The contract is a lease-to-buy contract that the car had a vehicle finance agreement balance that BMWFS is not honoring
There was someone here who bought the car as soon as he saw the equity from what the insurance was gonna pay bmw returned his check
Can’t even do that 
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Section 24 says they have the right to terminate the lease as soon as they find out it was totaled. As soon as lease is terminated, you no longer have right to buy it, the payoff quote becomes void. Pretty straight forward.
Section 25 could be a little clearer but technically, once they terminate under section 24, there is one of two options - insurance payoff covers car value or it doesn’t. If it does, they accept the payment and move on (remember when you list them as the leasing company on your insurance, it authorizes them to receive direct 1st party payment). If your insurance settlement isn’t sufficient, section 25 basically says they won’t come after you for that missing amount.
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I don’t believe that matters. It’s pretty black and white here…even if you had an agreement to buy the car after the lease, BMW still owns the car until that time.
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But you didn’t contact them to purchase the vehicle and exercise the buyout. You contacted them to inform that the vehicle was totaled. They terminated in accordance with section 24, per the contract, and per that, you were liable for any delta between the insurance payout and the actual cash value of the vehicle. Fortunately, your insurance company paid the actual cash value of the vehicle.
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No need to reply here. You can just read this thread. Very likely, anything anybody is going to say here has been said there.
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Man, with how many totaled BMW overage threads we get here, I’m starting to understand why BMW insurance is so high in the first place!
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I contacted BMWFS to buy out the car (which is why I received a buyout letter) and they knew the car was totaled yet they never terminate the contract until they cashed the check. If BMW terminates the contract it would be implemented under section 25 "Gap Amount” Waiver which BMWFS defined with the following graph
The reason would be that BMW is unethical.
This graph doesn’t show the current market situation where the market value is above your buyout.
Section 25 states that you are not liable for the gap between cash value of the vehicle and the adjusted lease balance if the total loss is paid by the insurance company. Your insurance company paid the total loss.
If they had not paid the total loss, and had instead paid BMW less than the cash value of the vehicle, you would have been obligated to pay any amount that insurance company deducted from the cash vehicle.
The graph shows it’s good till 2021, and they still are using this same pamphlet in their marketing materials. This situation has been going on for a while now and BMWFS still doesn’t update. BMWFS is super shady, I called and they even told me they would be returning the overage directly to me, but once they cashed the check they say “no comment”
Let’s break section 25 down line by line.
If I am in compliance with my insurance obligations under this Lease and the Vehicle is damaged, stolen or destroyed and considered a total loss under my insurance coverage…
Presumably you were compliant with the insurance obligations and the vehicle was considered a total loss, so this applies
…I will not be obligated to pay you the gap amount if the claim for total loss is actually paid to you by my insurance company.
There’s no gap amount since the value exceeds the payout, so you’re good there.
However, I will be obligated to pay you:
Here are the above and beyonds the gap amount you’re liable for
(1) any and all amounts due and owing needed to satisfy my obligations under this Lease
Presumably you were up to date on payments, so this isn’t an issue
(2) any amounts (including Monthly Payments) that become due pending receipt of the insurance proceeds
Aka don’t stop paying your payments until this is finalize
(3) the deductible amount under my insurance policy
So payment from the insurance company can’t be less your deductible
(4) any amounts deducted from the actual cash value of the Vehicle by the insurance carrier
This seems to be the one that entitles them to the overage. If they had determined the cash value to be greater than the payoff and only paid BMWFS some of the cash value, they would be deducting from the actual cash value of the Vehicle and you would be responsible for paying BMWFS that deduction amount.
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The graph is showing a situation that isn’t relevant since the market value isn’t below the finance agreement balance, as such there’s no gap, and in accordance with section 25, you don’t owe a gap.
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And, if I were BMW, I would ask, “Where in the contract does it say the leasee gets to keep the overage?”
I’m not an attorney, but if you didn’t own the asset at the time of the accident or payment, then there is no reason to assume that, absent a specific statement about it in the contract, only you are entitled to the overage.
So I think that
is the correct and final answer, if BMW continues to decline to pay you the overage.
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Does BMWFS pay the car insurance? Why should they be entitled to more than what is owed on the car?
No, but you took out the insurance policy that named them as a payee
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You can argue online all you want, but that energy may be better reserved for finding an attorney to take your case.
One last chance at slow mode before this thread is inevitably locked for being completely unproductive.
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When you lease an apartment and there is a flood or fire damage the insurance company pays the owner of the property not the lessee . There is no difference here. You never owned the car . It was a lease . Case closed .
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Aside from all the correct observations about your lease agreement: in every state I’m familiar with, you can’t sell the car / transfer the title without first branding it Salvage, which means the insurance claim has to be settled (not closed and reopened), which means the first party (BMWFS) gets paid on the claim.
I understand why you’re frustrated: unfortunately you aren’t in the right here. As others suggested, a lawyer might take the case and might either win/settle (is it worth a year of your life to get 2/3 of 1/2 of the equity?) - only you can decide if that juice is worth the squeeze.
As I always suggest: read and understand your lease agreement before you sign it.
If every BMW driver that was at-fault for crashing their car got a 5-figure check from BMWFS… that would literally incentivize people to drive more dangerously. It could never make sense for car insurance to work that way.
It’s frustrating to have a nice car at a good price and then have it be gone in a flash - but totaling a car isn’t supposed to feel good. I would not want to live in a world where BMWFS just said “Congrats on your car crash, here’s $14 grand!” You’re supposed to regret the crash (and be thankful that no one got seriously hurt!), not profit from it.
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