Wait until lease end vs buying out early advice

[Lazarus.Bird]

I leased my '21 Stinger in January of last year with the intent of getting the lease cash and buying out the lease as soon as my registration came. Long story short, which was documented in a thread here, my dealer/KMF screwed up the buyout and I was in limbo for 6+ months paying two loans until I finally managed to "reset" everything back to the normal lease.

I did a 2 year lease so my lease matures in January 2023. I have strong feelings on replacing the Stinger with an EV6 GT but I doubt things will line up perfectly in terms of when that model releases as well as supply chain/inventory issues and lead times. I'm planning on owning the Stinger for awhile until I feel like it is a good time to make the move to my next vehicle.

I honestly don't know a ton about how the leasing numbers work. Does it make any sense to still attempt to early buyout with only 6 months left? I know loan rates are rising, but DCU is still offering less than 3%. If someone could explain to me if there are any financial benefits to doing the early buyout now vs just buying the car at end of lease I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[andyecon]

I would buy it out now. You may not save anything in interest given the money factor when you leased versus loan rates right now, but my experience getting titles from Kia after buying the lease (twice now) has been miserable. The first one took four months and this one is over five already. If I had needed to sell quickly, I'd be out of luck.

 

[MerlintheMad]

^^^And I had an opposite experience with HCA Exchange, Inc. My title came in just under one month after sending the buyout cheque and odometer reading. Buying out the lease at three months saved well over $5K in lease rent.

 

[andyecon]

^^^And I had an opposite experience with HCA Exchange, Inc. My title came in just under one month after sending the buyout cheque and odometer reading. Buying out the lease at three months saved well over $5K in lease rent.

Right, but if he wants the option to sell quickly, buying it out makes sense even if there are no interest savings.

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

Eh it's not necessarily about selling quickly, just that I still really like the car and want to hang onto it until it is easy to get an EV6 GT. But your point in regards to interest is still appropriate.

 

[Kr33m0]

So I asked this question in another thread...is this an issue with Kia or the DMV? Does it matter what state you're in as far as getting the title? The Kia Fin agent I spoke to said 7-10 business days although she knew of incidents that took a month or longer.