How Far Out Will Rivian Buyout Your Lease?

[Gen(R3)Xer]

My current Model 3 lease doesn’t end until December of 2027. I’m probably going to lease or potentially finance a 2028 RWD Long-Range (345 miles) R2 Standard. That particular model doesn’t come out until Spring of 2027. For those of you that have experience with this, how far out will Rivian buyout your lease, 3 months, 6 months, more?

Additional Info: I was waiting for the R3, but with the earliest release of the R3X not being until late 2028 (R3 Standard 2029?), I decided to put down a reservation for an R2 on November 11th, 2025. I’m just trying to figure out how things might line up for me. My wife might end up with the R3 instead, if her 15-year-old Honda Civic can make it to 2029.

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[graytag]

I don't think they buy out your lease. The best you can hope for is a trade in value that is greater than your residual. In that case they'd pay off your lease and send you a check for the difference or apply it to your R2. There's zero incentive for them to pay off your lease.

 

[Eric9610]

My current Model 3 lease doesn’t end until December of 2027. I’m probably going to lease or potentially finance a 2028 RWD Long-Range (345 miles) R2 Standard. That particular model doesn’t come out until Spring of 2027. For those of you that have experience with this, how far out will Rivian buyout your lease, 3 months, 6 months, more?

Additional Info: I was waiting for the R3, but with the earliest release of the R3X not being until late 2028 (R3 Standard 2029?), I decided to put down a reservation for an R2 on November 11th, 2025. I’m just trying to figure out how things might line up for me. My wife might end up with the R3 instead, if her 15-year-old Honda Civic can make it to 2029.

I am also pretty sure Tesla does not allow this. They may have changed the terms, best to first check if Tesla allows buyout or resale.

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

I am also pretty sure Tesla does not allow this. They may have changed the terms, best to first check if Tesla allows buyout or resale.

My lease is with Chase and has the option to buyout. Tesla used to not allow a buyout (some bullshit about the robotaxi fleet), but they gave up as of 2024.

 

[Dark-Fx]

They will help facilitate the exchange, but if you owe money you'll have to bring it to the table.

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

I don't think they buy out your lease. The best you can hope for is a trade in value that is greater than your residual. In that case they'd pay off your lease and send you a check for the difference or apply it to your R2. There's zero incentive for them to pay off your lease.

Gotcha. I don’t have my residual in front of me, but I remember it was around $26,000 and something. So if the market value of a 2025 RWD Long-Range Tesla Model 3 with HW4 (supposedly capable of Level 3 autonomy someday) and approx. 37,500 miles on it in the Spring (June) of 2027 exceeds my residual, then the chance of Rivian paying off my lease and giving me credit toward an R2 should be greater, in theory. Thanks! That makes me somewhat hopeful.

What website would you recommend using to determine the market value, Kelley Blue Book, something else?

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

They will help facilitate the exchange, but if you owe money you'll have to bring it to the table.

Ah, so you’re saying if I did ask Rivian to look at my lease’s market value vs. residual for the purpose of a trade-in, I should have the final 6-month’s worth of lease payments available when I go to buy the R2?

 

[jackfu]

If you can swing the lease buyout amount, you’re probably better off selling to Carvana or carmax. While neither will do a direct lease buyout of a Tesla lease, they’ll probably offer more money for the Tesla after you buy it out. Rivian trade ins are in general on the lower end.

Rivian website indicates that they’re willing to help take trade in on a leased vehicle, but depends on make and financial institution of lease.

 

[Eric9610]

The problem with buying and selling is depending on the state you will owe the sales tax. This reduces the value of the gains.

 

[jackfu]

You mean a trade in reduces the amount of basis for the sales tax of the new car? All the examples I’ve seen with trades at Rivian are where the Rivian offer are so low that you’re still better off taking the sales tax hit if you’re trying to optimize for maximum savings. But going with the Rivian trade in is the more convenient option, so could be worth it to some. For Op, probably worth running it by Rivian now to see if Tesla leased through Chase is something they’re will to take on, and confirm again closer to the delivery date.

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

If you can swing the lease buyout amount, you’re probably better off selling to Carvana or carmax. While neither will do a direct lease buyout of a Tesla lease, they’ll probably offer more money for the Tesla after you buy it out. Rivian trade ins are in general on the lower end.

Rivian website indicates that they’re willing to help take trade in on a leased vehicle, but depends on make and financial institution of lease.

I leased through Chase with the option to buyout. I’ll definitely look at trade-in versus buyout and sell to CarMax if I can get more money that way. I also ran the numbers through Kelley Blue Book and it predicts my vehicle will have about $35,000 in market value by next year, so about an $8K+ difference in my favor compared to the residual ($26K+).

 

[rinconryder]

I just went through this and it was a massive pain in the ass. Long story short is I had to utilize the buyout option from chase on my Tesla M3. It took about ten days to get the title in my hand but carmax won’t buy your car until you flip the title to your name (at least that was my experience). But if I had gone through the DMV I would have had to pay the sales tax on my purchase of the M3 from chase so I ended up just selling it it to a local Lexus dealer who was willing to deal with the retitling. The offer from Lexus was lower than carmax but after taxes it would have been a wash.

 

[kelr316]

I am in the same situation with the difference is my Tesla is leased through them not a bank and it isn’t up until 10/2027. My only option is to terminate the lease early. I cannot buyout. The only positive due to getting the tax credit I am already at a break even point if I want to terminate early.

 

[NCSwa]

My current Model 3 lease doesn’t end until December of 2027. I’m probably going to lease or potentially finance a 2028 RWD Long-Range (345 miles) R2 Standard. That particular model doesn’t come out until Spring of 2027. For those of you that have experience with this, how far out will Rivian buyout your lease, 3 months, 6 months, more?

Additional Info: I was waiting for the R3, but with the earliest release of the R3X not being until late 2028 (R3 Standard 2029?), I decided to put down a reservation for an R2 on November 11th, 2025. I’m just trying to figure out how things might line up for me. My wife might end up with the R3 instead, if her 15-year-old Honda Civic can make it to 2029.

I believe you just have to make the reamining payments, I can't believe they are buying out anything. You make all the payments needed and turn it in..

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