Leased a 2019 Kia Stinger base model almost a year ago (Feb 2020). Got a good deal of ~$24k on a ~$36k car. Zero down, $317/month, 12k/year. First time leasing, and thought I’d just lease it for 3 years and get something else, but then thought I might make out better if I bought out the lease a few months after getting the car. Due to financial reasons I was not able to do that at the time. Now I’m in a better spot to do it, but does it make sense still at almost a year into the lease? Current buy out on Kia’s finance site is $20,800.
Why do you want to buy it out?
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Maybe @StingerTT wants to weigh in? I remember that these cars were good candidates for an immediate buyout due to the high incentives and high money factor at the time. What’s the monthly payment? You’d have to do the math on what it would cost versus taking it to full term and then making a decision.
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For chits and giggles, I’d see what carvana/vroom/etc would offer you for it and go from there. Most likely you have some positive equity in it, so it’s almost a no brainer. Also, iirc, the MF at that time was pretty high, so if you can secure a better financing, it can also be beneficial to buy it out now.
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Right. The time to buy out a car with $8k in incentives and a 0.002 MF is ASAP, not once you’ve already paid all that rent charge.
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My thinking is that when the 3 years were up, if I owned it I could sell it for close to what I paid for it and have gotten a car to drive for 3 years for free. 
How does even the math compute for that logic?
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Everyone can dream…
How long do you plan to keep the car and how long do you plan to finance it?
This was already discussed in your shared deal thread. Idk why you’re rehashing it.
Have you bothered to do the math on how much you’d save in rent charge by buying it with cash or used auto loan, and what the actual real world value of the vehicle is now?
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I’m “rehashing” it now because its a year later, but thanks…
It probably doesn’t, but that’s why I’m asking.
How long I keep the car depends on what makes sense financially. 3-5 years? I would most likely finance it for 5 years though.
So how much exactly would it cost you to buy out the car today? Buyout price + remaining payments + sales tax. Pre-tax, that looks like $20,800 + ($317/month × 24 months) = $28,408.
Well, looking at your posted signed deal, the pre-incentive sale price was closer to $29.6k before $7900 in manufacturer rebates. MSRP was closer to $35k.
It will be 7 years old once it is paid off. Unless you can finance it for 3 years, it does not look like a good financial decision. How much do you expect its value to be in 2026?
What’s different now than a year ago?
Again, have you bothered to do the math?
perhaps maybe
The difference now is that I have paid a year’s worth of lease payments.
I was not aware that buying out the car would be the buyout price currently listed + the remaining lease payments. Thought it was just the buyout price. If that’s the case, then it definitely doesn’t seem worth it.