[UltraVol]

Just wondering if anyone has figured out a way to do a cost/benefit analysis comparing Fisker's "Flexee Lease" versus a "traditional purchase" considering the limited information we have available to work with currently? Here is what I have found on the Flexee Lease so far:

*** FLEXEE LEASE STARTS AT $379/MONTH WITH NO SET TERM. MONTHLY PAYMENT WILL VARY BASED UPON CUSTOMER SELECTED PACKAGES AND EQUIPMENT.  PRICING EXCLUDES ONE-TIME $2,999 INITIATION AND ACTIVATION FEE, DELIVERY, GOVERNMENT FEES, INSURANCE AND $299 RETURN FEE. FLEXEE LEASE IS AVAILABLE TO QUALIFIED CUSTOMERS MEETING LENDER REQUIREMENTS.  NOT EVERYONE WILL QUALIFY. 30,000 ALLOWED ANNUAL MILEAGE IS PRORATED ON A MONTHLY BASIS AND EXCESS MILEAGE CHARGES MAY APPLY. (Source: Fiskerinc.com)

I have also heard the Fisker Flexee Lease referred to as more of a "subscription" arrangement as opposed to a traditional lease arrangement? I must admit that I'm virtually ignorant to the nuances of car leases since I have never really considered leasing an automobile, or anything else for that matter, before now. Plus, I probably know less about subscription scenarios than I do about leases.

Now, I realize it's "hard to teach an old dog new tricks." I've lost count of the number of cars that I've purchased using standard financing arrangements over my lifetime. But, admittedly, I'm stumped right now on how to go about a comparison of the virtues of a Flexee Lease versus an outright purchase of an Ocean Ultra. So, just curious if anyone has figured out how to do a lease/purchase analysis (even a hypothetical one) yet? Maybe it's just unknowable at this time with the limited information currently available??

Oh yeah, one more question if anyone knows. Would it be possible to trade in your current vehicle if you were to go with the flexee lease? I've read somewhere that Fisker will take your current car in on trade should you go the purchase route. If no trade is possible on the flexee lease, I would have to figure out how to dispose of my current vehicle.

 

[S7davis]

@UltraVol

You do ask some good questions and as most of us on this forum really do not know complete answers to them we can only take guesses at this point in time.

I have lease 2 cars in my 42 y/o life. So I am still a young buc lol. The flexee lease is kinda like a subscription lease as their really is no set term on how long you lease the car. For Example:

Lease vehicle have a set term associated with them for 12mos, 24mos, 36mos for set amount each month with option to buy after term is up. You will know exactly how much the residual will be if I remember correctly is the amount you will owe if you decide to actually buy the car after lease is up. Now you can terminate a lease early however, it is financially not a good idea. If you terminate a lease early you will have early termination fee, 2 mos of payments to pay, and a restock fee. I should know I did this with an Alfa Romeo should have kept the 2yr lease instead of extending it to 3yrs lol.

Flexee Lease:

As we do not have a ton of details on the financial aspect of this yet these will just be a hypothetical answer.

The flexee lease is like a lease but with no penalty of turning it in early. From what I have read and this could have changed their are no set term lengths that you need to hold the car before turning it in. Their is the 3k acquisition fee which will cover the start of the lease/subscription service. While you are on the Flexee lease program any maintenance of the vehicle is covered by the company (this is probably because it will all be under warranty anyways. YOu do have 30k miles a year if you choose to do a lot of road trips. Plus, I think with the Flexee Lease program the Tax Credits will go towards the finance institution that Fisker has chosen and think he mentioned that if leasing the 7500 tax credit can be put towards the car as we will not be the actual lien/registered owners of the car first. I do not believe their is an option for you to buy yoru Flexee Leased vehicle from Fisker. Also the Flexee Lease vehicles will stay in service he said for 10 to 12 years then he will have the vehicles recycled. But you can choose to get another flexee lease vehicle at any time as these will be shared vehicles from the sharing pool he will have. So not all flexee lease cars will be brand new with 0 miles on them some will have mileage on them but that will be a cpl years from now when vehicles get returned. I do recall him saying you can trade in a car but was not sure if that was just for purchasing a car or able to do so with the Flexee Lease Program as well.

If you can not trade car in on Flexee Lease Program then I would say try Carmax, Carvana, VROOM, AutoTrader, or even a Dealer after you go to those other places and see how the dealer will compare or meet or exceed your other estimates.

 

[Baker]

Just wondering if anyone has figured out a way to do a cost/benefit analysis comparing Fisker's "Flexee Lease" versus a "traditional purchase" considering the limited information we have available to work with currently? Here is what I have found on the Flexee Lease so far:

*** FLEXEE LEASE STARTS AT $379/MONTH WITH NO SET TERM. MONTHLY PAYMENT WILL VARY BASED UPON CUSTOMER SELECTED PACKAGES AND EQUIPMENT.  PRICING EXCLUDES ONE-TIME $2,999 INITIATION AND ACTIVATION FEE, DELIVERY, GOVERNMENT FEES, INSURANCE AND $299 RETURN FEE. FLEXEE LEASE IS AVAILABLE TO QUALIFIED CUSTOMERS MEETING LENDER REQUIREMENTS.  NOT EVERYONE WILL QUALIFY. 30,000 ALLOWED ANNUAL MILEAGE IS PRORATED ON A MONTHLY BASIS AND EXCESS MILEAGE CHARGES MAY APPLY. (Source: Fiskerinc.com)

I have also heard the Fisker Flexee Lease referred to as more of a "subscription" arrangement as opposed to a traditional lease arrangement? I must admit that I'm virtually ignorant to the nuances of car leases since I have never really considered leasing an automobile, or anything else for that matter, before now. Plus, I probably know less about subscription scenarios than I do about leases.

Now, I realize it's "hard to teach an old dog new tricks." I've lost count of the number of cars that I've purchased using standard financing arrangements over my lifetime. But, admittedly, I'm stumped right now on how to go about a comparison of the virtues of a Flexee Lease versus an outright purchase of an Ocean Ultra. So, just curious if anyone has figured out how to do a lease/purchase analysis (even a hypothetical one) yet? Maybe it's just unknowable at this time with the limited information currently available??

Oh yeah, one more question if anyone knows. Would it be possible to trade in your current vehicle if you were to go with the flexee lease? I've read somewhere that Fisker will take your current car in on trade should you go the purchase route. If no trade is possible on the flexee lease, I would have to figure out how to dispose of my current vehicle.

@UltraVol I am leasing my cars for many years now but for now there is important info that are missing as interest rate and value at the end of contract or for Fisker it would be a board showing the value at different periods of the lease.
Leasing mean that you will pay for the location of the car for a period predeterminate (normally month) at a fixed interest rate with a final value of the car at the end of the periods, then you will have the choice to remit the car to Fisker or buy it. Of course the government will take his cote on the monthly payment and if you buy the car either.
Normally the cie agree to trade your car and will offer you a value for, you can agree for the trade of go on the sale by yourself if you think to get a better offer.
On the leasing your responsibility will be to proceed the payment each months, take rendez-vous to keep the car in good shape based on the program of the cie and return the car at the end of the periods in good conditions with normal wear.
Leasing mean also lower payment value because you will pay for the time that you will lease it. Flexee lease is looking good for now because you can run 30,000 mile a year, you can return the car at anytime and then upgrade your car with new technology. Hope that it will help you for now, we will be able later, probably September when they will open the order, to determine if it is a good or bad deal. Between you and me I am confident it will be great!

 

[UltraVol]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate your feedback to my questions. You both seem to confirm that it's too early to make any determinations now without more needed information. I also seem to remember reading somewhere that Fisker would not be offering any purchase option on a Flexee Lease vehicle since there is no exact term and I suppose there will be no "residual" value available for which one would be able to purchase during/after the flexee lease? So, there will never be any "equity" in the leased Fisker vehicle? If so, this makes me wonder what I should do with the "equity" out of my current vehicle after I have disposed of it through the various means available (private sale, CarMax, Vroom, Carvana, Dealership, etc., etc.) and it is not usable in any way if I go with the flexee lease? Should I then simply just bank/invest the equity proceeds from my current car and go on my merry way and forget about it?

 

[Baker]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate your feedback to my questions. You both seem to confirm that it's too early to make any determinations now without more needed information. I also seem to remember reading somewhere that Fisker would not be offering any purchase option on a Flexee Lease vehicle since there is no exact term and I suppose there will be no "residual" value available for which one would be able to purchase during/after the flexee lease? So, there will never be any "equity" in the leased Fisker vehicle? If so, this makes me wonder what I should do with the "equity" out of my current vehicle after I have disposed of it through the various means available (private sale, CarMax, Vroom, Carvana, Dealership, etc., etc.) and it is not usable in any way if I go with the flexee lease? Should I then simply just bank/invest the equity proceeds from my current car and go on my merry way and forget about it?

@UltraVol In order to lease their car Fisher need ABSOLUTELY to determine the residual value on each version at different period of leasing, for that they will compare with other cie with similar electric car for about the same value. It will be probably Tesla, Audi, Nissan, BMW and many others. Concerning your actual car there is missing a lot of used cars on the market you will find a buyer easily.

 

[S7davis]

@UltraVol

Investing in yourself is never a bad thing. You never know when those funds may be needed for emergency expenses. I recently about a year ago started setting aside $100 bucks each paycheck ($200 a month) to go into an Emergency Fund/Car Down Payment Fund (lol) that I do not touch and never will. 1. It is strictly an online bank with decent interest rates. So if I ever do need the money I will have to transfer it out or ask for a check. So this is my investment into myself to help with anything that I am not expecting.

 

[UltraVol]

Yes Baker, I have no concerns about getting rid of my current vehicle...especially in today's market for used vehicles. However, who knows what the auto market will be like a year from now when/if the Ocean becomes available. The looming war in the Ukraine could really disrupt the supply chain for vehicles (and many, many other items). As you probably already know, Russia is one of the key resources for nickel which goes into many EV batteries. Who knows what other components that go into autos could be disrupted if this situation gets out of hand. Austria is pretty close to the troubled area.

 

[UltraVol]

Good idea S7davis! You are correct..."investing in yourself is never a bad thing." If I haven't got it figured out at 74 years of life, then I probably never will.

 

[Roland]

Maintenance

Something I'm watching for that I haven't seen yet is mandatory maintenance to keep your warranty. Beside the Flexee Lease Starts at on the website it says "(including Fisker Ocean scheduled maintenance)"

So if you outright purchase instead of lease, is scheduled maintenance at your expense required to keep your warranty?

I was amazed to see this was $0, 0 trips required to the dealership for the Model 3, and was a factor when purchasing

• no trips to a dealership where I'm going to be nickle-and-dimed every time I go in
• no booking appointments and fielding calls and reminders
• it spoke to the reliability inherent in EVs -- it still boggles my mind that there's not so much as a belt or a seal that must be changed

When I found this out I was willing to pay more for the car up front.

If you want to schedule maintenance for an inspection or something for peace of mind or tire rotation, fine. I hope nothing is tied to the warranty is all. It makes the lease look simpler so far, as we know it includes maintenance.

 

[Blu Angel]

@UltraVol
@Baker and @S7davis have given you good tips!
Now, best to wait until September launch of Ocean configurator
to do the math calculations

The only point I would add is if you like to keep your vehicles for a long time
or would you be open to changing the Ocean on a regular basis?

 

[S7davis]

Maintenance

Something I'm watching for that I haven't seen yet is mandatory maintenance to keep your warranty. Beside the Flexee Lease Starts at on the website it says "(including Fisker Ocean scheduled maintenance)"

So if you outright purchase instead of lease, is scheduled maintenance at your expense required to keep your warranty?

I was amazed to see this was $0, 0 trips required to the dealership for the Model 3, and was a factor when purchasing

• no trips to a dealership where I'm going to be nickle-and-dimed every time I go in
• no booking appointments and fielding calls and reminders
• it spoke to the reliability inherent in EVs -- it still boggles my mind that there's not so much as belt or a seal that must be changed

When I found this out I was willing to pay more for the car up front.

If you want to schedule maintenance for an inspection or something for peace of mind or tire rotation, fine. I hope nothing is tied to the warranty is all. It makes the lease look simpler so far, as we know it includes maintenance.

As most of us might already know their not much to maintain on an EV. The only fluids are Brake, washer fluid, and think differential fluids (not sure on this one but I assume their is on the DIFF). Other than that I think its just tire rotations. Now I am not sure how Fisker Ocean will be but Tesla would go thru tires like crazy with its instant torque so that might be something you will need to keep an eye on. Also remember not as many moving parts on BEV's so not as much to maintain the most expensive part on EVs are the Batteries and its housing if that gets damaged then its a hefty price.

Also with an EV you should never really have to use your brakes physically as 1-Pedal driving will handle that for you.

 

[UltraVol]

Yes, Blu Angel, for sure! It's hard...impossible...to do the math calculations if you don't know what the numbers are that you want to calculate!

I usually only keep a car for around 3 years. Why? Don't want the car to get to the point that it might require significant maintenance repairs, and, I usually just get tired of it and want something new. So, no, I suppose then that I would be open to changing the Ocean on a regular basis. But, knowing how EVs don't require that much maintenance, and if I really-really like the Ocean and it stays current and relevant with OTA updates, then I might consider holding on to it longer than normal? It might turn out to be like computers where it's most likely already out of date by the time you get it home.

 

[Blu Angel]

@UltraVol

I usually only keep a car for around 3 years. ..... I usually just get tired of it and want something new.

You answered your own question...FLEXEE Lease for you.
The beauty is you can change it anytime....24 months, 30 months, 36 months,
after a long cross country trip with 29,900 miles on it!

 

[S7davis]

Yes, Blu Angel, for sure! It's hard...impossible...to do the math calculations if you don't know what the numbers are that you want to calculate!

I usually only keep a car for around 3 years. Why? Don't want the car to get to the point that it might require significant maintenance repairs, and, I usually just get tired of it and want something new. So, no, I suppose then that I would be open to changing the Ocean on a regular basis. But, knowing how EVs don't require that much maintenance, and if I really-really like the Ocean and it stays current and relevant with OTA updates, then I might consider holding on to it longer than normal? It might turn out to be like computers where it's most likely already out of date by the time you get it home.

@UltraVol

You are absolutely correct on this. As EV are pretty much just Computers on Wheels. Normally Tech in cars change to newer versions I think Fisker said every 4 - 5 years if I remember correctly. I think he mentioned that the Tech in the Ocean is up to date to 2020 or 2021. So The Ocean will not need another Tech Update probably until the PEAR comes out. He said he tries to use the latest tech when starting to design his vehicles so when they do get released they are already up to date with the advances companies have been putting out. But yes the technology in the OCean will be getting close to being out dated by the time we get the vehicles but thats what happens when a new company starting out. If you plan on getting a new car every cpl years then the Flexee Lease is the way to go plus probably will not have to worry about the Battery Degradation as much either.

 

[UltraVol]

Yep Blu Angel, I felt like I was answering my own question. Especially when you factor in the maintenance which is included in the lease. Wow, a 29,900 mile "road trip!" Now that's an adventure that's hard to wrap your head around! Bet she'd for sure be ready for turn-in after that!