2018 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD

The cost to federalize and certify a car for import is apparently quite high…enough to lose a bunch of imports that sold much better than 20+ per month before they were cancelled (5 series wagon, C-class wagon, FJ Cruiser, etc.)

I don’t think this is the case. As @max_g stated. It is in the millions to federalize a new car / model. They may make money on them elsewhere, but they are huge losers in the states.

My guess is they are doing something similar to Hyundai, and these cars are just place holders for an upscale luxury brand in the future. That is the only reason I could see them continue to stock / sell, what few they do.

It used to cost millions to federalize vehicles. Now? No. Automakers purposely design their vehicles to meet U.S. safety standard. Outside of bumper and headlight regulations, which are often incompatible with the European standard, vehicles these days largely are federalized very easily. Even Peugeot, which does not sell a single car in the U.S. right now (though planning a comeback), purposely makes sure all it’s vehicles meet U.S. federalization standards.

And because of how cheap it is now to federalize, and how global products tend to be designed to meet federal standards, we see cars like the Ford Ecosport and Nissan Kicks, which were designed and built in third-world markets, coming here years after they went on sale abroad.

5-Series wagon was replaced by the 5 GT. Mercedes C-Class wagon is federalized and sold in Canada, and one can bring it over the border with a little help, and the Toyota FJ Cruiser was built and designed specifically for the U.S. market, and was not even sold in Japan until 4 years after it went on sale in the States.Although I think with the FJ Toyota did not want to spend the money on a redesign to update the model to new safety standard, which is something I think they now regret given how hot the market for truck-based SUVs is.

With the terrible money factor being a major hindrance to getting a good lease, is it possible to lease these through someone besides Kia’s captive finance arm to mitigate that?

Used GT2’s are coming down and can now be had for around 42K. The 2019 Genesis G70 comes out next month and the the 2019 Stinger (I’m assuming) in a few months. I want one, but I’ll wait it out…

A post was split to a new topic: Kia Stinger questions

If you read this or the other Stinger thread, someone mentioned buying it out (via credit union, for instance) a month or two after the lease…to take advantage of the 6 or 7k lease cash

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I remembered seeing it, but there seemed to be some questions as to whether that was a valid strategy. I saw my second Stinger GT on the road today, and was impressed.

If you check out stingerforum.org, you’ll see that quite a few people have done it…

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I have a question for the hackrs about capital cost reduction… I know the general rule is NO! don’t do it. However, with Kia’s high MF (around 0.0023), and with potential tax savings (on a trade-in), is there any point at which you might consider CCR to be worth the risk of totaling the car?

I live in a state where you don’t have to pay tax on the CCR for a trade-in. So, for example, if I were to trade in my car for $10k, and use that towards CCR, I save $700 (7%) in taxes on the new lease. Add to that the nearly $25/mo ($10k*.0023+7% tax) saved in rent charge, and the total cost of the lease ends up being over $1500 less using the trade-in as a CCR instead of selling the car for cash (on a lease that’s a total of @$20-21k for the GT2 stinger). I’m considering doing this even though there’s a risk that if it’s totaled, I’ll lose some of my trade-in on the insurance payout.

I would consider it under those circumstances.

I wouldn’t but I am pretty risk averse.

Looked at another way, you are putting up 10K in the hopes of making $1500 over 3 years. If you total the car, you are going to lose a good chunk, if not all, of that money.

Put 10K into another investment instrument for 3 years, and you can cover half of the $1500 from the yield. At the end of the lease you will still have your 10K.

Personally, I would save the cash, and just find a car I can live with, with zero CCR reduction.

@Jesuscookies beat me to it. The question is, are you able to invest the 10K that will yield you a better return over 3 years than 15%?

IMO, whatever you decide you’re ahead of the curve because you are aware of, and evaluating these issues. (As opposed to the mantra of “everyone puts money down on a lease, that’s just the way it works.”:roll_eyes:

Well if you look at it that way, you also have to factor in withdrawing $300/mo (the difference b/t payments for CCR vs. no CCR) from that $10k. Could it make 15% return? Maybe, but you’d have to get really lucky on some pretty risky investments.

It’s not 15%, it is 5% per year, APY. A fully insured CD with no risk of loss is currently 3%, APY.

Even if I needed the money for the payment, I would still put it in a bank. And even if I crashed the car on the 35th payment, I would still have 300 more in the bank then when I started.

It’s your deal, and your money, so ultimately, you will need to decide, but I don’t think a deal like that is very prudent. And good luck on the Stinger, this is really a beautiful car.

max_gTrusted Hackr
Apr '17

if the vehicle is totaled or stolen

Turns out google doesn’t have a strong answer on what the probability of having your car totaled or stolen is.

Here are some statistics that shine some light on that probability. Let’s start with your leased (new) car being totaled.

There were 5,687,000 crashes in 2013 1, according to the NHTSA. The total population was around 315 million at the time. So your probability of being in a crash is 1.8% (in a rough estimate, not taking into account miles driven and more granular stuff).

I couldn’t find any info on how many of those crashes resulted in the car being totaled. But consider this information on cars that have been in accidents and are then either repaired or totaled. When new cars get in accidents, only 7% of those crashed cars are totaled.

Comparison by CCC of total loss frequency by vehicle age shows total loss frequency grows with the age of the vehicle. For example, the average repair cost for a one year old vehicle is about $3,300, and yet the average vehicle value of one year old vehicles was over $25,000. Over three-quarters of one year old vehicles sustain damage that results in a repair cost that is between zero and thirty percent of the loss vehicle’s value; with less than seven percent of one year old vehicles overall that are deemed total loss
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Well, because you’re drawing off that $10k (to cover the difference in monthly payment) there’d be no money left in that account after 33 months at a 5% ROR. But your point is well taken, it essentially comes down to paying $1500 (less if you figure in return on the money) for insurance against the risk of losing the investment due to a total loss. Since I have never (knock really really hard on wood) totaled a car, I tend to lean against that insurance, but it’s definitely something to consider.

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Jon, where did you get this deal from?

Clear lake Infiniti in Houston

I had the same issue with my Nissan and infinity… The brake rotors are either too thin or are lower grade metal. The warp. I had the same issue with my acura.

No other cars I have ever owned.