This was posted 3 months ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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$3,500 Novated Lease Incentive for Tesla Model 3 @ Tesla

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$3,500 Novated Lease Incentive for Tesla Model 3 @ Tesla
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monkeytrooper on 10/01/2025 - 18:21 tesla.com (6324 clicks)
Last edited 11/01/2025 - 21:10 by 1 other user

Tesla is running another novated lease incentive, similar to that in Nov/Dec 2024 (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/874298/). The incentive is not widely advertised on the Tesla AU website as previously (no site-wide banner), however the deal is being promoted by leasing company Smart (https://www.smart.com.au/p/tesla/).

The incentive is detailed when you step through the order process (https://www.tesla.com/en_au/model3/design#overview), and select Novated Lease as the payment method. The T&C are detailed at the bottom.

Calculation
Cost per month is accounting for the estimated reduction in post-tax pay. This does not include any packaged maintenance costs such as servicing or insurance and only shows the estimated figure for the vehicle finance. Current Novated Lease Incentive of $3,500 is applied post order to your final invoice.
Figures are approximate and based on the estimated driveaway price of the vehicle, which includes all on-road costs.

Calculations based on finance being arranged for approved applicants by Driva Pty Ltd ABN 37 636 659 160 and are for illustrative purposes only based on the information you have provided. The figures are estimates only and are not to be considered as final or binding. Driva Pty Ltd’s rates and terms are subject to change based on approval and other conditions.

Incentive
Order and finance an eligible Tesla vehicle through a Novated Lease provider by 24 March 2025 and take delivery by 31 March 2025 to qualify. Valid for eligible purchases of new Model 3 vehicles. By participating in this offer, you agree to these Terms and Conditions. ​
This offer is only available for eligible purchases financed through a novated lease with secured credit approval. Purchases of used vehicles and business customers (including fleet, enterprise, rental and government customers) are not eligible for this offer. If eligible, the incentive will be applied directly to your final invoice as a reduction from the vehicle purchase price once credit approval has been obtained and cannot be applied retroactively after delivery. Not redeemable for cash.​

Tesla reserves the right to change, modify, extend or terminate this offer at any time.​
This information does not constitute financial advice and you should consider whether it is appropriate to your circumstances before you act in reliance on it. For detailed advice and to discuss finance options tailored to your needs, we recommend speaking with a licensed independent financial advisor.

Referral Links

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Referee gets $350 off Model Y & 3 purchase.

Referrer gets $150 credit toward Supercharging, software upgrades, merchandise, service payments or a new vehicle. Limit of 10 referral benefits per calendar year.

Automotive Car Electric Vehicle Novated Lease Tesla Inc

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closed Comments

        • kizzerato on 10/01/2025 - 20:12
          +8

          If the car is valued less than the residual value at the end of the lease, you need to pay the NL company the difference. Very much your problem still.

          I have a NL btw.

      • changyang1230 on 11/01/2025 - 01:26
        +1

        There are two different questions:
        1. Does shit resale make EV-NL worse than EV-via-cash or EV-via-loan?
        2. Does shit resale make EV-NL worse than any ICE option?

        For question 1, it's actually irrelevant. Whichever way you choose to fund the car, as long as you do a careful overall financial cost projection which incorporates the residual value (i.e. what you pay out at the end of the lease), then the resale value affect NL path equally as cash path and loan path. It does not matter.

        As for question 2, it kind of depends on which EV and which ICE. It is true that EV still seems to depreciate relatively faster due to evolving technology and competitions. One would therefore want to consider both EV depreciation and ICE depreciation if they want to compare both options honestly.

    • prodrome on 10/01/2025 - 22:12
      +1

      I'm making money selling a NL diesel at the end of lease vs EV depreciation. It's not the EVs fault though

      • whyisave on 11/01/2025 - 01:36
        +1

        I totally agree with this, because depending on the car, a NL Diesel can come out on top, than the EV depreciation.

        Some ICE cars are so fuel-efficient, than the lack-of-fuel EV's costs (as an 'early adopter'), that the way the NL is structured, erodes the 'financial advantage' of owning the EV.

      • MerlinKlendatu on 11/01/2025 - 14:02

        How so?

        • prodrome on 11/01/2025 - 19:08
          +1

          diesels are holding their value and is much more than the payout value at the end of the lease.

  • Illyria on 10/01/2025 - 19:09

    Do you get a free MAGA hat with the purchase?

    • unison on 10/01/2025 - 22:12

      Do you get a free hammer and sickle with a BYD?

      • owduck on 11/01/2025 - 09:43
        +1

        Wait, are they offering this? Hard buy if so

  • VBHBAU on 10/01/2025 - 19:12
    +2

    Nup still too expensive.

  • justcallmeboss on 10/01/2025 - 19:16
    +3

    Is it actually a no brainer to get an EV on a lease if you're earning at least 6 figures? srs qustion

    • Fredfloresjr on 10/01/2025 - 19:30
      +4

      Definitely. Seriously. earning 180ish.

    • ajr5k on 10/01/2025 - 19:30
      +9

      Do the maths, but most likely yes:

      https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CtpBXmuhRW3HrBjqJqnP…

    • psy on 10/01/2025 - 21:29
      +3

      Best do your own research.
      Having said that I'm currently in the market and will be leasing as it has its advantages.

      Eg.
      Current quote - if I multiply the reduction in fortnightly pay by the # of repayments and add the residual, the total is still less than the RRP of the car yet over the term of the lease I haven't paid maintenance costs (insurance, registration etc).

      • whyisave on 11/01/2025 - 01:37

        What about adding GST to the residual, as well as the drop in your salary, over the duration of the EV lease ?

        • psy on 11/01/2025 - 06:32

          Made up numbers-

          5yr lease.
          120 payments. (60months, fortnightly deduction).

          Before tax is $1000.
          Impact to my take home pay is $500
          So total "paid" in after tax $s to the leasing company over that time is $60k.

          Residual including GST is $20,000

          Total is now $80k, however the cars on road RRP is more than this and I've not had to pay 5yrs of maintainence.

          Again - made up numbers and not financial advise.

  • xdivino on 10/01/2025 - 19:17
    +2

    Thinking new Model Y for me in LR wonder if incentives or deals will carry over to that too - also dont understand it at all but pretax salary vs cash outlay in tax saving is the diff im getting as the take away

    • ajr5k on 10/01/2025 - 19:33
      +2

      You also don’t pay GST under a NL agreement, as it is a business purchasing it rather than an end customer. A lot of the savings associated with a NL are this, and paying for running costs under pre-tax income.

      I’ve posted this spreadsheet a few times, but I’ll risk upsetting the mods and do it once more. Plug in the details and check out the financial summary.

      https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CtpBXmuhRW3HrBjqJqnP…

      Typically, the NL makes sense, especially for EVs until the FTB exemption is discontinued.

      • vistalau on 10/01/2025 - 20:21

        Yes, no GST on purchases, no GST on lease payments and operating expenses, but there will be GST on the final residual (balloon) payment.
        To go with novated lease it's important to understand the interest rate for the lease.

      • Benzy on 10/01/2025 - 21:29

        if you have two options 1) get a NL - get $3500 rebate in WA (may be additional $3500 NL incentive as per this post), no GST on purchases and tax savings as a pre tax money.

        or 2) claim it under ABN as a business car? - benefit Asset Write-Off. Not aware of other benefits.

        which option is better / cheaper?

        • ajr5k on 10/01/2025 - 22:13

          Depends on your marginal tax rate, but my guess is NL as you would need to maintain records as to what the vehicle is being used for if it was a business vehicle i.e Business v Personal, and the personal use is a declarable fringe benefit.

          The flip side is that your accountant could depreciate the vehicle to reduce your profits, so you might find that over the long haul it could be better as a business vehicle.

          If you have an accountant, I would suggest asking them to run the numbers for you with an understanding of your personal and business tax situations.

        • changyang1230 on 11/01/2025 - 01:29

          There is no clear answer as it would also highly depend on what percent you could justify your car as business use, how much and how fast you claim the depreciation of the car, etc.

          If you could claim a very high percentage of use as business, then yes it's possible that the asset write off is a better deal still.

          Get your accountant to crunch the business scenario for you, and compare it to the spreadsheet for the personal NL scenario.

        • MDSUXKS on 11/01/2025 - 02:58
          +1

          The rebate in WA is almost at the cap so be careful you need to have the rego paper to submit the application and last time I checked just 800 more spot left in November.

          • Pengu on 11/01/2025 - 11:24
            +2

            @MDSUXKS: The 10K application cap has been removed since additional funding was provided. Cut off date is application by 10th May 2025 (Midnight).

            Reference:(See first tab)
            https://www.transport.wa.gov.au/projects/zero-emission-vehic…

            "The ZEV rebate scheme was previously available to the first 10,000 applications for eligible vehicles licensed in WA, or for three years following the announcement (Saturday 10 May 2025), whichever comes first. With this additional investment, the application cap has been removed, and all applications will be accepted until midnight on Saturday 10 May 2025."

            • MDSUXKS on 11/01/2025 - 11:59

              @Pengu: Oh great to know. When they implemented that? That is great news

          • changyang1230 on 11/01/2025 - 11:24

            @MDSUXKS: Huh? Is WA rebate capped at a number?

            From this webpage, it says:

            "The ZEV rebate scheme was previously available to the first 10,000 applications for eligible vehicles licensed in WA, or for three years following the announcement (Saturday 10 May 2025), whichever comes first. With this additional investment, the application cap has been removed, and all applications will be accepted until midnight on Saturday 10 May 2025."

            https://www.transport.wa.gov.au/projects/zero-emission-vehic…

            So the real limiting step is getting the car prior to 10 May, rather than the 10,000 cars.

      • caperite on 12/01/2025 - 18:28
        +2

        Super helpful spreadsheet.
        The creator, @changyang1230, https://www.ozbargain.com.au/user/38194, generally links people to the original reddit post because it provides more context regarding novated leases. Plus, good to give credit where credit is due for the creation of the tool.

        • changyang1230 on 12/01/2025 - 18:59

          Thanks mate. Reddit link is preferred indeed, and posted the link on this thread, and I appreciate you guys sharing the tool. It’s a free resource, and knowing that people find it useful brings me immense satisfaction.

  • Trying2SaveABuck on 10/01/2025 - 19:22
    +7

    It is legit raining EV deals

    • whyisave on 11/01/2025 - 01:39
      +1

      EV price wars in 2025, as the EV cars are slower to sell nowadays, as "early adopters" have already bought their EVs, while the rest are kind of unconvinced and/or on the fence.

  • pokaichiam on 10/01/2025 - 19:25

    they cut the prices already by 4k of old model

    • Frozensage on 11/01/2025 - 00:59

      Existing stock which aren’t the cheapest to start off with.

    • MDSUXKS on 11/01/2025 - 02:58

      The long range 7k it is great price for that car.

  • musai on 10/01/2025 - 19:42

    need it for new model Y

  • ledzep on 10/01/2025 - 19:45

    Shame my employer doesn’t do NL so I wouldn’t be able to get this deal

    • ajr5k on 10/01/2025 - 19:51

      Do you have any sway over that stance? Great way to retain staff.

      • ledzep on 10/01/2025 - 19:52

        Nah it’s corporate policy we just aren’t setup for it here in Australia (American company)

        • ajr5k on 10/01/2025 - 20:03
          +10

          Righto - hope they are paying you in USD at the moment, that would be better than a lease 😉

  • fadaada on 10/01/2025 - 20:06

    I've wondered - If I'm contracting now and my agency offers NL options via one company, what happens if I change jobs or get a permanent role and that company uses a different NL provider? Does the provider not matter as long as the new company offers the NL salary packaging?

    • dust on 10/01/2025 - 20:38
      +1

      New provider might offer a different interest rate/other charges though so it might change the calculation a bit.

  • pharkurnell on 10/01/2025 - 20:18

    Keep waiting the prices will keep dropping

    • whyisave on 11/01/2025 - 01:39

      I wait for prices to drop with SSDs too :-P

  • moo on 10/01/2025 - 20:39
    -2

    This discount is offered via Smart Leasing, not Tesla. Smart Leasing offered a similar discount back in Oct too from memory.

    • monkeytrooper on 10/01/2025 - 20:48
      +1

      The previous $3,000 offer back in December was by Tesla (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/874298/comments). This offer is currently being advertised by Smart Leasing, but is definitely offered by Tesla. Likely not on their website until tomorrow when the offer begins. Its in the T&C on the Smart Leasing site ("*The offer set out in this campaign is provided by Tesla Motors Australia,…")

      • moo on 13/01/2025 - 02:54

        It’s now the 12th and I don’t see anything on Tesla’s site?

        • monkeytrooper on 13/01/2025 - 20:17

          Ive edited the main post. Its not widely advertised, however it appears when you step through the order process, and select 'novated lease' as the payment mechanism. "Current Novated Lease Incentive of $3,500 is applied post order to your final invoice." "Order and finance an eligible Tesla vehicle through a Novated Lease provider by 24 March 2025 and take delivery by 31 March 2025 to qualify. Valid for eligible purchases of new Model 3 vehicles. By participating in this offer, you agree to these Terms and Conditions. "

    • Your Friend on 11/01/2025 - 08:36

      This is completely false. The discount is offered by Tesla, as was the previous $3k incentive.

  • p1 ama on 10/01/2025 - 21:16
    +1

    Is this for all lease providers or just Smart? My employer uses a different lease provider, anything I can do?

    • monkeytrooper on 10/01/2025 - 21:17

      Not clear currently, I think likely all, however likely more clear tomorrow when the incentive is live.

  • Benzy on 10/01/2025 - 21:29

    if you have two options 1) get a NL - get $3500 rebate in WA (may be additional $3500 NL incentive as per this post), no GST on purchases and tax savings as a pre tax money.

    or 2) claim it under ABN as a business car? - benefit Asset Write-Off. Not aware of other benefits.

    which option is better / cheaper?

    • changyang1230 on 11/01/2025 - 01:30

      There is no clear answer as it would also highly depend on what percent you could justify your car as business use, how much and how fast you claim the depreciation of the car, etc.

      If you could claim a very high percentage of use as business, then yes it's possible that the asset write off is a better deal still.

      Get your accountant to crunch the business scenario for you, and compare it to the spreadsheet for the personal NL scenario.

  • freedomofspeech on 10/01/2025 - 21:41
    -4

    novated Lease big plus, however not for EV..

  • Wolfhound on 10/01/2025 - 21:44
    +1

    On Tesla’s website for Model Y, they have a Novated Lease estimator, if I use a value of $180,000 income over 60 months. It mentions the payments $678 /mo est.
    Does this figure mean I will be saving $678 in tax per month with a NL? Apologies if this is a dumb question, have never really learnt about NL before.

    If so, does this mean a saving of $40,680 on a $69k car?? I feel like I am calculating the wrong thing here. Thanks if anyone could help.

    • yHwustar on 10/01/2025 - 22:07
      +1

      It means that they estimate you'll be paying $678 per month 'post-tax'. The estimated monthly payments are calculated by your tax bracket i.e. the higher tax bracket you are, the more worthwhile a novated lease becomes

      • Wolfhound on 10/01/2025 - 22:53

        I see, so the rest of the car payment will be money that was going to the taxman anyways? Do you know if this $678 proposed figure is including the lease interest rate as well? Thanks so much!

  • changyang1230 on 10/01/2025 - 21:55
    +15

    Use my free tool to crunch the numbers for comparison between NL vs cash, or even NL new EV vs keeping old car.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/s/VHJ25VpNKu

    (Thanks to @ajr5k for posting to the spreadsheet - I like linking people to the Reddit landing page as I provide lots more useful context about NL and how to use the spreadsheet)

    Plenty of people have found it useful and more honest than the typical NL calculators as it takes into account all the fees and interests and spits out the final saving figure. It also does a lot of other useful calculations eg whether your HECS or childcare is affected and by how much)

    • ajr5k on 10/01/2025 - 22:07

      Thanks for the tip, I will start doing the same. Good context and thank you for maintaining the spreadsheet.

    • azm on 10/01/2025 - 23:40
      +1

      Thanks for posting the reddit link, I like your analogy and response about the high end printer which is what I needed to look at the calculator.

      • changyang1230 on 11/01/2025 - 00:26
        +2

        Yeah a lot of businesses prey on people’s obsession about “paying less tax” so they hone in this number while distracting them from the fact that “saving 1000 dollars of tax while paying 950 dollars extra” is only net 50 dollars saving, but people are too intoxicated by the 1000 figure without finding out the underlying 950 extra.

  • AussieMark on 11/01/2025 - 00:07

    sorry can someone explain to me basically how novated lease works.

    Does it matter if I have my own business or employee? I tested the calculator

    • changyang1230 on 11/01/2025 - 01:35
      +11

      Copying from my response to a similar question:

      Typically as an employee, you receive your salary as PAYG i.e. each pay, instead of paying you the full gross pre-tax salary, they withhold a certain amount of tax that you would owe ATO, and give you your post-tax income. And normally when you buy a car / pay a car loan, you would use your post-tax money to pay for it.

      Novated lease is an arrangement between three parties - you (employee), your employer and a novated lease company. What NL does is that instead of pretax income > tax withheld > post-tax money > spend on car, they allow some of the pretax income to directly go towards your lease before the tax-withholding process. This is also typically said to be "spending pretax money". This becomes pretax income > some amount spent on car lease > the remaining money has the tax withheld.

      If you do all the maths and crunch all the numbers, the net effect is that spending pretax money is the same as getting an X% discount, where X is your marginal tax bracket + 2% Medicare levy. In other words, 30% bracket people gets 32% discount, 37% bracket gets 39% discount, 45% bracket gets 47% discount. Therefore someone on top bracket who is allowed to spend their 1000 dollars pretax is equivalent to spending only 530 dollars.

      All that sounds like a great deal - and novated lease has been a thing for many, many decades, however there has always been a catch: Fringe Benefit Tax i.e. FBT. Now FBT is actually a tax on the employer, not the employee. This process of allowing you to spend your pretax money is called a "fringe benefit", and to provide this the employer typically has to pay FBT (with a few exceptions). This is an extra expense most employers would typically want to avoid, but there's a workaround allowed by ATO. If instead of paying for NL with only pretax money, they actually pay part of it with post-tax money, then this FBT will then goes down to zero. The problem is, any amount that you end up paying with post-tax would now lose the "discount effect" discussed above, hence the saving is significantly reduced. And the amount you have to pay with post-tax to reduce FBT to zero is a lot - typically 20% of the car's value per year using the most common calculation method!

      Because of the above, while NL sounded nice in theory (i.e fund car with pretax money = save on tax = save money), when you account for this FBT effect and do the calculations carefully, one would often realise that NL had never been as good as a deal as the NL company wanted you to believe.

      That is, until FBT exemption came in since November 2022. The government needed a way to boost the take up of low-emission EV and PHEV - and this is the one incentive they decided on. For EV/PHEV below luxury car tax threshold (91,387 this financial year), you can now NL the car without any FBT whatsoever! This is equivalent to a few thousands less per year for any equivalent priced car.

      This was a total game changer. Without the encumbrance of FBT, NL became a genuinely good deal. Now NL companies obviously want their cut so many companies would try to get some commission with so called high "effective interest rate", however if you do the calculations carefully, you could conclude that people could save thousands to tens of thousands (I was personally 46,000 dollars better than cash being someone on top bracket).

      Now one needs to be careful as to how to compare NL vs cash / car loan. Most novated lease companies' calculator tries to obfuscate the picture - they tell you "you save xx,xxx dollars in tax" but they conveniently don't tell you that you are also paying thousands extra in interest that you wouldn't otherwise have paid. I wrote a spreadsheet that tries to disentangle this whole thing which many people have found helpful; another calculator I have found useful and honest is the Toyota Fleet calculator mentioned at the top level of this comment.

      Hope that helped make thing a bit clearer.

      https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/s/VHJ25VpNKu

      • AussieMark on 11/01/2025 - 10:47

        thank you kindly, I appreciate this and will bookmark it.

        I'll have to check how it works if I am self employed

        • changyang1230 on 11/01/2025 - 10:50

          Novated lease unfortunately is not a thing if you are a business owner / sole trader. It's by definition only for an employee.

          People can still derive tax advantage for EV however with one of few mechanisms:
          - Claim tax deduction for business use.
          - If you are incorporated and act as the "director", have the company purchase the car then give the car to you as fringe benefit.

          But yes you would have to ask an accountant to work that out for you.

    • sammyjj on 11/01/2025 - 09:25
      +1

      Further to the NL advice. If you own/run a business, you could ask your accountant about an associate lease. Don't ask me for any more info as I know nothing more :) https://www.smart.com.au/novated-leasing/associate-lease/

  • charliechao on 11/01/2025 - 16:14

    what about you change jobs? a lot of people change jobs every 2-3 years nowadays. (either voluntary or forced redundant by the given economic environment)

    is it better just keep the NL for 3 years? and if we change job just to make sure the new company also offer NL then they can take over the lease?

    • vxm on 11/01/2025 - 18:02

      Generally it's an easy process to transfer to next job notated lease provider, without any cost ( my NL already confirmed this in writing)

      • Heybargain on 16/01/2025 - 09:50

        That's IF your next job has NL arrangements.

  • pokaichiam on 11/01/2025 - 18:36

    Can anyone help me how this would work if you are overemployed (j1 full-time 7years and j2 contracting 1 year on going)

  • ratoloko on 11/01/2025 - 19:13
    -6

    Buying a Tesla in 2025 with its manufacturing facility full of pile and more pile of unsold Tesla coz nobody wants EV, is the most irresponsible life choice.
    Why do you think its price are so low now compared to 1-2y ago?????

    A brand new ICE that has been sitting at the dealership already has problems, imagine an EV with battery that will have its charging/capacity affected after sitting duck for so long.

    • neostarsx on 11/01/2025 - 19:54
      +3

      Rubbish.

      • ratoloko on 12/01/2025 - 18:28
        -2

        Indeed, EV is rubbish.
        I once almost got a Polestar 2, beautiful car. I am glad I didn't spend thousands of dollars into a ticking bom technology.

  • digitalane on 14/01/2025 - 14:55

    If this was on the new Y i think i would have pulled the trigger - have to see what the future brings on that model

  • P Plater Panda on 27/01/2025 - 17:19

    Is the 1.99% finance option (2.99% comparison rate) a good option for those who can't get NL? What does everyone think?

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