I am about to take over a lease but maintenance that was free for the original lease does not transfer over with the lease transfer.
There are 2 years left on the lease - can someone PLEASE let me know how much maintenance will cost for an m235xi?
Is there an option to perform maintenance without going to BMW?
Expect at least $200~$300 every year. Maintenance is every 1yr or 10k miles so it should be at least twice.
Unfortunately there is no option to do it 3rd party other than at the dealer.
BMW will charge you a hefty fee at lease return if you skip maintenance at the dealer
I’m pretty sure BMW cannot force you to perform the maintenance/service at a dealership.
Why get a car that you can’t afford to maintain? There are others that have free or cheaper service. Reversing - “you pay for what you get”
You can purchase the maintenance from BMWFS, if I remember correctly. It’s not a nominal cost but also not crazy in that it is a discount from what you would otherwise pay.
I believe your service advisor can transfer the coverage over for $600. This is what I was told when I took over a lease. I decided to go without and ended up transferring the lease to someone else. You may ask the current owner to get it serviced before taking it over.
Maintenance, like was said is not that much. Depending on how you drive, tires and brakes may need replacing, which of course is true of any car. You can go to any shop you want to have this done. I would call BMW financial and ask them if you can transfer it, there are some maintenance plans that transfer. The most important coverage is the 4 year warranty, which you have. Enjoy the car.
@NJ90V is your statement based on personal experience or speculation?
Here’s my take on this subject:
If you lease a car that requires maintenance paid by customer, the car company makes you do a lot more frequent service because it is in their interest, both for preserving the car for resale down the road and also for financial benefit.
BMW has a service reminder built in that supposedly monitors your driving behavior and adjusts time to do service based on how you drive. So there’s no set interval. I drive fairly aggressive and on one of my BMWs, my first oil change wasn’t due until 17k miles, even with aggressive driving. Had i driven more “normal” it would have probably been 20K+ miles. In other words, when BMW has to pay for it, they’ll require less maintenance. If you have to pay for it, they’re glad to make you do an oil change and other service every couple thousand miles.
So what I personally do is this: I do an oil change whenever it’s due which are relatively inexpensive. You don’t even have to do it at the dealership. What i usually do is find an oil change coupon from a dealer in the region (has to be nearby to be considered a “competitor”) and do it at my dealership. They usually match “service specials”. BMW, Lexus, Honda, GMC etc all do it.
Anything beyond that i don’t do because I don’t keep the cars more than 3 years. Never had an issue ever so i’m surprised @NJ90V suggested that BMW will charge you a hefty fee. I wouldn’t even know how they would know, the lease end inspection guy doesn’t look at service records, only at the car to assess wear and tear/damage.
I could see that brakes might be an item you may have to replace if you’re an aggressive driver past 25k mi. Other than that, i wouldn’t personally pay for anything service related other than oil changes on a 3yr or less lease.
I would suggest to @metsa23 to have the current owner of the car do whatever service is due prior to you taking over the lease so at least that service was done free of charge.
Agreed. Just another person on the internet making things up and incorrectly stating it as fact.
Says who?
Only if you skipped the free maintenance. It’s actually illegal for a company to require you use their service for purposes of maintaining your warranty coverage unless the service is free.
The 2nd owner can pay a $700 refresh to continue the maintenance (oil changes, brake fluid, filters, and inspection services). 3yr/36k from the original in service date.