After an extended lease negotiation, everything was settled. We went in to sign everything today. After we were done with the salesperson, we went to sign the financing paperwork. The finance guy then presented us with a bunch of options that would cost us money. We said no to everything but he said the following:
BMW’s warranty changed recently and no longer is extensive as it was previously. The major issue is that the brakes are likely to need to be changed during our lease and are expensive - over $2k if back and front have to be done. He also told us that moving forward, an outside firm will be doing the end of lease review and brakes are likely to be charged if they have not been changed.
The cost of this extended warranty was $1550 and it was down to $1200 by the time we left.
We were not happy to be presented with this last-minute.
What do you say, LeaseHackrs? Is this something we should be considering?
Electric cars don’t need their brakes changed nearly as much as traditional ICE vehicles because of regenerative braking. It’s very unlikely you will need your brakes changed, and it is even more unlikely that it would be $2000. Don’t bother considering it
If you’re using high brake regen settings, so that when you take your foot off the accelerator the vehicle slows via regen and not braking, you will barely have to use your brakes. Most normal servicing and wear and tear is drastically reduced on EV’s.
Warranty is the same as before, what changed is the included maintenance program that went from 4 year/50,000 miles to 3/36k and no longer covers specific wear and tear items as it did before. You can add Ultimate Care + for $600 which covers brake pads, wiper blades etc.
How many miles are you driving? I’d check around about brakes on the i3, I doubt they would need replacement. The whole point of leasing is to avoid items like this.
“Ultimate Care +” just adds Brakes, Wipers for the 36K miles of the already free maintenance included and is $600
“Ultimate Care + Bundle” extends everything above to 50k miles and is $1,500.
Non of these seem to make any economical sense to me in an electric car like i3.
Just like someone mentioned above, brakes will probably never need replacement because of the strong regenerative braking and an oil-change will never cost that much since it is already covered for 36K miles.
Agree with the others here, if I were you, I would ask to work with a different finance person. If your lease is not beyond the 36k miles, then they are selling you something you absolutely would never use. And they know that.
FYI I leased a 2014 335xi back in Oct 2014 for 36Months, 15K Miles/Year.
When the lease was done i had 44.8K miles on the odometer with more than 50% life remaining on the brakes front and back. I went through an extra set of used tires though at 38K miles.
The i3 is overpriced for what it can deliver … The OP’s lease is probably around 300 which is way too expensive. The i3 also has drawbacks such as the inconvenient rear doors, the unique super skinny tires and very poor range in winter…
My wife drives this car. Absolutely loves it. We just gave back one i3 and are now in a new one. It’s fun. Quick. Amazing turning radius. Limited range, of course. And limited storage. But it works well for her.
Once you take into account the discount off MSRP, and the various rebates, it’s a very affordable. Just does not make sense for long trips. But they do give you 14 days or so of a loaner for those longer trips.
Quite a few folks here pay less than half of $300 a month. I did a $3000 one pay for two years.
Regarding the brakes, the i3 regen is so high I bet I use my brakes once a week at most. I would definitely not bother worrying about the brakes on it.
We love the car. It’s absolutely overpriced at $50,000 to purchase but it is made of a carbon composite which has to add a ton to the cost of the car plus it’s really fun to drive. Skinny tires actually do good in snow as well which you wouldn’t necessarily think but if you watch rally, when they run the snow routes they’ve got some skinny tires on as well to theoretically cut down through the snow and ice vs floating on top. The weird doors are easy to get used to as well.
@vhooloo I lease a i3 (ending soon). I love it but everything you said is right too. I live in Los Angeles so the issues you brought up don’t really affect me that much. To be honest, I feel like all EV’s are overpriced and I’m getting anxiety having to wait for the planets to align (incentives, sales, just good vibes with dealers) in order to get a good deal.
We are looking into a bolt but the dealership we test drove wasn’t exactly customer friendly. Zero passion for the car and zero patience with us. When we went to BMW, it was fun and exciting. But whatever. The deal we got from the chevy dealer was more than our i3, but we talked them down a bit but couldn’t get them to do zero down payment like we got with the i3.
