Coming Up on End of Lease

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum. My lease on a 2019 Kia Stinger GT2 is coming to an end this September and I have a decision to make. I am leaning towards purchasing the car. The last I checked the market price was above the residual of just under $29k. I did, however, had to replace the hatch (with a new one) due to a rear-end collision late last year. So will have to factor that in. Other than that, I enjoy the car. It is in very good/excellent condition. Kept clean with less that 16k miles and comes with the red napa leather interior (and snow white exterior). What has been your experience with buyouts in this climate? What would you do if you were in my position? And, if you had the opportunity to pay for it in cash, would you?

Thanks, and I am glad to be part of the forum!

Pay for a Carfax and see what it shows.
Go to Carvana, Vroom (Don’t say its a lease), Carmax and see what they think it’s worth.

If that hatch issue is listed on carfax well that car just lost a lot of resale value.

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How long would you keep it if you buy it out?

Cash vs. financing is a personal choice. I personally loathe making payments, but there are two votes in this house and it’s not a big compromise.

So I often end up taking the lowest-cost loan I can find and then quietly pay it off over several months, and then stick the title in the back of the safe as soon as it shows up. :slight_smile:

Most of the arguments for financing revolve around the opportunity cost of market returns, although it’s been a while since anyone tried to convince us here that “S&P returns 16%.” :chart_with_downwards_trend:

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This doesn’t really mean much. You need to know how much your VIN is worth:

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I typically keep my cars for awhile (greater than ten years). Yes, it’s the opportunity cost to invest that cash vs not having a payback a loan with interest.

Will definitely check carfax and see what it values my car. But even in this car climate could you even get anything close for less than $30k?

You need to check all. Of. Them.

How hard can it be to copy/paste your VIN?

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If you keep this car for roughly that duration, an accident may not be that material to the value when you’re finished.

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Just got a carfax report over the weekend and it shows a retail value of $43.6k (trade-in $32.2k) with the accident recorded. Still have some decent equity. Currently checking the other links max_g posted as well.

Carfax is useless for Numbers.
Don’t even think this is a real quote.

BUT since it is there, expect the others to lowball it.

The range from the others on the list is from $31k to $38k. KBB has a trade-in value at $41k. To your point @forbs I am thinking it will be low-mid $30k. Anyone else sold or traded in a stinger on the forum?

So mid 30 is what the car is worth. Don’t use KBB and Carfax for anything beyond what they are good for (Getting a Crash worth, and getting a list of history)

So right now in this inflated market you can make maybe $5k (Minus $2-3k in TTL)

If you like the car, buy it and keep it. If you are so so in the car, well then return it. That delta of 2-3k might not be worth it to you to buy out , try to sell, find out the Accident will even lowball the online numbers.

I honestly don’t think you can make any money on it. That accident really puts a damper on it especially if on Carfax.
From a quick view of Carvana, a Kia Stinger 2019 is 40-43 so lets assume they make $5k, so they would offer 35-38k, then SUBTRACT that crash. So your quotes of 30-35 sound about right.

Yeah, I am definitely leaning on keeping it especially due to the current used car climate. Just wanted to see what the market value was. It sux the accident happened especially within the last year of the lease. I take great care of cars lease or otherwise, so I know what I got.

Why would you keep it? Isn’t NC tax something stupid low like 3%?

That’s $9,000+ equity you’ll never see again once this mania ends.

You’ll probably never get another chance to monetize a car with a dirty carfax like this.

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But won’t the situation be similar to the current housing market (although it is starting to cool some)? Sure, you will have equity, but you are going to buy high to replace it too! What can you get for $30k-$35k (residual + equity) with all the options the GT2 has while becoming at least a 2nd owner if going the used route? That is the conundrum I guess!