Tesla has updated the terms of their leasing program by removing the ability to purchase your vehicle when your lease expires.
According to the Lease-End Options support page, leases that began on or after April 15, 2022 “are not eligible for purchase.”
If you leased your Tesla prior to that date, the support page says you may still be eligible to purchase your car at the end of your term.
This is a big change from their previous terms, which allowed Model S and Model X buyers to buyout their vehicles at the end of their lease.
Model 3 and Model Y vehicles leases could also be purchased under the previous terms, but only though third-party dealerships purchasing the vehicles directly.
This has now also been changed according to Tesla’s website. (h/t: @tesla_adri)
Leasing a Tesla vehicle lowers your monthly payments compared to financing, and also provides flexibility for those who want to upgrade their vehicle every few years.
The inability to buyout the Model 3 and Model Y leases meant the vehicles returned to Tesla with the idea of using them for a robotaxi fleet with the maturity of Full Self-Driving (FSD).
Elon Musk has said recently he believes FSD will be safer than a human by the end of this year, but with the extremely long delivery wait times and increasing prices for used Tesla vehicles, the automaker may be wanting to secure more inventory for used car sales before launching a robotaxi fleet.
