Kia Optima Lease Return Question

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1

Dear Hackers,

I have a question on a lease return - I leased a Kia Optima EX (12k/36 Months) which is due for return in August 2019. The car has done only 27.5 k miles and will not go over 28 k before the lease is up. My dilemma is if I should return the car to Kia and incur disposition fee + any wear and tear, or try re-selling the car to one of the online car-buying sites. Handing the car back to Kia with unused miles is a sore point and wanted to get feedback and any experience of returning a Kia from the more adept hackrs on the forum

As for the current lease I got a good deal with low payments and zero down ( back in 2016) thanks to the forum and at one point considered extending the lease on a month to month basis something I learnt was possible on one of the forum posts.

Thanks for your time.

2

Get a quote from all the car buying places and see which is most cost effective?

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3

Thanks @mllcb42 Matt, I have tried carvana and it is a few hundred $ less than the buyout amount from Kia - I am also running numbers on the rest of the sites. In order to sell to a car buying site ,I will have to first buy out from Kia and then sell it - correct?

4

There’s one long thread each for Vroom and Carvana.

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Thanks @trism

6

Get an inspection done too and see if there’s any charges. I wouldn’t feel too bad about unused miles, just dispose of it whatever way is cheaper, nothing special about a Kia and 9k miles isn’t the end of the world

7

For most finance companies, no, you don’t have to buy it out. US Bank seems to be an exception to this rule.

8

unless you lease another Kia, you’re stuck with disposition fee. Selling it won’t leave you in the black, Kia depreciate like a rock. Buying it first, then selling it defeats the purpose, since you’ll have to pay tax on the buyout.

9

From what I understand, if you sell directly to a dealer (which would include online dealers like Carvana or Vroom), they can likely buy it directly from the leasing company. This avoids the need for you to buy the car and pay sales tax. As others have suggested, get multiple quotes and go with the best financial option.