You will talk to the bank when you call the bank from the comfort of your home (or log into your account).
Anyone that works for the dealer is part of the dealer.
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Applying the incentives is not at the dealer’s discretion. They certainly could mark up the selling price high enough to effectively not pass it on, but that’s simply them marking up the selling price.
The Lyric (and every other GM ev/phev) does not get an “ev tax credit” incentive from the bank. Instead, GM financial artificially inflates the residual value. This has the same benefit of lowering the lease price, but it prevents people from doing what you’re talking about doing just to grab big incentives.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. You shoud only sign a lease contract that you fully understand based on numbers you already know before ever talking to a dealer, so there is no chance for them to pull a fast one, unless you decide to go in blind and let them.
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I do understand the terms of a basic lease; it’s the buyout on top of it that is a mystery to me. I also have never tried to negotiate beyond comparing things like incentives and discounts between dealers.
There are a lot of discussions about buyouts happening, but not a lot of details. For example, many threads (and yourself) have said “just call the bank after and negotiate a buyout.” Negotiate how? Do I offer a price and hope they accept it? Is it part of the lease agreement? What can I do or not do? I have no idea. Unlike with a lease which is well documented to a T, complete with entire YouTube videos, the actual process of negotiating an immediate buyout seems much less documented.
Many of the topics from @jeisensc search above give disjointed information; for example, this one with Chrysler mention the credit being applied to the RV. According to this topic, Lexus Financial Services requires you to go through a dealer to buyout (not sure if that’s a state or manufacturer requirement). In another case, it looks like they used their own bank, Ally, to lease the car, resulting in a much clearer handoff. There’s also just very little data on Kia. 
So most of the time, I don’t know what’s state-specific, brand specific, dealer specific, etc..
I didn’t say to call the bank and negotiate a buyout. You are calling the bank to execute the buyout.
The buyout amount is contractually defined.
Don’t take this as an attack, but if you’re unclear that residual value is based off msrp rather than discounted price you clearly do not understand the terms of a basic lease.
That’s fine, we all had to learn, but convincing yourself you have a solid understanding of it when you don’t yet is how people get screwed at the dealership.
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For Kia in WA you shouldn’t have any issue mailing them a check to process the payoff and avoid the dealership a second time like in FL/PA, but even some of those deals show the lease terms along with the buyout - which line up pretty well to:
Any other terms on the initial lease, whether or not that had MSDs and/one 1-pay, and what the tax implications were — lots of examples and permutations that may not involve WA or Kia but would still be relevant.
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My bad, that may have been something I’ve read. Or just mixed up in the discussion.
Sorry, I think I may have misspoken here. My confusion was about whether or not the buyout was based on the residual value of the lease term (which is based on the MSRP) or on a calculated value based on the discounted sale price. TBH, I’m still not sure what it is.
The buyout is based on the adjusted lease balance. What the residual value is AND what the sales price is both factor into what the adjusted lease balance is at any giving point during the lease.
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Okay, this makes sense. So the goal here is, ultimately, to reduce the sales price as much as possible. With regards to dealer markdowns (if I’m able to get any, that is), this would all contribute to lowering the adjust lease balance in the end?
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Your offer to dealers should include an aggressive pre-incentive discount
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I don’t mean to sound harsh, but it you repeatedly use imprecise terms that seem to have a specific and unique meaning to you but that are not necessarily how most other people who understand how a lease is structured (including the dealer) would use the term.
In the end of what? The buyout price varies depending on the point in time at which you are executing the buyout.
It might be useful to reframe this conversation. Do you intend to simply keep the car for the duration of the lease and then return it? Or do you want to own the car and are simply leasing to obtain incentives/rebates that are not available if you were to purchase the car initially?
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Get a dealer to agree to your offer and sign the lease papers with the dealership. Dealer sells the car to Kia Financial, from whom you’re now renting the car.
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Write a check to Kia Financial for the payoff amount which they’ll provide (basically cap cost plus some crumbs of interest [“rent charges”]. It may take several days / couple of weeks for Kia Financial to set up your account.
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There is no 3.
If you don’t want to pay cash for the buyout in step 2, get an auto loan from the credit union or bank of your choice. Your bank will request the outstanding lease balance from Kia Financial (see above), and after you sign the loan papers your bank will pay off the lease. From that point you make car loan payments to the bank from whom you chose to get the loan.
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You are absolutely right. I’ve picked up much of this terminology as we’ve gone as well. I’m definitely learning from this discussion, and I appreciate the feedback!
I think this has been answered above and I’m clear on the confusion. The lease buyout is on the adjusted lease balance, so if I want to buyout, this is what I’d be paying–regardless of “when” I pay. This value will go down the further into the lease I go, but I’ll also be paying rent charges in the process (is that the right term)? But if I buyout immediately, I’ll pay a trivial rent charge and probably some fees, but should still get the benefit of the EV credit.
The latter. I’m planning on keeping the car, hence why I’m interested in the “immediate buyout” strategy. I am ineligible for the EV tax credit, so the lease approach is the only way to make use of it.
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Thank you; yes, I was aware of this. I’ll likely just purchase the vehicle outright, since current auto loan rates are pretty high (I’m seeing 5.99%+). Credit is 830+ however; but cash isn’t an issue.
Thank you so much for your help and guidance. I’ve started opening up with dealers as “Here’s what I’m going to pay” instead of “What can you offer?” There are about 5 Kia dealers here within 45 minute so there’s competition.
I’ve also looked at the Costco Auto discount, which looks like it provides $1500 off on this car.
What’s the best way to understand the “wiggle room” that a dealer has, or do I just have to keep pushing? There are just very few datapoints on Kia’s in general, much less the Sorento–and even less, the Sorento PHEV.
One of the more experienced posters will correct me if I am wrong, but…
If you’re doing an immediate buyout, then your adjusted lease balance is essentially equal to your adjusted capitalized cost. So the goal would be to make that value as low as you can (so, if the dealer will give you a bigger discount in exchange for a heavily marked up MF, that would be to your advantage).
I’m not sure what you mean by “markdowns,” but maximizing the dealer discount independent of rebates/incentive/etc. will also help lower adjusted cap cost.
I was also considering this! I really wish there were more numbers re: Kia.
Yes, this is the term I see used on the dealer sites generally–i.e., a “dealer markdown” is just… some amount off. For example, one dealership in Vancouver, WA (which is ~3 hours away) has an arbitrary $2400 markdown off the sales price. But yes, this is all knocking the sales price down, which all impacts the adjusted cap cost.
Ok OP, slow down… here’s what you DO:
If the price is ok with you $50K, lease this car from the dealer and don’t mention buy out at all, wait for the deal to fund from KIA Financial (two weeks or so), create an online account with KF and get your buy out quote (this will be very close to $42,500 +/- plus taxes, in “theory” as you say 
) then send the buy out to KF and you own the car.
I stopped reading half way through, as it was confusing but follow those steps above and you’re good to go.
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Thanks! Yes, this is what I got from the discussion. I wasn’t clear on how things like buyout were linked to the lease, etc., but @mllcb42, @jm020, and a few others have been ENORMOUSLY helpful in helping me get my understanding up to speed. 
Dealer sites love to conflate discounts and incentives to manipulate you into thinking you are getting a good deal.
The pricing/discounts posted on their websites should be completely ignored.
Location: Greater Seattle Area, Washington
Car: 2025 Kia Sorento PHEV, SX Prestige Trim (carpeted mats, etc.)
MSRP: $54,845
Incentives: Costco Auto (-$1500), $8,750 KFA Lease Cash (adjusted purchase price = $44,595?)
Lease Terms: 36 months, 12k miles (MF 0.00251, Residual: 65%)
Still working on DAS numbers, but can I do better than this?
EDIT: planning on doing a buyout immediately. I prefer to own my cars.