Dealer is taking the 7500 off residual?

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I want to lease a 2025 Equinox EV from a Chevy dealer in Southern California. I am leasing because I don’t qualify for the $7500 federal tax rebate to buy based on my AGI.

When I previously leased Nissan, the $7500 came right off the price of the car, I understood that. I was thinking this would be the same with the GM car, but it’s more confusing.

I expected the $7500 to come off the car’s total price, but as I am reading here, GM adds the $7500 to the residual instead.

So, it seems to me that by increasing the residual by $7500 they are decreasing the “lease amount” and thus reducing the amount of money one pays during the lease term.

But this practice, as I understand, also discourages the buyout of the car at the end of the lease. If I eventually want to buy out the car, then it sounds like it would be best to forgo the $7500 and buy the car outright, as leasing makes buyout prohibitive. Is my understanding correct? Is there a way to make them take the $7500 off the car’s total price instead of adding it to the residual? Do all GM dealers do this?

The dealer is encouraging me to take the 24-month lease as the lease payment is around $216/month, including tax, vs over $300/month for a 36-month lease. I always thought the 36-month lease would be less expensive, but it seems to be working in reverse. Is that because, in a 36-month lease, this car will lose significantly more value, so the balance of residual to lease portion shifts toward the lease, which now needs to cover a higher loss? I don’t understand why the 24-month lease is less than 36 and how I should evaluate both.

Finally, I was looking at CarGurus and noticed that one dealer greatly discounts their cars. A 2025 Equinox LT with MSRP of $44,189, is discounted and appears to be sold at $30,488. How are they doing this?

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/searchresults.action?sourceContext=carGurusHomePageModel&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=d3267#listing=400263139/NONE/DEFAULT

I know I am bundling a bunch of topics in the same question, but I am happy to break it up…

Thanks.

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The dealer isn’t doing anything.

This is how GM financial chooses to incentivize the leases with their tax credit. They have no obligation to give you any of it, but this is what they choose to do. You have no choice in the manner.

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Sometimes 24 month is better, sometimes it isn’t.

It is easy to evaluate… which one has a lower effective monthly payment?

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24 month vs 36 month depends on their relative residual values (set by manufacturer) and money factors (minimum and maximum set by manufacturer), this is not upto the dealer.
Higher residual value makes for a good lease deal but not a good buy out option. The depreciation on the car will be GM’s headache at the end of the lease not yours, why would you want to catch a falling sword? Lease, rinse and repeat.

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I agree just lease. The fact that the car loses more value in 3 years tells you that this isn’t a car to buy and keep for years.

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For your dealer discount on car gurus question, have not looked at the link but it can be anything from adding 7500 ev rebate + every incentive available to show that pricing. $7500 is still available for purchase option so dealers do that. Check the dealers website.

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Don’t over complicate it.

Forget about buying it at the end.

Take the term with the lowest annualized cost.

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If I were you and you can swing it-ask them for a ONE PAY deal 24/10K miles, it will be even cheaper than that $216/mo and LEASE don’t buy EV’s at these prices… Cars to buy are Lexus, Toyota or Honda :call_me_hand: maybe Subaru and Mazda… see the pattern here :laughing: :jp: