Buying my clarity that is coming off of its lease

M

Markh

New Member
Hello,

My 2021 Clarity is coming off of its lease in the beginning of July. I would like to buy my car. My lease contract states that I can buy the car for about $16,500. However, online with one payment left, the Honda website says that I must pay over $18,000. How can I ensure that I only have to pay what is in the contract?
 
I would go to the dealership and tell them you want to buy the car based on your understanding of the residual value in the contract. They should be able to take your contract and tell you what your purchase payment will be. If it differs from what is stated in the contract, work with them to understand why it doesn't match the contract terms and don't give in until you either agree with them or decide it isn't worth more time and energy.
 
I never leased a car before but did seat through a couple of sales people explaining leases to me. The buy-off amount in the lease contract is an estimate of the value of the car at the end of the leased determined when the lease was signed. So that amount is just a ballpark figure. A few months before the lease end, you can go to the dealership, they will be able to give you the correct amount. To be honest with you, $16.5k for 21 seems to be low. Used car values has gone up. Even my 18 w/45k miles is worth about $16 to $19k trade-in.

Here is the catch, if you are in the US, and want to jump in the EV, and your adjusted gross income is less then $150k and if the used car is older than 3 years and cost less then $25k, then you can get up to a $4000 or 30% off, whichever is less, used car EV purchase rebate from IRS at a used car dealership.

I am kinda in your boat right now. I might have to give my Clara to my daughter and I need a car too. There are lots of good EV lease deals and tons of cheap EV for sale. I saw a 23 Kia EV6 FWD with like 10k miles for $23k
 
The lease is a contract. What you paid each month is based on the residual value stated when the lease was signed. That's all they can charge you. A whole lot of folks made out really well during the Covid era when they came off lease and their car was worth thousands more than the residual value in the lease. A bunch of them bought their car for residual and then sold it at a nice profit.

Just because the car may be worth more than the residual in the lease is irrelevant. The contract terms must be followed by both parties.
 
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