Featured You can lease an EV for $19 per month if you live in Colorado.

Dealer's website with $19/month Leaf deal (as of July 4, 2024):

https://www.tynansnissanaurora.com/new-specials/

Video about the deal:

 

I keep thinking about it. It's tempting.

But I have this to think about:

• For what purpose would I own this car? I guess to take short distance driving off of the Avalon and therefore extend it's life. But maybe I need to start biking more instead.
  
• I'd have to have this car towed up from Denver. This would be a town-only car. I've tried taking a Leaf out of town, it's not a good experience where I live, especially at -30 °F.
  
• I've been given two cars and now own a total of 4. Two are good enough to be driven around town and two are in condition for road trips. They are all paid off, so that's cheaper than $19/mo. It also means I can just put liability on them, especially the three that are worth less than $1,000. But the last Leaf I owned I paid $180/mo on for insurance alone and it wasn't even new.
  
• Most of my cars have an extra set of winter tires on rims. Doing the same to the Leaf would be another added expense.
• There's no place to get any work done to a Leaf around here. The closest Nissan dealer wouldn't even get me a key made for my last Leaf because "they don't work on EV's."
• The lease is for 2 years. Then what? I don't see myself getting a loan for the remaining $22,000.

 

Warning! This post is another egocentric derailment of my own thread to cater to my own wants and desires. Skip it if you're here just for the news.

That's the thing.

• The Prius almost runs, but needs a water pump, and after that still has a lot of problems, like chugging oil and other weird electrical problems.
• The 1985 VW diesel needs a timing belt and is very rusted all over. The aftermarket CV joint boots tend to last only a year before the boots break, and the aftermarket CV joints themselves tend to fall apart for no apparent reason, even when driving in a straight line on a highway. The good thing is I can change both out in 15 minutes now and I just keep trading them in for new ones as they have a warranty. I also know every last bolt and nut on the entire car, everything that makes it tick and how to fix it.
  
• The Nissan Pathfinder is in great shape as it was very well cared for, but still has a lot of miles on it and is getting 15 mpg and the gas cap says to use premium, for some reason. (???) But it's an alternative vehicle, one that can do things and go places and haul more than anything else I got.
  
• The Avalon works fine, except the radio. And it's not going to be to much longer before it probably will need a hybrid battery.

So do I get rid of two or three of those cars and get a Leaf????!!!! I really want to and don't want to at the same time!!

I guess I need to look at total costs of the Leaf first. What will I owe in taxes? What will insurance actually be?

I guess the Prius is the car I should get rid of, period. The Avalon I should keep. I'm split between the old diesel and the large SUV and the new Nissan Leaf.

 

When I got the Prius and added it to the policy with the Avalon, my rate actually went down around $15 because the liability on the Prius is cheaper than the multi-car discount. So even though I've never driven the Prius it has been saving me money.

Liability is cheap for me. The Avalon has full coverage, as did the 2013 Leaf, and these cars have been the most expensive cars I've ever insured as a result. I'd drop the full coverage on the Avalon now that it's going past 10-years-old, but it still has a high value according to Kelly Blue Book.

Still, I don't know what it will cost me to put the VW back on and also the SUV (liability only on both). I guess I need to get my numbers straight before deciding what to do next.