I was pretty happy with this deal, but I’m open to feedback.
Originally, I negotiated the payment to $415/mo with $1k DAS, but I did agree to an add-on in the finance room: a gap insurance plan + excessive wear and tear plan. They hid most of the cost of those by reducing their “Rent Charge” so that the real cost to me was only $120. That increased the monthly payment by $5, but it made the itemization on the sales sheet look funny.
The following might be more background than anyone wants…
My lease hunt started off on the wrong foot. I found a deal here on Leasehackr that looked way better than what I ended up with:
$314/mo with $500 DAS, 24mo/12k, for a ‘25 Ioniq 5 Limited AWD (a more expensive option than my vehicle) for a total cost of $8,036.00.
That lease was signed in Colorado.
I shopped it all around to dealers across Texas and nobody would touch those numbers or even bargain in good faith with them. Everyone replied with high-ball offers that were in the range of $650/month with considerable amounts DAS. Most would not even believe the deal I used for my initial as was real, and when I sent them the signed contract they were befuddled.
Eventually, I spoke with the dealership in Colorado that struck the deal. They were very kind and very motivated to make a similar deal for me, but they explained that Hyundai Motor Finance does NOT allow dealers to lease “across state lines.” We also realized that the state of Colorado also offers an extra $3,500 tax incentive for EV purchases that Texas does not.
Thus, the Colorado lease deal was useless to a Texas resident like me.
That’s why I’m posting this now! I think I got a real good deal for the Texas market, and I want other Texans to know about it and use it as much as they can before these EV specials disappear on Sept 30. I also want other newbie Leasehackr’s to know what I didn’t: just scanning for the best deal possible in any state may not be helpful when it comes to Hyundai. And understanding state-by-state EV incentives is pretty important.
In the end, my deal totals $10,660, and while that ended up $2,624 more expensive than the Colorado deal I found, when you factor in the $3,500 tax deal that Texans don’t get, it feels pretty on target.
Happy hunting, EV leasers!