Kia Finance America recently launched a new “Keep Your Kia” program offering eligible lessees up to $9,900 off the cost of buying out their leased Kia EV, according to an internal dealer memo received and reviewed by CDG News.
Some context: A dealer that wished to remain anonymous sent us the memo, and at least two other dealer groups confirmed their teams received it, too.
Kia representatives did not yet respond to requests for comment.
The details: The program runs June 15-30, according to the memo, and applies to leases for the EV6, EV9, and Niro EV models that mature in June.
Discount amounts vary by model, trim, and lease term, ranging from $2,800 to $9,900 for eligible models.
Eligible customers are identified by Kia Finance America and notified directly by email, which directs them back to their originating dealership to complete the transaction.
Dealers verify eligibility and discount amounts through Dealer Access, then process the buyout as a retail cash or financed purchase using the "Lessee Payoff" option in Kia Finance Dealer Direct.
Dealer incentive: Participating dealers earn a flat $300 for each completed EV lease buyout, paid alongside the discount credit through their reserve statement once the transaction settles, the memo states.
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Zooming out: Scott Falcone, who confirmed he received the memo, told CDG News the program looks like an OEM clean-up job masquerading as a customer perk.
“This is evidence of a failed easy gameplan on a political level,” Falcone said. "OEMs were forced to play, [and] dealers are going to be the ones that will ultimately bear the brunt of the cleanup work."
Adding to his take:
He said dealers are basically getting paid $300 to orchestrate a deal that costs them a shot to convert the customer into a new-car sale.
In other words, he said, it’s just “a math problem” for manufacturers weighing the incentive cost against future sales.
He argued that similar buyout programs from other OEMs follow the same pattern: paying customers to keep a vehicle rather than risk losing them entirely when a lease matures.
Falcone also raised a question about what these buyouts could mean for residual values across the industry.
"The fewer transactions that occur that indicate the residual was a train wreck, probably the better off it is for an OEM," Falcone said, adding that keeping an artificially inflated value in the marketplace is probably better than letting "everybody see how bad it really is."
When a leased vehicle is bought out directly by the customer instead of returning to auction, there's no public sale price to confirm what the car is actually worth on the open market.
Falcone said every off-lease vehicle that doesn't go to auction removes a data point about it all.
Falcone also noted there could be broader resale and ownership-cost metrics that manufacturers have an incentive to protect by keeping low-value vehicles out of auction.
Beyond those points, Falcone said the pattern likely isn't unique to Kia, noting similar incentive programs from other manufacturers who've faced their own residual value issues.
Bottom line: A buyout incentive this steep could suggest Kia may be facing weaker-than-expected residual values on these EVs. And keeping them off the open market may be part of the calculus.
For dealers, as Falcone said, the $300 incentive may feel like a modest trade-off for losing the chance to convert a maturing lease into a new-vehicle sale, even if the program offers a quick way to keep customers in their cars amid rising negative equity on EV leases.
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