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Comments
Best Regards,
Shipo
I'm now curious about this property tax on a lease. I've never heard anything like it. If you do get an answer somewhere please keep us posted.
http://mbspy.bacosys.be/r171.htm
They dropped the MB grill.
I just got a promotional CD for the Cadillac CTS. It looks like something out of Demolition Man, all angular sculpted aggression. It may dethrone the Aztec for having most ugly mean front (scary when seen looming behind you in the rear view mirror).
Any takers?
As far as property taxes, no-one can answer that question but the City Hall of the community where you live. My excise tax (that's what it's typically called) is about $900 annually in Boston. Not sure if they treat leases any different from regular loans...
In the meantime, here's a nice picture of our new ride at the ED center parked next to the new Mini and another 3er.
In a word, the ED experience was amazing. It's the kind of thing I wish I could do on a YEARLY basis.
Two quick non-ED related bits of info:
Johann1, you should definitely call Joern Esser at Passport BMW in Maryland. I spoke to folks at VOB, Fairfax and Arlington and Joern is better than the lot of them.
rednblack, steel grey with black interior looks exquisite. Unfortunately, my ED pictures don't really have any that show both interior and exterior.
Also, I believe someone had commented on getting M Bimmers via ED and I wanted to clarify that a bit. According to Joern at Passport, you can pick up an M via ED but there is no ED discount involved. But hey, at least you get to break it in on those fantastic German roads.
Good luck.
So now the wait begins anew for your ship to come in! I'm looking forward to pictures and descriptions of your trip.
derprofi - Welcome back!! Nice ride and memorable experience!
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When I followed that link to the 2004 SLK the first word that popped in my mind was "yuck".
That front fascia has to go. Maybe I have to
see it in person.
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I gotta keep reminding myself don't go past 4k RPM 'til I reach 1200. Not that I drive hard but sometimes I see that opening further up and just want to mash it whether its merging on the highway or finding that slot on the right lane further up to catch that exit.
I forgot we weren't supposed to post pictures on THIS board.
I just got off the phone with a manager over at the county tax assessor-collector's office. He told me that through lack of thought on the part of the state legislature that all people leasing in Texas have to pay property tax on their vehicles but people who purchase never have. The leasing companies usually rolled these taxes into the monthly payments but on some leases, the taxes were collected directly by the government. This law has been changed recently and this is the last year that these taxes will be collected (in county areas -- each municipality may vote to keep collecting them).
Yes, I will be checking out gap insurance, thanks.
Here in VA we also get hit with a yearly personal property tax on automobiles in addition to the state sales tax you pay at time of purchase. They refund part of the property tax each year, but it's still highly bogus when you add it to all the other ways they get us here (yearly inspections, bi-yearly emissions, etc.)
Dave, here's another pic of the 2-tone black/silver Mini for your viewing pleasure... If I needed a small ride strictly for inner-city or grocery store commutes, I'd definitely consider one. I'll have to check with Joern and see if they have a Mini ED program for the US
Sales tax on a new car is low at about 3.5%
Nevertheless, as Brave said, you sound like a bad candidate for a lease at 20,000+ mi. per year. What you have to understand is that leasing is designed for a certain very specific type of driver:
1. Drivers who drive low miles per year (there is an non-proportional mark-up on buying excess miles - either pre-purchase or after the fact).
2. People who like new cars more often than every 6-7 years.
3. People who can write off business leases (this is a VERY advantageous reason to lease).
4. People who aren't sure if they will like their car - or who may want to upgrade in a few years.
5. People who take very good care of their car, or plan to trade it for a car by the same manufacturer (they'll overlook many more blemishes if you re-lease or buy from them again at trade-in time).
6. People who just cannot afford the car they want on a 5-year buy (buys longer than 5 years are a serious rip-off), with the downpayment money they have available (although most "experts" say this is not an economically sound reason to lease on its own).
7. People who don't have a downpayment, or would rather invest their money in investments that yield more than they are paying in interest.
Generally, when you don't fit the majority of these criteria - you should buy your car. I'm going to lease mine for reasons 1,2,4,5,6, and 7 - so I wish you the best of luck on your decision.
Did you just get a much better rate from the CU, or are your tax laws different? I know,...I live in a baaaaaad labor/tax state! And our roads aren't even good to show for it!! Sometimes I think I should move to Texas. (Just kidding about that last part)
<<< Unless you keep your cars for 7 years or more, or can afford to finance for 4-years or less, or put 20% down, it's cheaper than buying >>>
BTW, a lot of 5-years loans are at the same rate as short-term loans these days.
I've read many times that if you buy a car for 5 years, pay it off, and turn around and sell it, you take an enormous hit in depreciation between what you just paid (in principle and interest), and what the car is still worth. Plus you lose investment income on the extra money you paid every month for 5 years. This may not apply to BMW's because of very high resale value. I'm sure a financial expert could better prove or disprove my theories.
Most of my knowledge is based on reading comparison case studies between sample leases and buys of different cars over different terms. I think it was in Consumer Reports about 3-4 years back. I read it right before buying a new car. I'm sorry I can't recall the exact data to substantiate my argument.
My theory, and it is simple, is this: If I pay an extra $150/mo to buy than lease, for 5 years, then I have shelled out $9,000 extra over the life of the payment. Plus, I've lost income on that money (say $1,000). If I try to trade that car after 5 years, will the dealer give me $10,000 for my trade to cover what I've already spent? On most cars (BMW's maybe excluded?), the answer is usually no. I think you usually get ripped off on trade ins. So the only way to make it payoff is to keep the car for a year or two and realize the savings of owning your car outright with no payments.
I'm open to opinions on this theory, since mine isn't cast in stone.
I went with the CU because it was the easiest way for me to get my hands on the required $ in short order (ED requires payment in full 30 days prior to the Munich delivery date).
Well, I just e-mailed one of the biggest dealerships in munich Niederlassung München BMW about clears for a 2002 330i (i know that they might not have them in stock yet, but i thought I'd ask anyways)and here is what they replied,
Hello Mr. *****,
thank you for your e-mail.
I have a bad news for you. The white lights for the US spec. 330i are
not available and you cant drive those in the USA.
You have to have yellow lights in the USA. Only The European spec. cars
can drive the white lights.
I"m sorry.
Greetings
Jan Julin (Tel: +4989-35 35 1 965)
I know its illegal in the US, but I thought it was still possible to get them installed in Germany. It seems to me, as if they are telling me, that they will not install them. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
We got our new 330i in Sept. and we did the balloon payment thing (I can't remember what BMW calls it) and the payments were really close to a lease. This way we won't get hit with any property tax and it is classified as a purchase. We still have a mileage limit, though, at 15K a year. We only put enough down to cover TT&L and a few hundred more (I went for a round number down payment).
If you are at all wary of the property tax this year (there won't be any next year), then I would go balloon payment route, if possible. The BMW website has the calculator for the balloon on there as well.
Anyway, maybe you can figure out the problem - I'd like to see your bimmer also. Derprofi's is gorgeous! :-)
Pat
Host
Sedans Message Board
Edmund's Leasing Info area advises against taking advantage of manufacturer-subsidized leases. Why? Because, according to them, the low payments are obtained by putting unrealistically high residual values on the vehicle. This means it won't be economically feasible to buy the vehicle at the end of the lease. And, often, some up-front money is required. Now, this last reason would be a negative for me, but if you don't have any intention of buying the vehicle at the end of the lease, is there any other problem with the residual value being placed at an unrealistically high value?
brave1heart - I use Netscape almost all the time. Just to see, I tried IE, and sure enough the picture loaded up just fine. (Very nice!) So maybe that site just doesn't deal well with Netscape. I dug the link you used out of the source for the page, and no matter what I tried with Netscape, all I got was either "document returned no data" or "server failed to return requested information" (something like that).
Oh well - is that the same color as derprofi's? I know yours is orient blue. I like that color a lot.
Pat
Host
Sedans Message Board
For example, my 99 Volvo S80 had a residual percentage of 68% when I wrote my 3 year lease in 1998; the car was worth 53% at the end. New 3 year Volvo leases are using 53%. Manufacturers are getting stuck with a lot of off-lease vehicles that had unrealistically high residuals. That is one of the prime reasons that zero (or low)-percent financing is easy for them - they bear no risk of the vehicle value at lease termination (and they can lock in their rate at today's low commercial paper rates - < 2%).
One additional cost of the ED for me was that my credit union required that I maintain insurance from the point that they pay - 30 days prior to delivery in Europe. This amounts to approx. 60-90 days of coverage, even though BMW covers the car while in Europe and while in-transit (they don't cover theft in Europe, so conceivably a lender could get screwed). After some back-and-forth, I was able to provide only comprehensive coverage during this period, reducing the premium to a manageable level, but they acknowledged that most people have just typically overpay their premium.
Questions: does anyone use the thule, non-bmw rack system with fairing and how noisy is it?
thanks.
hgeyer - thanks for the information on the insurance disadvantage to the ED
Pat - thanks for the photo posting information. I may want to do this after I get back from my ED. I'll be awhile though. My vacation is tentatively scheduled for 6/22-7/14. brave1heart's car is Orient Blue/black. I believe derprofi's car is Steel grey/black.
Anyone out there who has recently bought excess mileage on a BMW lease? What did you have to pay per mile?
CPO = ???
I always hate to compare lease deals. Too many variables. In the $399 5 Series deal, guessing that is for base 530i. But how much down? $1,000? $3,000? How many miles per year? Etc, etc. Make my brain numb.
I've only driven on them for about 50 miles, all on dry roads in mild 40-50 degree weather but here are my observations. They are noticeably smoother and quieter than the conti sports, 17's that came standard. I did get them to screech a tad rounding a corner at speed where I never heard anything from conti's. The wheels that they sold me are really nice looking and are dead ringers for the M wheels, only way to tell the difference is the small blue M is missing. I think the improved ride may be worth a little bit of high speed handling and I'm very calm now about any possible weather that comes our way.
I hope this is helpful.
Test drove a 352xi SP today on snow covered roads, handled flawlessly, point and shoot. Stock SP tires. Felt very confident going 60+ on the highway.
If the $175 floor mats your dealer is providing are the same ones that came standard from the factory in my ED 2002 330i, I'd estimate their true value closer to about $50. I wasn't really impressed with them at all. After only 2 weeks of driving they seemed to show much more wear & tear than I expected.