Hi all, I’m looking for advice on what to do in my current situation. I’m nearing the end of my lease on a 2016 m235i coupe (ends feb 27th). I did a lease swap on the car initially, and have had it for just under two years. It was a demo car and was involved in a small accident that was repaired before the first owner leased the car (at 6,000 miles). It’s currently at 30,000 of the 36,000 allowed miles, and I’m trying to figure out what my options are.
The previous owner was responsible for some moderate curb rash on the two right wheels, and there’s a small door ding in a rear panel. I figured that’s good to bring up, since I’m expecting to incur some cost for that repair if I turn in. I’m considering buying out the lease, especially since I’m 6,000 miles under the allotted amount for the term. I’ve also taken good care of the car. I’m wondering if buying out a car with an accident on it’s record is a dumb idea though. The payoff quote (including the last three monthly lease payments) is around 29k.
I’m also curious if I’m in an advantageous spot for a trade-in. I’ve considered leasing an M4 but have mostly been monitoring lease swap options for a more reasonable monthly payment. Are there any benefits to a trade-in with the current state of my car? Would it help me cut a better deal on a new M4 lease? Or should I just try to avoid lease-end headache and buy out the car?
Any help would be much appreciated, and I apologize in advance if any of these questions are misplaced. And for anyone wondering what my monthly looks like, I swapped the car no down at $445 a month.
For both scenarios, check it’s current value vs the buyout price. I’m willing to bet that it’s best to just turn it back in, especially since it’s been in an accident.
KBB lists the Private Party value at $28,567, and trade-in at $24,781. If I subtract the remaining lease payments which I have to pay regardless, it looks like my buyout is $27,682. Thoughts?
It’ll be hard to sell given it’s accident history. I don’t see why you would want to buy it (it’s been in an accident and will be out of warranty soon).
Is it advantageous to try and work out a deal on turn in for a new bmw lease, or should I just hand back the car and look for something else entirely? Are there any programs to try and roll a previous lease deal into another? The payments on this particular lease were abnormally low.
No BMW dealer will give you buyout on it if they can go to auction and buy it for significantly less, especially if it had an accident, repaired or not. You don’t have any leverage here, new BMW or not.
You could roll your remaining payments into a new lease, but you’re adding cost to the new lease as well. There aren’t any pull ahead programs with BMW right now to offset your remaining payments.
From what I’ve read, BMWFS can undercut the buyout for the dealer specifically. So the dealer could potentially turn a profit if they use that lowered buyout from BMWFS and then turn around and sell the car for more. In this case, is the car just not worth enough to warrant looking into that?
It seems my best bet is just turning in the car and investigating another lease swap down the line.
My logic for wanting to potentially buy was to avoid the lease-end repair charges, and I’ve also taken good care of the car for the last two years so there’s some degree of knowing how the car has been driven.
Go to carvana.com and find out what they’ll actually give you for it given it has an accident on the record so you know what it is actually worth. It’ll take 5 minutes
Well yes, I agree with you. It is still a bit sad to see how low it goes for, especially when the MSRP was low 50k’s.
In retrospect I got super lucky, I swapped it at $445 monthly for a 22 month remainder (no down), so my total lease was still under 10k by the end of the term.
BMW artificially raises its RV in order to make leasing more attractive. As such, real world values are bad. That, and the fact nobody wants a sedan anymore, and wants a 3 row SUV to drive back and forth to work every day, 50k MSRP doesn’t mean much.
Is there no way for me to negotiate a lower buyout with BMWFS taking into account the accident on the record? I guess the best I could do is track the VIN and see if I could buy the car after BMW takes it back and eats the 8k in negative equity?
