Lexus RC 200T FSport Lease end options. Pls help!

The lease on my 2016 is up in Nov, it was 36mo 30k lease (I just rolled over 30k mark). My payments are $438/mo (with taxes NorCal & I did 0 drive off). If I buy the car now LFS says I have to pay $26k. I got an email saying LFS would make the last 3 payments & if I get another one.

I called LFS and they said the deal applies to Toyota as well. Cody from SoCal informed me that it’s only for Lexus and not Toyota.

My options are:

  • Buy the car: in this case can I still get the 3 month’s payments or can I negotiate the buying price (I think I’m ahead in lease)
  • Buy or lease a new Lexus: nothing really appeals to me(I like the RC I have a lot) and I haven’t seen any decent Lexus deals here.
    *. Return the car: I just did this with a Honda Van & HFS screwed me by charging me $5800 in damages (incorrectly, since I fixed everything before returning the car which cost me ~2k at a body shop), sending a notice to an old address on file & sending it to collections! I’m afraid something similar will happen if I don’t do a deal with Lexus. It’s got knocks and scratches.

Would deeply appreciate some advice!