BMW disposition fee on sold vehicle

I sold my leased BMW to autonation. They paid off the balance with BMWFS and cut me a check for the remaining amount. BMWFS sent me my final itemized bill and they’re charging a $350 disposition fee + $27.13 in sales tax. I have MSDs with them so they’re subtracting that amount from the MSDs. I was under the impression that disposition fee was only charged when you return the lease, which I did not do since the vehicle was bought out by a dealership. Has anybody else faced this situation?

Sounds like they just paid the remaining payments plus the payoff, which is why you got the disposition fee. Would make sense if it was not a BMW dealer that bought it. I would suggest calling BMW FS to see how the lease was paid off.

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They had to facilitate the deal through the BMW dealership within their Autonation network. I figured since BMW only allows their dealers to buyout their leases that it wouldn’t have made a difference whether or not I walked into a BMW dealership. BMWFS is closed on the weekend so I’ll have to wait to hear back from them.

Unless the disposition fee was sent out in error, it sounds like they just paid the remaining lease payments and bought it for whatever FS pricing they get as a dealer. They “grounded” the lease instead of straight up buying it. Do you have a bill of sale or anything showing that it was bought and not an early lease turn-in (did you get any lease-end paperwork/inspection)?

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I’ve heard that this has changed to a degree and now all lease buyouts the customer gets billed the dispo now. Could be wrong on this.

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From the looks of it I got a purchase receipt and signed a notice of transfer and release of liability.

Nowhere in the paperwork I received from the buying dealership do I see a note that I have to pay the disposition fee. Nor did I see anything about grounding the lease. Looks like a straight sale to me. If this is something bmw just decided to do without notice do I even have any recourse since they’re sitting on my msds?

probably a mistake , and they will correct it .
disposition fee is to cover cost of returned car, so if you did not return the car , there should be no disposition fees .
I sold three BMW this year, all were leased, and all to non BMW dealers , and never had to pay a disposition fee.

I’m not as confident. BMWFS has been difficult to deal with during this whole process and the agents I speak to on the phone sound way past the point of burnout. Disappointed BMW made the change to keep their cars within their dealer network and was hoping for better after having leased/owned 3 of their cars.

What does your contract say about disposition?

i spoke with them before they required dealer 262

“Unless I terminate my lease early or purchase the vehicles I agree to pay you $350 disposition fee.”

But since the lease did terminate early due to buyout, doesn’t that negate the disposition fee?

Technically you didn’t early terminate the lease.

If the dealer used my buyout on the car, wouldn’t it be considered that I purchased the car?

The dealer bought the car and paid the price that BMWFS charged them, correct?

Whether that price was the same as yours is immaterial and doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t buy the car yourself.

IANAA

No. If the dealer bought the car, the dealer bought the car.

For some reason BMW is charging me a remanning payment, even though the car was bought out by RODO through a dealership. I was also charged a deposition fee. I am trying to clarify with them about what happen with the last payment. BMWFS keeps saying I owe a last payment since I only made 35
Payments and they won’t tell me how much RODO paid them.

Audi does this as well.

Just call BMWFS first thing tomorrow morning and let them know you sold the car.

Prob just a mistake

I was just following this thread. Are there any updates?

Bmwfs told me that the dealer can call and try to get it waived. Reached out the dealership but could only leave a message for the manager. Pretty sure nothing will get done