Buy at the end of lease or extend 6 months?

stephlite

Hi there -

I wasn't sure exactly where to post this but the car in question is a 2019 Hyundai Tucson Limited. My lease ends in 2 months and based on the current inventory situation I am strongly considering buying my car. I have under 5k miles on it total (barely had a commute even before Covid) and the buyout is lower than the current value based on recent analysis.

My question is - am I better off buying it now or should I extend the lease for 6 months and see how the market is then? I still might consider buying it at the end of the year so what are the implications if I push the end date out? I have never bought any of my leased vehicles so I want to make sure I am considering all the factors. Any insight is most appreciated. Thank you.

Michaell

stephlite said:

Hi there -

I wasn't sure exactly where to post this but the car in question is a 2019 Hyundai Tucson Limited. My lease ends in 2 months and based on the current inventory situation I am strongly considering buying my car. I have under 5k miles on it total (barely had a commute even before Covid) and the buyout is lower than the current value based on recent analysis.

My question is - am I better off buying it now or should I extend the lease for 6 months and see how the market is then? I still might consider buying it at the end of the year so what are the implications if I push the end date out? I have never bought any of my leased vehicles so I want to make sure I am considering all the factors. Any insight is most appreciated. Thank you.

I'll get some more experts in here to comment, but buying out the lease makes a lot of sense. I don't think the market will change that much in the next six months, so extending your lease doesn't get you a lot.

You will pay sales tax on the buyout price, so be prepared for that, and you may have to line up your own financing.

corvette

What he said. Do you know what the money factor on the lease is? If it’s really low, it may cost you little to extend the lease, since a lot of the payment is going towards reducing the residual value. On the other hand, if you will need to finance the lease buyout, interest rates may go up in the intervening six months.

oldfarmer50

All other factors being considered I’d say buy it now if you can afford it. In today’s crazy market it will almost be certainly worth more than the buyout price giving you instant equity, particularly with that mileage.

The likelihood of the market getting even tighter 6 months from now is unlikely since it’s currently at insane levels. In my opinion it can only go down from here.

It will all come down to your personal finances and how much you like your current car.

stephlite

Thank you so much for the responses. Very helpful and appreciated.