Tesla lease buyout, return and every other lease-end option

Since November 27, 2024 a lease held by Tesla Lease Trust may be eligible for purchase if your lease agreement lists a purchase option, and Tesla lets third-party dealerships buy leased cars, so a leased Tesla can be traded toward another make. Lease transfers are no longer available.

Your options when a Tesla lease ends

• Return it at a drop-off appointment booked in the Tesla app.

• Buy it, if your lease agreement lists a purchase option.

• Sell or trade it to a dealership. Tesla says third-party dealerships are eligible to purchase leased vehicles.

• Extend once, for up to six months.

• End early with an early termination quote from the app.

These rules are for leases held by Tesla Lease Trust, as Tesla's pages stood in October 2026. Some Tesla leases are held by U.S. Bank, Ally Bank, Santander Consumer or Chase, and Tesla says their lease-end options may differ. To check, open the Tesla app, tap the menu, My Products, your car, Documents, then Lease Agreement. If the lessor is one of those banks, ask the bank; Tesla lists their phone numbers on its leasing page.

The general rules are in every lease-end option explained, and My lease is ending sorts them for your dates and miles.

How a Tesla lease return works

1. Tesla gets in touch. It contacts you 30 to 60 days before your maturity date to complete the final inspection and schedule the drop-off.

2. Start the return in the app. Open the Tesla app, tap Financing and follow the prompts. The app takes you through the inspection and the drop-off booking.

3. Inspect the car yourself. The inspection is a self-inspection, judged against Tesla's Excess Wear and Use Guide and done before the lease ends, which leaves time to repair. Tesla or a Tesla Certified Collision Center can do the repairs. Keep every receipt, because Tesla can ask for proof before it removes a charge.

4. Take off what you added. Tesla requires you to remove all aftermarket parts and modifications, including changes to the factory window tint, and says leaving them on may result in additional fees.

5. Clear your data. Restore the car to factory settings on the touchscreen: Controls, Service, Factory Reset.

6. Drop it off. Bring both key fobs and the mobile charging bundle. To move the appointment, call the Lease Return team at 844-837-5285 (option 1, option 1, option 5) or email leasereturns@tesla.com.

7. See the charges. End-of-term charges show in the Tesla app within two business days, and Tesla bills you for anything remaining under the lease. Once the return is processed the car leaves your app, and your documents stay.

Ordering another Tesla? Link the new order to your lease end in the app and the return happens at delivery. Tesla says loaner vehicles are not available in between. More on turn-in day: returning a leased car. Tesla's own steps are on its lease-end options page.

What Tesla counts as excess wear

Tesla publishes its standards in the Excess Wear and Use Guide. Examples of what it charges for:

• Tires: tread below 4/32 of an inch, the wrong size or rating, mismatched tires, dry rot, cuts or sidewall plugs.

• Wheels: scratches totalling 6 inches or more on a wheel, three or more scratches, gouges or dents on one wheel, or any bent, broken or mismatched wheel.

• Paint: a scratch that breaks the paint and is 4 inches or longer, or 11 or more paint chips. Scratches that buff out are normal.

• Dents: dents that break the paint, or are 2 inches or more across. Smaller ones are normal, up to two per panel.

• Glass: two or more chips, anything over 1/4 inch, or any chip, scratch or crack in the driver's line of sight.

• Interior: cuts, tears and rips, and smoke, mold or pet odors.

• Equipment: a missing owner's manual, charging cable or key fob, any change to the factory tint, unauthorized modifications, and warning lights that haven't been diagnosed and repaired.

Tesla notes that its table isn't a complete list. Miles over your allowance are billed at the per-mile rate in your lease agreement. If your lessor is Tesla Lease Trust you may be able to buy extra miles in the app, up to 20,000 per transaction, but only on a new-vehicle lease, at least three months before the original maturity date, and not together with a lease extension. Whether to repair first: excess wear and tear on a leased car. What going over costs: lease mileage overage.

Buying your Tesla at lease end

This changed. Until late November 2024, Tesla's page said Model 3 and Model Y leases could not be purchased. Today it says leased vehicles with Tesla Lease Trust may be eligible for purchase, and its FAQ answers yes: starting November 27, 2024, you can purchase your leased vehicle. Your contract decides. If the lease agreement lists a purchase option, the choice appears in the Tesla app. If it doesn't, Tesla says to contact it at the end of the lease to see what options are available. Leases in Iowa and Louisiana are not eligible.

1. In the Tesla app, tap Financing, Lease Details, Manage Lease, then Purchase Vehicle. Tesla asks for your registration address and title assignment and gives you an estimate.

2. Confirm, and Tesla prepares a purchase packet with a good-through date that matches the estimate.

3. Everyone named on the lease signs the packet, and you arrange a vehicle inspection if your local rules require one.

4. Send payment for the full estimate so it arrives by the good-through date. Tesla then mails the ownership transfer documents.

Tesla charges a purchase fee on every lease purchase and says local taxes and fees apply. California treats a lease buyout as a taxable purchase. When a dealer handles it, the dealer collects the tax. When you buy straight from the lessor, the lessor may not collect it, and you pay use tax to the DMV when you transfer the registration (CDTFA guide for vehicle purchasers). Financing and the DMV steps are in buying out your lease in California.

Can a third party buy out a Tesla lease?

A dealership can. Tesla's page on ending a lease early asks whether Tesla offers a third-party dealership purchase option and answers yes: third-party dealerships are eligible to purchase leased vehicles, and you contact Tesla to start it. Before late November 2024 Tesla offered no third-party buyout, which is why older advice says a leased Tesla can't be sold.

• That makes a trade possible. A dealer of another make can buy your leased Tesla, and if the car is worth more than the payoff, the difference can go toward your next car.

• Tesla's pages name dealerships, not specific buyers. Before you accept an offer from CarMax, Carvana or any dealer, contact Tesla to start the third-party purchase and confirm it will accept that buyer.

• You can also buy the car yourself, if your contract allows it, and resell it. CDTFA presumes your buyout is a sale for resale, so it isn't taxed, if you transfer title and registration to the buyer within 10 days of getting the title and don't use the car yourself in between.

Payoff quote types and each lender's rules are in third-party lease buyouts.