Lease Return or Buyout

[ricardar]

Might be a little early to start asking this, but I am curious if anyone has started hitting the end of their leases and can weigh in on whether Kia is willing to deal (similar to how Nissan is desperate to stem the tide of depreciated leafs..). I got a 3 year 45k mile lease Feb of 2015 so I am barely getting to the 2 year mark, but figure that in around 6-8 months or so my dealer is going to be itching to get me to sign something new.... If I can get a good deal on my Soul (no way it is worth even remotely close to the 17k or so that is stated as the residual), might buy it outright AND lease something new since (other than OBC issue that hopefully won't come back) it has been perfect and the wife loves it. She was sad at the idea the "Scout" might be leaving the family.

 

[SoulEV2016]

a little answer : http://www.mykiasoulev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=395&p=5683#p5680

 

[AyeJay]

I pre-ordered my Soul EV (received it during the first US shipment) and my lease is up in October of 2017.

I haven't heard from my dealer, nor do I expect them to 'deal' on the $11,500 residual value at the end of my lease.

I'll probably go the buyout route and sell the car to a friend when I'm ready or when something better comes to the EV market.

-- So far there is nothing better for my needs on the EV market in the US ... ...

I'll post again to this thread when the lease contract has ended.

 

[wrickcook]

I leased at the end of Oct 2015, Seattle, WA (technically Renton).
3yr, 45k mi
$15k residual.

 

[SmoothJ]

I have a long way to go personally since I just picked up my vehicle (12/16) for 3/36, but I don't usually keep my cars past the 2 year mark. By that time the Soul EV, or whatever EV Kia has at that time, will have a nice competition from different manufacturers. So we will see where the pieces fall.

I plan to put down for a Model 3 once I get our tax return knowing well enough that I will not get it anytime soon (again around 2 years). The only problem is the rebates for Federal will no longer exist since it will be past 200K cars and there are over 400K pre-orders already. The good news is that I can get that money back if something else catches my eye.

 

[GizmoEV]

As a benchmark, I bought a lease return Blue 2016 Soul EV+ with 7450 miles on it for $21k in Portland, OR. My thinking was that after my residual on my first White 2016 Soul EV+ is a little over $13k after 4 years. Also, by my calculations of the rate we were putting miles on the leased Soul we would have a $7-8k penalty on turning it back in. By buying the second one I can put the longer miles on it and not have a penalty at the end of my lease. Also, given that $21k bought a 1 year old car with 7450 miles on it surely a 4 year old car with 48k miles will be worth less than $13k. I'm hoping they will make me a good deal at the end of the lease or I can trade it in on a longer range vehicle.

 

[SmoothJ]

After thinking things over, I am not sure what I will do anymore (want to use the Tesla Model 3 down payment for other bills instead). Again, we will see in ~2 years when I am going to trade in the car and see whats out there. I really do not think I will buy it, even though the residual value is $12,968 after 3 years.

 

[AyeJay]

It's October & my Soul EV lease ends next week.

I'm sad to say goodbye but excited about continuing on the road of EV-ness..

I'll be defecting to the Chevy Bolt EV camp .. a 238 mile range, pretty spunky performance is just too compelling to resist.

I test drove it again and was most impressed with the re-generative braking, one pedal driving. It's a little stronger than the Soul and will hold at a stop without having my foot on the brake pedal (no creep) in the highest re-gen setting.

The in car navigation will be through my cell phone/android auto only which is a little concerning.

Anyway, I'll be leaving this forum soon.

It's been fun .. Thank You all for sharing the experience.

AJ

 

[tractioninc]

As I near the end of my lease I'm starting to think that I would really like to keep this car, but only for the right price... $15,000 is way too much when off-lease Leafs can be had for half as much. On the other hand, early production Tesla Model 3's are selling for nearly $50,000 and used Model S's start from about $40,000 -- yikes!

As much as I hate to give up EV driving and access to the carpool lane, I think my next car will have a V8 engine and a lot more performance.