Seeing these Ionic deals, I’m genuinely curious…what’s the logic on structuring a lease to 13 months rather than just 12 months? Surely few if anyone is paying $600+ registration (in CA) a year from now to keep the car for that 13th month. I get the appeal of a cheap short lease for some buyers and I get why it helps the dealers clear inventory in Q4 before the updated 2025 arrives…but that extra month makes no sense to me! Maybe I’m missing something?
The bank only offers 13 mo leases.
If registration is gonna cost so much then turn it in a month early
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Idk how y’all’s states are but I’ve returned my last few leases with registrations that were months expired. The cops here don’t seem to pay much attention to that as I’ve never been stopped for it.
Your insurance company will not be happy insuring an unregistered vehicle. Do you really want the hassle of what will happen if you wind up in an accident in an unregistered vehicle? Just because it worked out for you does not mean it is a good idea.
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Remember CA is not the only state in the US.
Totally get that things aren’t the same everywhere…that’s why I said (in CA) and tagged SoCal.
It’s pretty common to get an expired registration ticket just parked on the street where I live. The ticket itself isn’t too much but pretty high fees to get the registration current. I suppose could just pay the ticket and return the car.
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What will happen besides getting a ticket?
Most lease programs are national. Those 13 month program probably are better even if you add the $600 registration compared to 24 month deals.
Wait until you price one out in Maryland or Texas
6% of the selling price as tax.
A lot of deals don’t make sense everywhere. You’re not alone.
No lessor is sitting around analyzing all possibilities. There are always winners and losers. Well, almost always. Maryland lessees are always screwed.
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I’m from MD originally and my family still lives there so I totally understand that situation.
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CA will take you to collections for the back registration.
That is the most California thing I’ve heard all day
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If you get pulled over, it’s officer’s discretion about having your vehicle impounded. Impound won’t release the car until registration is brought current. You’re accruing daily fees in impound until you have that sorted out.
I think some banks allow lease extension.
No way an officer impounds a car with a registration that’s less than 30 days late
Did someone say 13 month leases?!?!
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In CA they will impound your car for using OEM “Track Mode” on the streets lol
On a damn elantra too!
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I’ve told this story on here before, but it’s still relevant, so what’s a second time?
When I was in CA, I had a Benelli motorcycle. Very low production volume so the DMV system/my insurance company didn’t know what to do with the VIN. CA uses automated insurance reporting for your registration and if you go without insurance, they’ll suspend you registration.
For whatever reason, despite being fully insured, the automated reporting of my insurance to DMV didn’t happen one time, so they suspended my registration, but I never got notice. When your registration is suspended, they don’t send renewal notices, but they still keep the clock going. So my registration expired, but I didn’t renew it because I never got the expiration notice, since it was suspended since they didn’t think I had insurance.
Few months later, the first I learn of my registration being expired is the notice from the DMV that they’re sending me to collections for the back due registration that they never sent an expiration notice for because they suspended the registration but never sent notice of that.
Why that would also be a technical possibility for Tennessee, it would be unheard of in practice. That just does not happen unless there are other mitigating circumstances.