Getting ready to buy a GT2

[stingerbeagle]

Hello! I'm new to the forum and hoping to join the Stinger community if I can find a good place to buy a GT2.

I'm starting to catch up on this whole lease-and-then-buyout technique which sounds like it's the way to go. My top preference would be to just pay cash, but if I have to jump through this hoop for incentives then I guess I'll do that.

A couple things I'd love to get some help on:

1. If anyone has done this in California, and has any feedback on whether the lease-and-then-buyout process was easy that would be awesome to hear about, especially if there were any gotchas.

2. It seems like the 24 month lease has the largest incentives (just updated for Nov). Is there any reason to bother with the other leases (36/48 mo.) or should I just go for whichever has the biggest incentive?

3. If anyone has any recommendations for dealerships and specific sales people to deal with, that would be great too. I am in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the Palo Alto / San Jose region. Ideally I'd like to find someone who is accustomed to dealing with people who do internet research, and values everyone's time.

Thanks!

 

[MerlintheMad]

Yes, the biggest incentive is what you go for if you know that you're doing the buyout right away.

Welcome to the forum. And good luck!

 

[namja]

1. Greater SF/Bay Area Roll Call
2. I would only consider 36/48 if I was planning to lease for a while (1+ years?), but best bang for buck is 24 month for sure
3. For dealership reviews: The Stinger Dealership Experience, although I remember someone saying Future Kia of Clovis (Fresno area). Otherwise, I'd suggest e-mailing multiple dealerships for their best price before sitting down in person.

 

[Dahs]

If you end up having a good experience somewhere, let me know your deal please. I'm in the area and these stories of terrible salesmen sounds like a pain the ass to deal with.

 

[stingerbeagle]

Will do. I’m closing in on something I think, but it’s been a grind. It’s really annoying to see how little the industry has moved in terms of car buying. Some dealers have started off at $2k over MSRP with an “amazing” offer to let me keep half the rebate. It’s just mind boggling, but I guess they feel they have to do it since someone is crazy enough to purchase on those terms.

 

[stingerbeagle]

Just wanted to report that I've picked up a 2019 GT2 RWD. I'll create a separate post for the car, but in terms of the purchase process: I did the lease buyout technique as has been described in so many posts already. I've set up my account on kmfusa.com and the buyout quote is $20 off from my own calculated expected value, but does not include a $300 fee (even though it was in the contract).

So basically, everything is as expected so far. I'll run through the buyout process now, and hopefully that is also smooth.

I've run some numbers, and I estimate I will have saved about $5k vs cash-buying/financing the car. The difference isn't as big as you might think because there are some decent cash/finance incentives available, as well as the $650 lease acquisition fee. Still worth it though.

 

[Sabs]

Congrats! The current incentives really make for some great prices right now. I was going to wait til the '21 model (as long as it gets made) but the $10,500 incentive swayed me. Lease acquisition + buyout fees are $950, but other than that the entire difference between lease and finance incentives goes to the buyer.

Just sent in my buyout payment and will update the lease buyout thread with how long the process takes.

 

[stingerbeagle]

Congrats! The current incentives really make for some great prices right now. I was going to wait til the '21 model (as long as it gets made) but the $10,500 incentive swayed me. Lease acquisition + buyout fees are $950, but other than that the entire difference between lease and finance incentives goes to the buyer.

Just sent in my buyout payment and will update the lease buyout thread with how long the process takes.

Congrats to you as well! I didn't realize this till later, but the official incentive was actually raised to $10,720 but the dealer conveniently didn't tell me about it.

If you want to get nit-picky, there's also at least one month's worth of lease rent/interest (about $120 in my case) that should be counted as a cost of this hack.

I'm curious: Have they cashed your check yet? And in your case, did the buyout include a $300 fee?

 

[Sabs]

Yes, they cashed the check within a couple business days of receiving it. I sent it overnight. It showed up on the website as no payment due for the next month, plus a negative amount due for the following month. I called in a few days after to make sure everything was ok. They said the title will be mailed 10 days from the payment posting.

According to my math, it did include the $300 fee.

 

[stingerbeagle]

I'm in the exact same situation now too. The check was cashed today and I now show a negative amount due. Fingers crossed!

 

[stingerbeagle]

@Sabs have you received your title yet?

I called KMF today and they said that all was in order, and that they already "released my title electronically" and that it is now up to the state of California to mail me a paper title. They claim that I am technically already the title holder.

 

[bizzle]

If one is doing the lease + buyout, does it matter whether it's a 24/10K or 24/12K?

I keep asking for 24/10K and usually get quote on that but at least two dealerships have sent back 24/12K and one told me that 10K isn't possible on a 24 month lease so I'm wondering what they're hiding by doing that?

 

[Sabs]

@stingerbeagle

I actually just called KMF today. I received a letter of release from Kia about 12 days after my payment was processed, but not the title itself.

When I called they were able to tell me that the title was mailed 2 days ago, so hopefully I see it soon. For Arizona, I need to bring the physical title, signed off on the back, to the motor vehicles office to get a new title in my name.

 

[Sabs]

If one is doing the lease + buyout, does it matter whether it's a 24/10K or 24/12K?

I keep asking for 24/10K and usually get quote on that but at least two dealerships have sent back 24/12K and one told me that 10K isn't possible on a 24 month lease so I'm wondering what they're hiding by doing that?

I was told the same by dealer A but not dealer B. I ended up getting the OTD price I wanted from dealer A saying they could only do the lease cash + money factor on offer for 10k. I picked my battles and took the offer @10k/24. Still not sure whether they had more to gain from 10k, or just weren’t aware the terms would be the same with 12k.

Regardless, didn’t matter for me and I bought out successfully (title should be in the mail now). Shouldn’t matter for you either as long as you either have the cash to buy out or have financing lined up.

 

[bizzle]

The "better" offer is coming from the dealership writing it as a 24/12K. I was wondering if that was masking anything, and I was wondering if I had anything to gain by pushing them to write it as a 24/10K.

Am I understanding you correctly that I'm actually getting better lease terms with a lower price?

 

[Sabs]

Yes, it sounds that way. If you won’t be buying the lease out immediately, make sure to compare the money factor between the two dealers as some may bump it up for more profit. Just as with 10k/12k, that doesn’t matter if you’ll buy out right away, though.

 

[bizzle]

Yeah, the one with 24/10K was .00187 and the one with 24/12K was .0019...and when asked was told Kia wouldn't let them do 24/10K and the manager said .0019 was probably because of the different model (AWD vs. RWD). I was planning on either buying out or refi through my CU...have to run the numbers before I do that, though.

 

[stingerbeagle]

After an eternity and several calls, KMF finally mailed me a title. Unfortunately it's still in their name, and rather included a cover letter saying that I have to go to the DMV myself. This is the second time I've bought a car out from KMF and the first time, the title they sent me was in my name. Anyway, I had to wast 3 hours at the DMV, who tell me my real title will be in the mail in 2-4 weeks. I also had to pay a small late title-transfer fee, which is really annoying because it was KMF that took forever to mail me the title. Getting closer!

 

[2020KGT2]

Just wanted to report that I've picked up a 2019 GT2 RWD. I'll create a separate post for the car, but in terms of the purchase process: I did the lease buyout technique as has been described in so many posts already. I've set up my account on kmfusa.com and the buyout quote is $20 off from my own calculated expected value, but does not include a $300 fee (even though it was in the contract).

So basically, everything is as expected so far. I'll run through the buyout process now, and hopefully that is also smooth.

I've run some numbers, and I estimate I will have saved about $5k vs cash-buying/financing the car. The difference isn't as big as you might think because there are some decent cash/finance incentives available, as well as the $650 lease acquisition fee. Still worth it though.

Hey I know it's an older post, but I'm planning on doing the lease and buyout. I wanted to ask if its best to buy out immediately or after the lease?

 

[stingerbeagle]

Hey I know it's an older post, but I'm planning on doing the lease and buyout. I wanted to ask if its best to buy out immediately or after the lease?

There's no hard and fast rule on this since everyone's personal situation is different, but in general, it's best to buy out asap because the lease money factor is bad.