I think they’re offering the tax credit as a lease credit (this is what it sounds like to me)
But I don’t yet have a KIA plug (nor do I intend to unless I make my part time thing a full time thing)
Thanks @Mark.ca, he really was clueless. Among other things he said if I wanted CarPlay in Niro EV I need to get EX Premium. He also claimed there is an “S” trim for the EV. 
So the lesson for me is to keep pushing for the dealer to pass the federal credit to me. I saw California allows you to claim the $3K even for a leased vehicle, so I can put that as $3K down payment to reduce the monthly cost.
None of that is correct. Dealer doesn’t get any federal credit, so they can’t/don’t pass it onto you. And there’s no $3k CA rebate.
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@Jon - I just checked https://www.driveclean.ca.gov/pev/Costs/Vehicles.php and there is no $3K CA credit, but at least that site seems to indicate $2,500 Clean Vehicle Rebate. Am I misreading it?
Are you saying for a leased vehicle, the Federal tax credit is not applicable to anyone - neither dealer/bank nor customer?
From here: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/irc-30d-new-qualified-plug-in-electric-drive-motor-vehicle-credit I see Kia Niro EV listed:
Federal rebate goes to the buyer. In the case of a lease, it goes to the bank. The dealer has no say into whether it gets passed to a customer or not.
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Curious who makes the final decision on passing the federal tax credit as a discount to the customer . Isn’t it the dealer making the call ? Could bank “technically “ say no ?
The leasing company decides.
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Makes sense. Although, I guess as a customer I can have them work with their lending partner to pass some/all of that credit so the buying decision becomes that much easier.
The CA credit seems legit though, @Jon?
No, a dealer isn’t going to work with their lending partner to change incentives, RV or MF.
The CA CVRP rebate is legit if you qualify, it’s currently on hold.
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Hi there. OP here. When I leased mine they gave me a $9,100 reduction in the price to “make up for missing out on the tax credit” which is more than the actual tax credit. I also qualified for the $2,500 ca rebate as well as an additional 2,000 for income qualified individuals. I believe they are putting a hold on those rebates while they see if the funding is approved for another round of rebates, but you should be able to get on the list if you do a lease now (I would double check, it may have been approved already). We ended up going with My Kia in Salinas. I can’t completely recommend them as we had some issues with some employees being incompetent and doing some of the paperwork wrong as well as some rudeness. They aren’t very good with technology which is disheartening since they use it a lot. At the time I posted this I believe they were slightly cheaper than capitol Kia, but that could have easily changed. Capitol was also giving the reduction on the cap cost at the time. When I went there I talked to several people who didn’t know ANYTHING and were just trying to get me to put a deposit down. They refused to give me any numbers for a while. I would try talking to someone else. No one will give you a deal on this car as there are not very many of them. They act like you are lucky to even get one, but don’t be pressured into it. I had several salesman try to say I wouldn’t be able to get another one only to have them offer me another a few days later. They are rare, but you can definitely get one fairly easily. Let me know if you have any questions!
Oh whoops you said Stevens Creek not Capitol, my bad. They had the highest price out of the three (stevens, capitol, and my Kia) back when I was looking. I would check with the other two.
Thanks @pyrrha … when I told the salesperson that the Kia website has 8,300 offer for leased Niro EV’s, he came back with “oh, if the website has it we will honor it” 
I had a very similar experience with the Stevens Creek Kia - he didn’t want to give me the final costs because he said his Finance department would like me to make a decision there and then. So I asked for approximate numbers and he told me to Google “loan calculator” (!!!) and my natural question was how much to put in the principal for the loan calc - he said 48,175. LOL. I had to tell him that the lease is financed on the net value of the car today vs 3 years from now, so he said “oh yea, just put in 20K for the calcs” 
Will try Capitol. Salinas is too far from where we are. Costco Auto connected me to Oakland Kia which is also quite far for us. [Edit: per Capitol’s website they don’t have any Niro EV’s in their inventory ]
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First post here!
We test drove a Niro ev recently at Oakland Kia. Ask for big james. He’s awesome. Jeff was great, too. We didn’t get to brass tacks bc we decided to lease another vw eGolf instead (don’t need the long range. But Oakland does have niros in stock.
They said they’re moving a ton of them right now, so I have no idea what you might be able to do on a lease deal. But they seem like good folks to deal with. Small dealership down the block from larger VW, MBZ, Audi shops.
Good luck!
I would try calling Capitol. They get them in pretty often and sell them quickly. They were never on their website, but I went there and saw them in person. The offer was 8,300 but went up to 9,100 for a while anyway. Don’t let them jerk you around. Say you need to get the real numbers or you will take your business elsewhere. I went to Stevens Creek too when I was looking and the guy kept acting like he was just going to draw up the sale when all we wanted was a test drive and to get the pricing. I would avoid them it were me. Then he seemed really offended when we tried to make it clear we weren’t ready to buy. A very uncomfortable experience. He kept asking what it was about him that made us not want to buy when it wasn’t personal at all.
Also, I just got the California rebate a few days ago. It takes a while to process your application and then a while longer to send the check. Just a heads up you’re looking at anywhere from 2-6 months give or take.
Thanks @pyrrha. Was your selling price above MSRP? This dude is telling me all dealers price Niro ev $2,995 above MSRP. Sounds … not right.
They tried to pull that with me too. I just went to a different dealer. Is that at Stevens Creek? I will see if I can dig up my notes. My Kia didn’t do that. I can’t remember if Capitol was going to. You may want to consider going to one that is further away if you can’t get a reasonable salesman closer. I know it seems like a long drive, but you only have to do it once or twice. You can try to do the preliminary work by phone. You can also try to get quotes from further away and then use them to negotiate with someone closer. Oakland may be worth a try.
Yeah that makes sense. Will call My Kia as well as Oakland to check. I already sent a note to Capitol. Thx!!
No problem. Good luck!
Let us know how it turns out.
Oakland Kia seems to have the most aggressive pricing. May visit them on the weekend. BTW, Stevens Creek Kia came back with “we want to make you happy, come over and we can negotiate”
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