Need some advice. I have another kid on the way and need to get out of my Kia Forte lease to get a bigger suv. I have 19 months left on the lease. The buyout is 21,600 and Carvana is offering 20,800 for it. I’m willing to take a hit but of course they don’t take in Kia leases. What would the smart decision be? To buy out the lease and then sell the car to Carvana/carmax etc.? When I called Kia financial they told me the buyout amount includes taxes but I’m not sure how that works if I finance the car then sell it.
Smart would be just keeping current lease until expiration. Once you pay taxes it is done and you can sell to any dealer who won’t pay any taxes.
I don’t know how Kia works but maybe find someone to take over your lease too. You can incent them.
Unfortunately Kia doesn’t allow lease transfers either.
In CA if you buy the car and sell within 10 days of receiving the title you can get the sales tax refunded
Figure out first who will give you the most for your car
Others have reported success using Lightstream for an unsecured loan to buy/sell their lease
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At an assumed 8% tax your payoff is 20k. So you’d have $800 or more positive equity if a Kia or Hyundai dealer or Autonation or Lithia matches/beats that Carvana offer. Click here to follow those links and get more offers.
There are also Kia and Hyundai brokers such as @Jeff_BeachCitiesAuto for examples in the Marketplace who can take the Forte lease on trade and lease you a new and larger vehicle.
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What are you trading it for? I would think Kia would allow you to get a Sorrento or Santa fe for it. Assuming they will give you $21k for it.
Try RODO if they operate in CA.
@Ursus didn’t you have a family member sell their kia lease recently? AFAIK, Kia still allows 3rd party buyouts… it’s just that some 3rd parties don’t want to deal with them since they take so long to send titles, etc.
Kia also charges $300 a surprise, buyout purchase fee.
Yes, they did. But it was a Kona and a year ago.
Not if you buy it out from Kia Finance. I purchased my Son’s 2021 Forte GTline Premium and did not have to pay anything but the buyout price. The kid only put 10K miles on it at the end of the lease and since used car market was terrible, I purchased it. No inspections or surprise charges going directly to finance company. Did the same for wife’s Chevy Equinox too (no surprise inspections or charges). Hardest part with Equinox, Chevy sent the title to wrong address, and it took longer to get car in my name. Luckly, the tags had a few months left. I have to check but, my friend wanted a Lexus ES350H and had a month left on her Kia K5 lease, I think we sold to Carvana and no problems. That was in 2023. Not sure if Kia changed rules on 3rd party buyouts. I tried to do the same with the Audi, but they do not allow 3rd party. Online car buyers reported for me to buy it out right then they would purchase from me. My 2021 Audi A4 TFSI 45 Sport buyout is $23K and Carvana offered $28,250. If I can avoided taxes (see LH on California not paying taxes) then might pull trigger.
a 3rd party buyout will incur a $300 fee. You were not a 3rd party.
Update: Sold it to GiveMeTheVin for a great price. Said bye bye.
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Great job!