Leasees: What will it take for you to keep your Lightning?

[flyct]

If I remember correctly, my buyout at end-of-term will be ~$46,000 CDN. Unless circumstances significantly change for me, I don't think a $10K difference would persuade much. This is assuming that the truck continues to be reliable and well maintained (which is has been). Plus, as the first "owner" I already know how it has been operated.

I understand. There is a huge value knowing that you owned it, took good care of it and you know the history. Buying used can be a crapshoot.

I'm getting up in age and when my lease expires I'll be 82 years old. Right now due to a uncorrectable slowly progressing vision problem I don't even know if I will be able to legally drive when my lease expires. My Driver License must be renewed every year and signed off by my private Optometrist before renewal.

Off subject, having Supervised Self Driving on our Teslas may extend my driving days. It does a better job driving than I even did when I was in my 20's. The newest version of FSD on the newest hardware is absolutely amazing.

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[gbuydos]

Leased a 24' Flash, 36 month, for low $300s. The end of lease buyout is way high. So If they extended my lease at a discounted price, I would consider it. Hell, I may even go out and lease an EREV too. They I would have best of both worlds.

 

[ScottC]

I’ve leased a fair amount of vehicles. 3x BMW, 3x MB, 3x Tesla and now a 24 mo lease on my 24 Flash. my experience is that the dealerships drive the desire (or lack there) of to negotiate on the truck. Ford is just the finance company. It’s not a truck to them. It’s just a used asset and they do not have the same relationship w it that we do. I felt the same as you - until my two recent battery debacles well-documented in this forum. That has shaken my resolve some. So in about a year I’ll be making that decision.

 

[xHEROofCANTONx]

I just leased my 2025 Lightning Flash in September of 2025. At first I was considering keeping it because I love it so much, but in 3 years, we'll see where the market is and go from there. Hope the new lightning will be out by then.

I was thinking the same thing. Started my lease Oct 2024. 15k/yr. Living in Houston, I'm a little over a year in with 25k miles, so I have a chunk of mileage to pay out, so keeping it on a refi/purchase may make most sense....unless, like others have mentioned, Ford does folks a solid on a new lease or turn in.

I am excited to see how the new "hybrid" works out. I mean, we have all invested in a tier 2 home charger. Seems a waste of there are options in the market.

 

[jcar01]

My XLT buyout is around 58K. If Ford would sell it to us at Market value I would consider it. But I think Ford will not give us any deals at the end of the lease. Too bad because I really love my Lighting. Maybe I will lease a Chevy Electric Pickup if they are still around.

 

[jkane101]

still have two years on my lease. I'll make the decision about 2-3 months before turn in. Curious to see what's new at that time. One of the reasons I leased is knowing that there will be rapid tech/battery improvements

 

[JRDM2]

My XLT buyout is around 58K. If Ford would sell it to us at Market value I would consider it. But I think Ford will not give us any deals at the end of the lease. Too bad because I really love my Lighting. Maybe I will lease a Chevy Electric Pickup if they are still around.

It seems like there's plenty available, 70 of them within 100 miles of me. Not terribly different than the number of new Lightnings still available.

 

[El Duderino]

@Ford Motor Company

Are official notices going out via US Mail?

 

[RickLightning]

Not a peep from Ford 3 months later, with 2025 stock dwindling... Shocked, not.

 

[dpwmc93]

Prior to the Lightning's cancellation, I was firmly on the side of keeping our Lightning once the lease was up. Given how the truck fits our needs, it just made sense to keep it. Now that it's been discontinued, we have to contend with resale value, parts availability/dealer service issues, etc. I personally want to stay in BEV Land and have the functionality of a truck for camping, hauling stuff around (no towing), home improvement errands, etc.

So my question to my fellow leasees: Are you planning on returning the truck once the lease is up? Will you keep it? If Ford discounts the residual value to incentivize you to buy it at the end, how much would that discount need to be? Just curious to see where everyone's head is at. Or are people waiting to see what new products hit the market?

I just leased my 2025 Lightning Flash in September so I still have a ways to go. I love it and I would love to keep it but at this point, I'm looking forward to see what else is out there when my lease is up.

 

[HOTAS]

Those considering buying out your lease, look closely at how the tax credit was applied to your lease deal.
Some dealers add the tax credit to the residual value vs. reducing the capitalized cost by the credit. Lease payment is the same, but buyout would be terrible with the first method.
You’d be paying the tax credit back to the dealer and the dealer would be getting it twice.
Just a heads up, these dealers can be dirty with leases.

Not to mention buying out a lease is rarely ever good, anyway, because the residual is often higher than the market value of the car.
And the money factor (interest rate) applied to the lease is usually higher than what one actually qualified for, but they didn’t know it because it’s a cryptic decimal figure instead of a straight up percentage that they can relate to. Every lessee should know the formula to convert money factor to equivalent interest rate.

 

[flyct]

Those considering buying out your lease, look closely at how the tax credit was applied to your lease deal.
Some dealers add the tax credit to the residual value vs. reducing the capitalized cost by the credit. Lease payment is the same, but buyout would be terrible with the first method.
You’d be paying the tax credit back to the dealer and the dealer would be getting it twice.
Just a heads up, these dealers can be dirty with leases.

Not to mention buying out a lease is rarely ever good, anyway, because the residual is often higher than the market value of the car.
And the money factor (interest rate) applied to the lease is usually higher than what one actually qualified for, but they didn’t know it because it’s a cryptic decimal figure instead of a straight up percentage that they can relate to. Every lessee should know the formula to convert money factor to equivalent interest rate.

good info.

When I leased my Lightning Ford Credit (Red Carpet Leae) used actual interest rate instead of money factor on the lease. i didn’t need to multiply the money factor by 2400 to get the interest rate. Promotional rate was 0.09% eventually zero.

As far as Tax Credit goes, my Platinum didn’t qualify for tax credit because the MSRP exceeded $80k. All rebates, incentives etc ($21,615) were applied as down payment. The X-Plan discount reduced the cap cost.

Residual was based on MSRP

 

[El Duderino]

Agreed, good info above. My dealer finance manager literally said to me verbatim, "You won't want to buy out this lease when it's over, there is no way it will be worth the number listed."

This was a Ford Red Carpet Lease. I am not planning to buy it out either

Just wish I had done a 36 month lease instead of a 24 month lease.

 

[flyct]

Agreed, good info above. My dealer finance manager literally said to me verbatim, "You won't want to buy out this lease when it's over, there is no way it will be worth the number listed."

This was a Ford Red Carpet Lease. I am not planning to buy it out either

Just wish I had done a 36 month lease instead of a 24 month lease.

The Red Carpet lease deals back in March 2025 were exceptional, especially if you qualified for X-Pan. Low interest rates, high residuals. My 39 mo low mileage lease has a residual of 56%. Discount, rebates, ECO added up to 28% off MSRP.

High residual made payment low but made option to buy at lease end a bad deal. There are going to be a lot of lease returns for sale in 1-2 years. Plus with Ford cancelling the Lightning and improvement in battery technology I think used prices will tank.

Right now my plan is to look for another lightly used lease return when my lease is over.

 

[rugedraw]

Those considering buying out your lease, look closely at how the tax credit was applied to your lease deal.
Some dealers add the tax credit to the residual value vs. reducing the capitalized cost by the credit. Lease payment is the same, but buyout would be terrible with the first method.
You’d be paying the tax credit back to the dealer and the dealer would be getting it twice.
Just a heads up, these dealers can be dirty with leases.

Not to mention buying out a lease is rarely ever good, anyway, because the residual is often higher than the market value of the car.
And the money factor (interest rate) applied to the lease is usually higher than what one actually qualified for, but they didn’t know it because it’s a cryptic decimal figure instead of a straight up percentage that they can relate to. Every lessee should know the formula to convert money factor to equivalent interest rate.

The EV tax credit always gets applied as a cap-cost reduction and not a reduction of the residual value at lease end.

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