Help, Is my lease buyout price a good deal?!

Hello all,

Looking for some advice as to whether I should buy my Hyundai Santa Fe off lease or just return it. I have actually really enjoyed this car and would like to keep it but not if I’ll be overpaying for it.

It’s a 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited Ultimate AWD (7 passenger) with tech package and some other little extras. MSRP was $41,150 and sticker price with packages and freight and handling was $45,040.

I’m on a 36 month lease, 12k miles per year. Lease is up at the end of Sept.
I’ve been paying $399/mo, put about $900 down including first month.
Doesn’t include tax as there’s no tax in NH.

Currently has almost 29,000 miles, in good overall shape, a couple small dings (from other peoples cars’ doors) that I’d probably owe a minimal amount for.

According to HMF when I log in the “residual value” is $23,871 and the “buyout quote” is $24,951 (and is good through 6/27). Is this what I would actually pay to buy the car at the end of the lease? Also, does the buyout quote include my last 3 months of payments, or do I just pay the $24,951 before the end of this month then the last 3 payments “disappear”?

Help! As you can see I’ve never purchased a car at the end of the lease term and could use some guidance!

Thanks in advance.

The buyout quote includes the remaining lease payments.

Can’t comment if it’s a good value to buyout a car at lease end so maybe someone else will chime in. Maybe provide the MSRP.

Thanks! I just found the original sticker and the MSRP was $41,150 and final sticker price after packages, extras, and freight & handling was $45,040.

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It very rarely makes sense to buy out the car at the end. Right now, with the used car market even further depressed, it’s even less likely.

You should get some purchase quotes from carvana, shift, and vroom to compare against your buy out amount so you can see how much more or less the car is than what you’re talking about paying.

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Don’t forget you have to pay sales tax when you buy the car out, this can be a significant amount in a state with sales tax and needs to be added into the equation.

No sales tax in NH as stated in OP

The residual value $23,871 is what you can buy the car for at the end of your lease term in 3 months.

The buyout quote that you just received is what you can buy the car for right now. So as long as you pay HMF the $24,951 by 6/27, the remaining lease payments go away. No different than any other car loan essentially, HMF would then send you the title, and you would own it (or the bank that you finance the $24k through if you do it that way).

Also, while the common mantra around here is that buying out a lease rarely makes sense (which is true), it really comes down to individual circumstances and the specific car, etc.

If you’re now want a car that you can pay off and drive for a longer period, then it very well may be the best route. Look at what other 2017-2018 Santa Fe Limited’s are going for on Autotrader, etc. At quick glance they look to be retailing for around $21k-25k, so you’re buyout is on the high side (expected).

So the choice is essentially do you want to pay $2k-$3k more than similar Santa Fe’s to keep your own car that you like and know the history of, vs. potentially saving that money and buying another used Santa Fe any other car for that matter. Of course you should also do the research on long term maintenance reliability of Santa Fe’s, how they hold up, and so on.

This.
Let’s say they will buy your car for $18k
And you can buy out for $24k

Then it is up to you to decide if this particular car worth the premium difference to keep it.

Also, for how long would you keep it then? Another 3 year and you get sick of it? Or until wheels fall off?

Because if you only keep it another 3 year - that’s a big hit but then not everything is about $

If you get to keep it until wheels fall off - may be there is a case to be build to keep it.

But it is rarely the case.

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In his situation, wouldn’t it be more important to know how much a replacement would cost? Is it more to buy another similar vehicle or to keep the one he has?? What Carvana or vroom will give doesn’t matter much if he still needs to purchase a replacement. (curious)

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Yes and no. First and foremost, I’d want to know if I’m immediately buying into negative equity. That’s going to effect your decision to lease another vehicle or buy, etc. Then, if you’re set on buying, you’d want to compare against other options.

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I did a Carvana quote and it came back around $21.5k. I assume when they go to sell it they’d mark it up a few grand so they’re making money, which would put its market price closer to what my buyout is. I’ll try vroom also and see what they say.

I’ve got 2 quotes from Carvana and Vroom, $21.5k and $22k respectively. I’m tempted to keep it because I’ve kept the miles a good amount below the allowance and it’s in good condition. Do you think those offers are close enough to my buyout to make it a reasonable deal?

After taxes, this essentially means if you buy the car out, you’re immediately ~$5000 in the hole.

No tax in NH. And wouldn’t there always be a difference between in price from a company like Carvana buying and what a person would pay to buy it from them?

Gotcha. The tax situation does help.

And yes, it’d make a difference if you were set on buying it out, but if you’re deciding between purchasing and leasing, that $5k (less without the tax issue) pays for a third of the next lease, at least.

Yes, you need to compare both what the trade in value would be (offers from Carvana, etc.) and what the retail pricing looks like (similar cars listed for sale on Autotrader, etc.). The price you would pay for a similar model will be somewhere in the middle.

Based on your Carvana offer and my quick Autotrader search, it looks like your current buyout would be around ~$2k more than what you could probably find a similar model for.

Thats close enough that it’s a judgment call, really comes down to whether you’re willing to pay slightly more to keep your current car that you presumably like and know the complete history of. Personally given these numbers I’d buy it.

Also keep in mind when running the numbers that if you were to decide to turn your current car in and buy something else, you would still be on the hook for the remaining 3 payments, $1200 total. So that offsets some of the savings you’d have in buying another car.

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thank you for your advice. we’ve got a lot to think about. just wanted to make sure that with the numbers I wasn’t being completely screwed over. I did the math and all in (between all the lease payments, the original down payment and buying at the buyout price from HMF) I’d be in for $38,600 on a car with a sticker of $45k.

Think of it this way, 60mo note on buying this thing out will be $420’s+ a month, and by the time you pay it off it’ll be 8 years old, no thanks.

we’d probably pay about half of what’s left (~12k) upfront, then take out a loan (without early payoff penalties) for the rest and pay it off within 2 years.