I just took delivery of this fully loaded BMW i3 Range Extender from BMW of West Houston for $399/mo with first month’s payment plus $401 due at signing. The $401 covers initial fees, but BMW will credit back $300 on my first lease payment for being a returning lessee who did not use all of the miles on the previous lease. The dealer used tax credits from BMW Financial to waive $2,700 in Texas sales tax (normally 6.25% of sale price).
Dealer Throw-Ins/ Inclusions
- Xpel Prime XR ceramic tint (my request)
- Shipping from Austin to Houston (dealer only had 1 on the lot, and it didn’t have the parking package)
- Phantom Footprints VIN etching (already on the car but nobody wants)
- Permaplate Appearance Protection (already on car but practically worthless)
The Deal
$58,845 MSRP
(-) $7,700 Dealer Discount
(-) $8,500 Rebates
(+) $259 Phantom Footprints - VIN Etching
(+) $460 Permaplate - Interior Protectant
(+) $0 in State Tax (Tax Credits Applied)
(+) $157.25 Documentary Fee
(+) $157.25 License Fee
(+) $33 Title Fee
(+) $23.75 State Inspection Fee
(+) $4.75 Procurement Fee
(+) $925 Acquisition Fee
(+) $399 First Payment
= $43,551 Total Price
BMW Financial
- 24 months at 10k miles a year
- .00152 Money Factor
- 64% Residual
- $399/mo
Note that in Texas, where there are fewer than 30 i3s in inventory, there are none of these California-awesome iPerformance loyalty incentives or extra market cash. All we get is the standard $7,500, a $1,000 “conquest,” and tax credits (which are admittedly worth a lot).
The Backstory
I spent way too much time on this lease decision for just getting the newer version of what I already had from the same sales guy and dealership. Before today, I had two cars - a 2015 BMW i3 BEV (electric only) and a 2014 Cacillac ELR (fancy Volt).
Last year, I drove less than 7,000 miles across both cars, so I’m going down to just 1 car (at least until something really awesome comes up). For the past six months, I’ve been pretty sure I was going to get either a Chevrolet Bolt or Volt, and I had just been waiting for Chevrolet to have the right offers, including lease pull-ahead.
A day before Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, I was actually planning to pick up a 2017 Volt Premier from @Randy_Haddox1 at MacHaik for $399/mo with $0 due at signing except for first month’s payment. But then the hurricane hit and as soon as the roads cleared the GM pull ahead program was dead for September.
Between September and October, I thought, well, “do I really want a Volt or a Bolt?” I even extended my BMW lease by two months. But in the end, I just went with what was cheapest - the nearly $60k BMW i3.
In Texas, the Chevrolet Bolt and Volt just aren’t volume cars. GM and/or their dealers just don’t seem to want to sell them here. They’re hard to find and equally hard to get a big discount on. Even when you find a sales guy like @Randy_Haddox1 who is willing to cut you a great deal, GM still doesn’t provide the types of manufacturer incentives that they provide in California and other CARB states. Conversely, BMW is providing extra incentives to dealers to move iPerformance cars.
And I want to say that Derrick Goodwin at BMW West is just a great salesperson. I actually went to the dealership last Saturday to sign for the 1 unit they had in stock only to realize that it didn’t have the parking package. No backup camera on a $60k car in 2017 is a deal breaker for me. But Derrick immediately went to a computer and found another car in Austin ($1k more expensive) and said he’d pay for shipping and even discount another $500 to keep my payment from going above $399.
(The finance guy was a little shady, but that seems to be the trend these days at big dealerships.)
So if you’re in Texas and looking for a BMW or Chevrolet, I highly recommend:
- @Randy_Haddox1 at MacHaik Chevrolet Houston
- Derrick Goodwin at Momentum BMW West Houston
- Tim Stewart at Classic Chevrolet Dallas
Good Luck Texans!
