You Can Finally Lease a Tesla Model 3: Here’s How Much It Actually Costs

Spoiler alert: It's not cheap

Recently, Tesla announced that they will begin offering a lease deal for the Tesla Model 3. But, how much is that actually going to cost? Fortunately, our friends at CarsDirect.com did some clever math and figured out exactly how much the lease payment would be on the elusive $35,000 Model 3.

Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Hot or Not

How Much?

Normally, this information isn’t available through Telsa’s website. So, CarsDirect went ahead and contacted Tesla Finance to get the current lease deal. Here is what the true “base” Model 3 would cost to lease:

“According to Tesla Finance, the Model 3 Standard can be leased from $469 for 36 months with $5,115 due at signing. That’s based on an MSRP of $36,200 with destination and includes an allowance of 10,000 miles per year.
Plan to drive more? Extending that to 12,000 miles increases the payment to $479. With 15,000 miles, the payment is $499. As previously announced by Tesla, it’s important to note that there’s no purchase option once the contract is up.”

Alex Bernstein – CarsDirect Senior Pricing Analyst

There are some considerations to make here. For one, Lease deals are based off of location. In this case, CarsDirect used a location in California. Because of this location choice, this lease deal includes tax incentives specific to the state of California. To figure out the lease deals in your own state, you will have to contact Tesla Finance yourself. Though, that might be a more difficult process than you were hoping.

What about my state?

Bernstein recounts the process of finding out the actual lease deal and, well, it is a bit of a mess,

Initially, a representative stated via chat that the Standard wasn’t eligible for leasing. Then, a salesperson reached by email said leasing was possible, and never gave a price. 3 emails to Tesla Finance yielded a one-line response pointing us to a different email.


For the record, the correct email is autofinance@tesla.com, not teslafinance@tesla.com as suggested on the company’s own leasing page.

Alex Bernstein – CarsDirect Senior Pricing Analyst

Would you guys consider leasing a new Tesla Model 3? Please drop us a comment down below and tell us your thoughts on this lease deal. Stay tuned to TFLcar.com for the latest news, views & real-world reviews. Plus, if you want more Tesla content, be sure to check out our Thrifty Three series below: