End of lease 'specials'--scam?

kmart00

I have a 2011 Kia Soul ! (exclaim). My 3 year lease has about 4 months left and I am getting hammered by junk mail offers for up to $3k to pay off my lease agreement.

I cant tell by the fine print, but I am thinking that they they roll that $3k into the capitalized cost?

Is this a 'scam'--or are manufacturers giving dealerships an additional bucket of dollars as incentives to get you to trade in your lease early?

Mr_Shiftright

Edmunds has a good article on the pros and cons of these "deals".

http://www.edmunds.com/car-leasing/early-car-lease-return-deals.html

kmart00

thanks!

kmart00

To follow up on this..

So, I took my car to Kia... They gave me a generous offer for my Soul... Above the Galves value.

This gave me motivation, so I went to Subaru... They gave me exactly the Galves trade in value, which was more than the payoff amount for my car. I am now happily ensconced in a 2015 Forester

I didnt get the'$1500' pull ahead offer (I assume that would have been on top of the trade in value) at Subaru--just Kia didnt have what I was looking for this time

Kirstie_H

Congrats, and thanks for returning to follow up and let us know that, at least in your case, it wasn't a scam!