I leased a Nissan Ariya Evolve+ back in 2024 here in California, and at the time (being new to leasing), I put about $3,000 down (DAS) since I was focused mostly on lowering the monthly payment.
Now that I’ve learned more about leasing, I realize that putting money down isn’t generally recommended—lesson learned.
My lease is ending in a couple of months, and I’m planning to lease a new car, leaning toward another EV.
My question is: Is there any realistic way to recover some or any of that upfront payment at this point?
For context:
Lease ending soon
DAS included cap reduction + fees
I assume that money is mostly gone, but wanted to check if there are any angles I should consider—like selling the car to another dealer, having a dealer pay off Nissan, or capturing any remaining equity—especially with the lease ending soon and me planning to move into another EV.
Appreciate any insights—and hoping to do it smarter on the next lease.
$3k DAS isn’t the worst thing in the world. The main reason a large DAS is frowned upon is that if you total the car during the lease then the DAS is gone.
But if your lease is almost up then you’ve received most all of the benefit of that DAS amount (in the form of lower payments). So there really isn’t anything to “recover”.
You can try to shop your car to see if there’s any equity (doubtful on an EV), but the amount of equity you have or don’t have will be the same regardless of whether you had done $3k DAS or $0 DAS.
You either have equity or do not based on the residual value and the current value. Any money up front lowered you monthly payment and is not a thing to get back (unless it was a security deposit).Your buyout should be available online, you can compare that to what these are selling for. Most likely you are way underwater and should be glad it is a lease that you can just give back.
