Drifting

Hi all,

I have a 991.2 C2S arriving next week. For the first time I'd like to lease a Porsche as I'm now a business owner and so can take advantage of tax savings, plus I only plan to keep this car for 2 years, and sales tax in CA is significant.

I will be speaking with Porsche financial, but would like to check all my options and not be beholden to whatever Porsche offers me.

Can anyone recommend some good companies through which to pursue a lease?

am722

I just leased a '17 C2S on Saturday through PFS. I didn't shop around, which isn't brilliant, I realize, but I do have experience with other leasing companies. If you're willing to do an open-ended lease I assume you will get lower payments, but you're on the hook if the depreciation exceeds the agreed-upon residual. I did an open-ended lease on my first Aston, and while it wasn't a disaster (and the leasing company was fine to deal with), I prefer certainty and the ability to just toss the dealer the keys after 36 months and walk away. I understand PFS also has a program where they might offer to pull in the last 3, 6, or more months of your lease if you get a new Porsche, which is probably not something you'll find with a third-party company.

Tl:dr--I probably paid more with PFS, but I was okay with it.

Edit: Just realized I didn't even answer your question. The open-ended lease I did was with Premier. They were straight-up; I had no problems with them. Just prefer the close-ended product.

Archimedes

Just a reminder, just because you're a business owner doesn't mean you can write off the lease payment on a car for tax purposes. It has to be used for business purposes and you have to be able to document it. And driving to and from work doesn't count. A lot of people don't understand the tax rules around this.

ENCT

I leased my last 911 and they pulled me ahead 12 months, I picked up my new 911.2 C4S today. First lease was 27 months and I got out after 15 months. Finance guy told me today that if they pull you ahead they do not pro rate the mileage, you get the full miles.
Eric

rwschill

Be sure and look at lease end options or incentives like mentioned above.

Drifting

Appreciate your input. Would not driving to multiple work locations each week, using the car on all marketing visits, travel to industry conferences, and travel to meet with business associates and business dinners, be sufficient?

VintageRacer

Why not just pay cash for the car and depreciate it (with expenses) on Form 1040 Schedule "C"?

Why would anyone let the leasing company make the profits from your purchase?

991carreradriver

The additional cost of leasing is far outweighed by the tax benefits of leasing, if the vehicle is used more than 50% for business.
The depreciation would be subject to the luxury car rules (IRC Sec. 280f) severely limiting the Sch. C deduction. Depreciation for the first year is limited to $3,160., second year $5,100., third year $3,050. Not a great way to go.

Archimedes

You can only write off the portion that is associated with actual deductible business uses and you need to be careful about including trips from your home to a client site, etc. to make sure you stay inside the rules. If half your mileage is associated with deductible mileage, you can expense half the lease payment. A lot of people think that you can write off the whole thing just because you use the vehicle in the business some of the time. You can't. Well you can, but if you get audited, you're gonna lose that one.

And driving to and from the office is not deductible mileage. For most people, if they follow the rules, the actual percentage of the miles they put on their Porsche for true business use is likely fairly small relative to their personal use. I expect a lot of people are just hoping not to be audited.

Drifting

Other than Premier, does anyone else have any suggestions on leasing companies?

titleistaddict87

Anyone know if there is an IRS limit to how much your lease payment can be and still write-off the business portion? I.e. if payment is $3k and car is used 65% for business can that full 65% be written off?

dmk2

Subscribed. Considering lease on soon to arrive GTS, but I am not sure that it makes financial sense.

Any other S-corp (professional services) folks out there that can shed some light on the subject?

My accountant always says buy a used car. Period. End of story.

be_cuey

Try Regency Leasing.

http://regencyleasing.com/

I have worked with them before.

dd356

As a general tax rule of thumb, very few businesses have cars inside businesses anymore as the limitations on deductions, record keeping and overall general red flag nature of the deduction when the audit comes is just not worth the hassle. As someone said above, leases are also usually more expensive than buying to begin with, as finance internal rates, risk of excess wear et. al built in raise the cost. The days of flushing luxury/sports car payments thru S and C corp tax returns is long gone.

DaveGee

What is the current thinking on lease -vs- buy for those that don’t own a business? As mentioned earlier in this thread, CA sales tax is significant. “Pride of ownership” aside, leasing avoids the tax payment plus the appeal of turning the car in after 3 years for a new one. Opinions?

DaveGee