Looking for a quick sanity check from anyone who has recently done an immediate lease buyout on a Kia EV9 through Kia Finance America (KFA) in California.
Plan is to sign a lease to capture the large factory lease cash incentive, let the account fund (approx. day 10–14), pull the official 30-day payoff quote from KFA, and buy it out immediately.
A couple of quick questions before signing:
1. Can anyone confirm there are no early buyout penalties or unearned rent charge catches with KFA on the EV9?
2. Any hidden fees or contract language on the standard KFA lease agreement I need to watch out for at signing?
3. In CA, did you run into any double-taxation or title transfer friction with the DMV/CDTFA when handling the payoff directly with KFA vs. through a lender?
Last time I went this route, there was about $1k to $2k extra you would have to pay.
You’ll pay acquisition fee and maybe disposition fee or buyout fee or title transfer fee depending on your contract.
Generally I’d agree - that would make sense with my equinox EV lease that’s ending for example. But here I think it comes out closer because of the current dealer discount from MSRP ($5,300 off $72,500 MSRP) and the lease incentive ($19,100 off). My total cost to lease and immediately buy it out wil be about $55,000. Currently two year old EV9 Lands go for about $44,000.
$55k depreciated to $44k over two years is acceptable.
But only if it works to buy it out (early lease purchase option) without some weird contract language or fees that will increase the cost significantly.
I figure the following costs with an early lease buy out:
Adjusted Lease Balance (Net Capitalized Cost less Month 1 Depreciation
Purchase Option Fee $300
Accrued Rent Charge (the money factor / interest from start of lease until purchased, hopefully by about 30 days which might be around $100)
Sales / Use Tax (9.25% for my against the buyout balance)
Lease acquisition fee ($650, paid when I lease it initially as a drive off cost)
DMV transfer fee around $30
I understand the dealership will tell me I have to wait 90 days but that’s not required and I can buy out from KFA as soon as they generate a buy out number, probably about 30 days after starting the lease.
As other mentioned, I need to avoid being double taxed by checking if Kia included tax in the buy out cost (in which case I need to get formalized Bill of Sale / Odometer Disclosure explicitly itemizing the amount of California sales tax paid, otherwise the DMV may attempt to assess use tax a second time wheni go in to transfer the title.
Equinox EV had inflated RVs because they included the 7.5k incentive as an RV increase. So can’t compare your old Equinox EV lease to the new Kia EV9 lease.
I don’t know the market, but that seems expensive. 2 year old EV9 should be around $37k. Are you getting the highest trim?
But I do agree, that the lease incentives does help with the depreciation, and if you are keeping the car for a longer time, it could make sense.
Your plan on the buyout process seems correct to me. The only thing of concern would be to run the numbers on early buyout vs lease end buyout vs just leasing multiple vehicles.
SF Bay Area market. Getting 2nd highest trim (Land). Your number is closer for a wider range of miles (up to 400 miles) and if looking at Light, Light Long Range, and Wind though.
Looking at CarGurus for Land only, the lowest price is $40,880 with only a few under $42k. Highest prices (excluding anything considered by cargurus to be “over priced” or “high priced”) is $46,300. Not any better among private sellers on Facebook and Craigslist (surprisingly few listings for Lands actually).
Average listing (excluding out of normal range top and bottom 10%) is just over $44,000 with around 15-26k miles.
EV prices are skewed right now due to high gas prices. Once we get a new Congress and out of Iran mess, I expect gas prices will drop and so will used EV prices.
You won’t be able to buy it out until the initial title work is processed. Not sure how long this may take in CA, it could very well be 90 days. Dealer can also make it take 90 days if they want. I’ve had it take 180 days.
I think your off on your RV estimate. You can’t use retail pricing, during a gas crisis, to establish what you will be able to sell it for in 2 years. If you look at wholesale pricing on 25’s, it’s closer to $37K. So more like a $18K TCO over 2 years, which is like $750/mo effective.
agreement all wrapped up and finishing up my drive home.Lease incentive was actually $19,400 for a 4 year ($300 better than expected).
Once I buy it out, my total out-of-pocket is about $56,500.
Signed: 2026 Kia EV9 Land Nightfall | 48/10k | $677.49/mo | $4,000 DAS | MSRP $72,285 | Lease to immediate buyout
Emailed ~6 NorCal dealers. Most Bay Area offers ran 2–5% off. One store wouldn’t beat ~$2,600 in person. Runner-up was $4,300 off (Vacaville), with a hitch but a less-preferred color.
48-mo lease cash ($19,400) beat the $10k purchase Customer Cash by $9,400.
Don’t know how long you plan on keeping it and can’t tell if any of it makes sense when you factor in the current value, sales tax, etc., but did you look at MMR in CA for a 2026 EV9 Land Nightfall with 1000 miles or less? @z0lt3c has a great point on this car’s current and “projected” value, and using CarGurus, FB MP and CL (non-wholesale) for values on a trim that is not widely purchased/leased may lead to some disappointment down the road.
Not sure what you are towing with an EV9 (assume it is for bike rack, etc. instead), but be very careful about the place that installs the add-on/aftermarket hitch even if a KIA dealer with an OEM hitch. There are a million stories where between the hitch and poor wiring this goes bad very quickly.
Hitch will really just be for a bike rack as you guessed. I’ll self install, not my first hitch (this will be number 10 actually). No wiring at least for now.
Planning to keep it 5+ years, if I can make it 8 years then my oldest kiddo will be in the market for a car themself, but if not. Of course we’ll see if some new great options come out between now and then
Fair point on cargurus as a mediocre gauge for used market pricing and yes, assumptions built in to be sure. Even if it dropped to $35k used market value after 2+ years I’d consider that acceptable, though I’m optimistic it will exceed that and be closer to >$40k, but I’d be happy to keep driving it for at least 4 years, likely more. Sweet ride, good range, great features, just the trim and packages and color we wanted, and fast charging get us all we’ll need for quite some time. I didn’t think I’d care about the Boost but dang that’s a difference when hitting the accelerator! Nightfall package is growing on me.
My friend just got a GT-line a couple days ago and leased it for 2 years. We’ll compare numbers at the end of his lease and see how we both did in the end.
Deeply appreciate all the helpful input here. Ultimately happy with the deal as negotiated and we’ll see in a month or so if my scheme ti get the advantage of the $19,400 lease incentive works out.
Re: why rush? More time on the lease is more interest paid essentially. I’ll pay the buy out in full and avoid the cost from money factor / interest less (hopefully) about one month before it’s in the system for Hyundai finance to get the pay off arranged by them rather than through the dealership. Your lower estimate of a two year value may be right, but I’m really looking at a longer time frame and I’m being perhaps more optimistic on valuation (and pessimistic that gas prices will go down much; I suspect the opposite frankly, especially the way things are going now).
I’m optimistic the lease will show as funded and be able to request the lease buyout in the next 7-14 days. While getting titles can be slow with Kia, it’s the funding with Hyundai finance that sets the timing for getting the buyout done, then I’ll get the new title sorted at DMV / AAA.
The pretax price here ends up at ~$48.9K. If I’m at $35k value in two years but I’m keeping it for another two or four, good enough. And better than paying several thousand in MF / interest. Maybe we’ll remember to look here again in 4 years and see if my guess was right: in 2030 the going price on the used market will be over $30k. What would your estimate be by then?
Then I’ll push some more lol: why not invest this money and see where the EV9 market is 4 years from now? Even if you do not think you can beat 7.56% interest in the market, earning ~5.3% on a 10-year might be enough to justify letting the bank take that risk. Unless I missed it, you are not considering opportunity costs, nor chances of this car being problematic, getting into an accident or just being an old tech in Oct 2030.
Btw, today was the 4th anniversary of the current bull market. Had you invested in the S&P500 exactly 4 years ago, you would have made about 2.2x your money.
Trying to run your numbers: ~$52.5K, pay $677.49 x 47, decide at month 48.
At ~4% after tax (5.3% before federal tax), I’d have ~$26.9K left in 2030. Buying then costs ~$33.3K (residual + $300 + tax), so if I keep the car, holding the lease costs me ~$6.4K more (~$4.2K at a full untaxed 5.3%). Returning it only wins if the car is worth less than ~$26.5–28.7K in Oct 2030. I’m still taking that bet.
So it’s like a $4–6K insurance premium against EV values falling below ~$27–29K. You’re right that it also shifts accident-related diminished value to the bank. Warranty and CA lemon law cover the problem-car scenario either way (hopefully, had a poor experience with Hyundai warranty work previously).
Plus, I like not worrying about the mileage limit of 10k, no issue with installing a hitch myself or getting different mats and such. Mine to keep or sell with the car. Plus no wear charges, no turn-in fee or lessor insurance minimums.
My bet is still north of $30K in 2030, so I’ll self-insure and skip the premium. But it’s a closer call than I figured initially.
What’s your best guess on a 4-year-old EV9 Land value in 2030? Is $30K optimistic?
