Hi,
I am close to finally getting my iX 50 (MY 2024) delivered to me. The dealer has asked me if I need any of the following add-ons (attached). I am leasing for 36 months, 7.5K Annually (so not planning to drive a lot). I am wondering if the experienced customers can opine on what are good options to take v/s ones I should refuse.
No to all. Only insure what you can’t afford to lose - health, life, liability, house and autos.
Volvo tire and wheel is 794…
I am wondering if users have found any value in the Lease end protection plan.
It seems new cars do not come with “complete” warranty. For eg, my dealer told me -
The car comes with 3yr/36kmi basic maintenance (oil changes, filters, air filters, spark plugs etc).
The full maintenance will grant you coverage for brake pads and rotors, as well as wiper blades. Those are considered “normal wear and tear” items, and you do not have coverage on those from the factory. The 3/36 maintenance upgrade (also referred to as Ultimate Care+) covers those.
I am already buying car insurance from Geico. Wouldn’t Geico cover brake pads, etc?
Your auto insurance does not cover brake pads.
I would decline all of those, maybe consider the tire and wheel if you can get the price down a bit.
I don’t know how badly the iX will go through brakes but one set of them will be quite a bit more from the dealer than $850. The BMW wipers aren’t super cheap either usually so that plan doesn’t sound bad if the vehicle will need brakes in the 3yr lease.
I suspect if you drive it like an EV using regenerative braking to slow down it wont need brakes.
What is the general view on Lease End Protection? Is that useful to take when dealing with BWM?
If it tells you anything, I didn’t get UC+ on a 45K miles iX lease because you’ll hardly ever use the friction brakes in a BEV if you’re driving in B mode (one pedal) like you should be in town.
Save your money.
It’s not a Tesla. No need to drive in B, it will always use regen first and only use friction breaks when regen isn’t enough.
If you’re transitioning from an ICE vehicle and you can’t resist the urge to use that left foot. sure.
For those used to one pedal driving, there’s B.
BMW finance manager told me once brakes wear out quicker with regen.
No. BMWFS is by the book. They don’t just charge whatever they feel like.
I’ve been driving non-tesla EVs for years, never had any urge to not use break pedal as normal. With Tesla, if you touch break pedal it engages friction breaks, hence you have to. Not so in normal EVs.
All electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the market today in the U.S. have a regenerative braking system. Some conventional hybrids do as well. If you’re shopping for a hybrid or electric vehicle, and you’re wondering what that is and how it works, you’re in the right place.
You shouldn’t need brake pads or rotors after 22.5k miles. I drove an M340i fairly aggressively and didn’t need pads or rotors after 3 years and 40k miles. There is also no requirement to have them done at a dealership. In fact, if it isn’t warranty work, I would never take it to a dealership.
There are plenty of non-BMW wiper blades you can buy that work just as well or better than the OEM ones.
Lease-end protection will only help if you think you are going to tear up your vehicle. You can already have small dings, scrapes, etc. when turning it in, so this would only cover larger damage. I’ve never had it, but always treated my leased cars like I owned them.
OEM tires are mostly garbage, and usually don’t last that long, but you can get much better tires from Discount Tire or some other store. Alternatively, if they aren’t at the 4/32" required for the lease turn in, just buy some used ones with enough tread for far cheaper than new.
Does BMW allow for just any tire over 4/32"? The brands I’m familiar with will charge you at lease end if you turn in the vehicle with non OEM spec tires (Like getting the cheapest possible tire to replace runflat)
I can get your wheel tire for $1200 or so. Got it for my GLE63s for 3 years for that much.
You can’t put the absolute cheapest tires you can find on there, but most anything that is the same type, size and speed rating will work. They don’t even have to be run-flats. I’ve always replaced my run-flats with something like Continental all-weather sport tires and never had a problem when turning in a vehicle. I’ve even used bestusedtires.com in the past just before I turned it in and bought some 6/32" ones to pop on a few days before lease turn in. That website is not around anymore, but there are others that do the same thing.
BMW will, of course, try to convince you that you need their dealer tires, but I’ve never had them so much as look at anything other than tread depth and make sure they were the right size and speed rating.
Yes, everyone has to allow any brand of tire as long as it meets the specs. Size, speed rating, load, etc. That includes replacing RFT with RFT.
YMMV. I’ve never turned in cars that had OEM run-flats with run-flats as they are terrible tires. The only thing one might do is replace them right away and put the run-flats back on for turn in.
