You might want to ask Car_Man over in the "Finance, Warranty & Insurance" area under the topic "Lease Questions - Ask Here", this individual fields a dozen or so questions just like yours each day.
For most folks with decent credit no cash down is required. Most of the dealers finance companies (eg. BMW FS, Chase) will finance up to 110% of MSRP. This allows for a "full price" car (such as M3 or cabrio) to be financed, including tax and license. Similarly, on a lease, it is possible to lease the vehicle with absolutely no down payment, even 1st payment and DMV, by 'rolling' the 1st and DMV into the 'cap cost'. In this example one would be essentially financing the 1st payment & DMV but if you need to pick up your car in a month where you don't really want to part with around $1000, that could be a good option. In reality, almost no one does a 'zero zero' down lease, but many people doing normal financing will 'sign and go' without parting with any money when they pick up their car.
Hmmm! Interesting. I love the 3/4 and side profile, that roof would be poetry in motion, but that front may take some getting used to. Nice sculpting where the mirrors take off from the front fender.
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).
Just like gurumike is saying, I put no money down whatsoever. All TTL is part of the loan, so essentially I'd be very close to the 110% that he mentioned. Why would I do that, you ask? My car with 12K miles on it right now is worth less than the principal I have outstanding on the loan. The key thing, though, is that I am essentially borrowing at 5.9% and investing all the money that I have had to put down for the car into a DIY hedge consisting of long stock and selling covered calls (don't go there).
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...
but a 2 week backlog of work and email have kept me away from Edmunds. In a couple of days, I should have a decent write-up on the way (on my personal web page) with pictures. However, I should set expectations right up front that my driving-characteristic observations re: the 330i will not be on par with what Shipo, Brave1heart and many others provide here on a regular basis. I'm not really that knowledgeable on such matters...yet.
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.
One risk that you should be aware of when carrying a high cap-cost lease is whether you are covered with "gap" insurance. Gap insurance covers the difference between the market (i.e. "Blue Book") value of the car and the principal value of your lease in the event that (i) you total your car; or (ii) your car is stolen and never recovered. Since the principal amount of most zero-down leases rarely falls below the market value of the underlying vehicle, the owner is expected to make up a short fall if the vehicle is lost. Some leasing companies provide gap insurance as part of the lease (I know that Lexus did not), and in my case, Allstate would not cover this under my existing policy or under a separate contract.
brave1heart: You posted a picture of your bimmer(?) several posts ago but I can't see it. It comes up broken. Is it posted online somewhere?
------- 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.
-------- 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.
Since I have a one track mind right now about financing -- did you finance through BMW?
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.
Nope, I did my financing through the credit union because the terms BMW was offering weren't that attractive at the time. Since the car hasn't been titled yet, I'll probably refi with a home equity loan since rates have come down since October. I also have a brief PeopleFirst story to share but that will be in my write-up.
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
I might have a chance to pick up a 98 328i with a 5 speed. Since many of you have been leasing maybe you have had one of these. I am concerned with long term reliability (had my current car 10 years, and the one before that 7). And areas to look at when I can check it out. Unfortunately this is going to be an auction type thing so I won't be able to test drive but my Mom has had her 325 Conv since 1989 and my Dad just got a 525i (which I thought was very nice!) so I am not worried about the drive. Any comments would be appreciated.
According to what I've read, BMW provides gap insurance as part of their leases. I've leased several cars, and have had good experiences. 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. I've never heard of property tax on a car before. I agree with the poster who referred you to City Hall for that one.
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.
I can see it fine, I think you may be having a problem with your browser. If you'd like, you can e-mail me and I'll send you the picture by e-mail. BTW, I can still see it fine both on this board and on the Photo Gallery link that I sent you.
A few years ago, I looked into leasing through my credit union. Even though their rates were slightly lower than the manufacturer, the lease was slightly more expensive. It seems that when you lease from the credit union in my state (PA), the CU buys the car and holds the title (and therefore has to pay sales tax at 7%). That tax is based on the total cost of the car. In contrast, when you lease and the manufacturer holds the title, you pay a lease tax of 10% on each payment (which means you only pay tax on the amount of value you use - though the tax is slightly higher). In the end, here, it is usually cheaper to lease through the manufacturer.
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)
I just reread your post. I missed some things the first time. I'm glad I don't live in VA. I don't think I could stomach paying property tax on my cars.
to whoever asked today that the financing company should not have to care about ED. To them, the process should be all seamless, as you are taking delivery of the car at a local dealer, no? As a drawback, you'd have to pay the lease for that one month when the car is transit, right?
You're right about interest rates today, the rules of thumb may have changed.
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.
The reason I didn't consider leasing was because I'm a low-mileage driver--currently around 7500 miles per year. If I drove more miles in a year, however, I definitely would have considered it for the reasons you mentioned.
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).
I thought it was possible to get clears while doing ED, as long as it was from a German dealership.
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.
I live in Texas as well (in Houston) and have lived through paying property tax on cars. If you care to dig up the original law, I think it has something to do with taxing vehicles that are leased by businesses. At the time the law was written, personal car leases were not common (probably nonexistent) and this law has stayed in effect throughout the car leasing boom over the past years. I paid property taxes last year (a few hundred $) and it sucked. I may get a bill this year for the car I turned in in Sept. (which also sucks), but NMAC (my last car was a Maxima) says they won't send the bill if they don't get billed by the Harris County Tax Assessor here in Houston.
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.
I get a broken link also - is it possible that folks need to have a Photo Gallery account to see it? Also, posting pictures in this discussion is not a problem, especially if done the way that you did it. It only gets to be a problem if folks use one post to try to display either very large pictures or a number of pictures. That's not very considerate of our lower bandwidth members, but that's not what you did.
Anyway, maybe you can figure out the problem - I'd like to see your bimmer also. Derprofi's is gorgeous! :-)
Pat or Brave1heart - so how DO you post a photo like that? (I had no problem seeing it.)
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?
I've always felt that I do a much better job at bargaining on the price of the new car than selling or trading my old one. With leasing, the resale value is agreed upon going in. Since I take good care of my cars, I'm not worried about any penalties at lease-end.
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.
The Edmund's leasing site may need to be updated regarding subsidized leases. In today's market, I don't think many manufacturer's are giving those away.
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.
Does anyone have a roof rack fixed to their 325/330? i have tried the bmw roof rack system and found it to be very noisy and really affects aerodynamics at speed (60-80) without a fairing which is not made for bmw racks.
Questions: does anyone use the thule, non-bmw rack system with fairing and how noisy is it?
katkison - you described the property tax situation well. Just as it was explained to me today. If you live in Houston proper, you still may have to pay property tax next year. I understand the Houston City council was voting yesterday or today on whether to continue taxing.
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?
BMW NA's web site has a lot of good information about the feasibility and trade-offs, and info on their current financing rates. And some decent recommendations as well as info on what you get if you lease thru BMW Finance. I ended up purchasing (financing) my wife's '00 323iA and my '98 540 6-speed. BMW Finance was offering 3.9 percent interest on CPO for 48 and 60 months depending upon year, and they would make 1st month's payment. The interest rate ended 11/30/01 but think the 1st month's payment deal is still on thru 12/31/01.
And I just saw advertised on TV a subsidized lease deal on a 5 series of $399 a month for 36 months, but didn't catch the details. $399 a month is a lower payment than I would expect to for a 3 series.
BMW Financing seems to treat CPO BMWs pretty much like brand new ones. Couple exceptions.
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 just had the Blizzack LM's installed on my 330 i with sp. I went with 16in all around and bought the package, tires and wheels from tirerak. 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.
325xi, PP, CWP, Xenons. The dealer is attempting to charge a $200 documentation fee. Did your BMW dealer charge this and did you pay? The dealer is making a big deal about throwing in the floormats, says they're worth $175.00. How much should be paid for floormats?
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.
IMHO a $200 doc fee is a ripoff. I got hit with a $25 doc fee and would have raised a stink BUT I got such a great deal on the car ($1400 over ED invoice) that I didn't mind...
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.
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!
-------
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.
--------
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.