Looking for words of advice, similar stories, or other general input on my current car lease situation.

Some details of the lease terms to start: -Vehicle price: $49.7K -Amount down: $2K -Capitalized cost reduction tax: $9.9K -Rebates for EV: $9.4K -Monthly payments: $696 (4 yr lease) -Total of lease payments: $44.4K -Gross capitalized cost: $54.7K -Adjusted capitalized cost: $45.7K -Residual value: $21.7K

I’ve been leasing my 2022 Kia Niro EV EX Premium for ~1.5 years now (2.5 years left on my 4 year lease). There are a lot of things I didn’t understand when I signed the lease 1.5 years ago. I’ve been pretty upset with myself for not understanding a lot of these things sooner.

For example, I didn’t realize there was a residual value that had to be bought out at the end of the lease. I thought if all 48 monthly payments were made then I’d automatically own the car at the end of the lease. I also mistakenly understood that I had an option to trade to another vehicle at any point during the lease. Also, I mistakenly thought the capitalized cost reduction was the cost reduction aka rebate for purchasing an electric vehicle (not an additional upfront cost to reduce my lease cost).

I realized more recently I felt I was over-paying for my car and got screwed over with my lease terms (and wanted to lower my monthly payments) so was looking into used Kia Niro plug in hybrid options. However, it seems there is no way out of my lease as Kia doesn’t allow lease takeovers or 3rd party buyout, and I’m upside down on my lease according to Kia Finance, so I can’t even sell it to a dealership for profit and get another used model.

Knowing what I know now I would never have signed this lease… they convinced me to go with a higher purchase price, put money down, and slyly added on a crazy high capitalized cost reduction that basically negates the EV rebate. I like the car a lot but wish I had gone with a cheaper used Kia and possibly a plug in model to avoid the constant charging and better for road trip. I don’t know if I should buy out the car when the 4 year lease is up. The car has also now been involved in one not at fault accident (it was hit by another driver while parked) which may reduce the value further upon buyout. I am also concerned for example if anything happens to the car (total loss claim for example) that I’d be on the hook for any additional amount paid to Kia beyond whatever the insurance pays me back for if my lease is still upside down at the time of a potential future collision.

On the plus side, it’s a nice car, and as the original owner I have the full 10 year warranty plus road hazard plus and a service contract. And, I don’t think I have to worry about the Kia theft situation since it’s a newer model with a keyless push to start feature.