3.03% (like the other 2, I checked).
- to LeaseTeq to try to get the same offer as Cembra without me as a bailer (they requested that in the first place because my GF earns 4.2k net per month)
- to SwissQuote who declined the leasing in the first place lol.
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The difference between the effective and nominal rate is only a few basis points, it seems more like they advertised completely wrong rates.
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Ok now everything is clear. It’s:
Buying price: CHF 57’380
Initial payment: CHF 17’380
Duration: 48 months (1 month is the initial payment)
Monthly rate: CHF 546.70
Residual value: CHF 17’787
It’s CHF 17’380 + 47 x CHF 546.70 + CHF 17’787 = CHF 60’861.90
So it’s CHF 3481.90 more than buying.
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What about the elephant in the room? What is the depreciation rate of this asset after 48 months?
Don’t know. I guess it will be worth around 20k in 4 years. Maybe even much more if inflation keeps this pace.
Btw, look at this: Fördergelder für Elektrofahrzeuge beantragen - Gewerbeverband Basel-Stadt GVBS
We can get CHF 5’000 back.
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According to Car Depreciation Calculator you lose 49% on average in 4 years, approx. 30k, which is around CHF 600 monthly, for leasing a new car.
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This is irrelevant when comparing leasing vs buying. But I put all these costs in the google sheet that I linked before. You can plug in your numbers and figure out what is the present value of this decision.
But again, when you’re willing to spend (lose) 30k in 4 years, does it really matter the leasing savings of a couple of hundreds of CHF from various leasing offers?
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Just check AutoScout24 for Tesla Model 3. You will struggle to find a 3-year long range one under CHF 45’000. This car will not devalue by 30’000 in 4 years.
Regardless of the value of choosing the exact model of the car you want and being its first owner, the decision to cough up cash up front or to use borrowed money can have significant financial implications. In my calculation, with my parameters, the present value of leasing was about CHF 7’000 higher than paying up front. Because you get to use that money for a couple of years.
You can also calculate like this: you buy a new car for 60k and write off 80% after 10 years (my dad still has his 18-y car he bought as new). Then a 60k purchase will cost you 400 CHF per month. If instead you opt for an old 10-year car for just 20% of original price, your cost drops to 100 CHF. But maybe you need to repair it more often, so save 100 CHF more for that. So 400 vs 200, for 10 years of difference in car age. Since we’re talking new EV vs used ICE, add a diff in gas. Suddenly it’s on par.
I think the point is rather: cars are expensive, not just new cars.
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