Don’t let this be the reason why your mind is simulating horror scenarios.
I would venture on and say that 99% or so of lease transfers are completely trouble free.
As for the bad condition, I am not familiar of a situation where that’s been the case. I would just sue him and force them to have everything fixed under their insurance. If this actually ends up being the case, you will need an attorney for sure.
If he is in fact trying to scam you, it’s not going to be w/o legal consequences.
If you are absolutely certain that you are being scammed, I would strongly suggest that you hire an attorney. Document all your interactions with the seller, including the attempts you have made to contact. You will certainly be able to find a resolution in my opinion.
If that’s the case, with all that money I spend on an attorney, it’s so not worth it if the consequences are just “having him fixed the car”. I need to at lease charge him for illegal possession or fraud.
Anyway I’ll call BMW on Monday and keep y’all posted.
That is baffling that a car can be transferred without a PPI. @M3-Fast just mentioned that that is supposed to be done prior to S2 paperwork. Honestly, BMW should use some of those transfer funds and have one of their dealers check the car to make sure it is in good condition. At the end of the day, it is still a BMW owned car and that would be quite a predicament if someone were to pass off a parted car to you, and BMW would sign off on the transfer.
But again, I would wait it out and not stress. Because if the horror scenario where the car is parted is playing in your head, the person would rather get the car to you and off their hands ASAP, instead of disappearing into the wind.
But good luck to you and hope it works out for you. In a perfect world you would have PPI’d the car at the dealership and took possession of it there and then. But it is what it is, and may be a good lesson for those who transfer leases or want to take over leases in the future.
There is a benefit to the other party. They get to drive a car that they’re no longer paying for. This could be an ideal scam. Same way you think it’s unlikely a scam, it’s the perfect reason why it could be one. Because people would not suspect anything
Sorry, that one look nice, but just sit tight for couple days, hopefully the transferor just want to use it for this weekend (it doesn’t make it right) but good luck!
As was mentioned on this thread before, both the OP and BMW Financial have all of the information of the party that is transferring the vehicle. If it is what you are inferring to then it is not just fraud, but likely grand theft auto - with the identifying information open to all parties involved. That is why I did not see the benefit in that.
After stage 3 is approved it’s legally yours. This can’t be undone. If he really wanted the car back I assume it may theoretically be possible to go through the lease transfer process again. In fact, it’s your legal responsibility to have the car insured and at this point it should be in your possession.
My assumption would be that it’s a case of seller’s remorse or the seller really needed the car for the past few days. It’s absolutely terrible not to stay in communication and keep you updated. It’s not his car any more in any legal capacity. It would be one of the dumbest scams of all-time as it now becomes a stolen car (although if it got repossessed it would become an issue on OP’s credit, not the original lessee) so it is more than likely remorse.
I’m just curious - you said you met the person somewhere to inspect the car. What were your first impressions of the person and the car? I know first impressions should never be the sole factor in judging a situation (person or car) but often times if a situation smells fishy… it is fishy. I’m guessing you didn’t have any major concerns since you moved forward but still curious what you thought at the inspection.
That’s a very good question. Part of the reason I’m so concerned is because my first impression of that person is bad. And everything he said sounds suspicious. But I have to admit that I needed the car, and I still need it. The deal is good, that’s why I took the bait.
Stage 3 is done and the transferor is not responsive at all? Have you called him/her and tried leaving a VM?
How far away are you from them and the car? Local transfer or hundreds (or even thousands) away?
If he/she doesn’t respond, file a police report and report the car stolen. They’ll recover it ASAP . The car has GPS tracking built into it.
Like others have said, since Stage 3 is complete, sign up for the mybmw app and register the car on there (since you now have a BMW account number ) you’ll be able to locate the car yourself . You don’t need to be in the car to able to link it etc .
