Current SoCal BMW 2/3 Series Leasing Experience

Signed Deals & Tips
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1

I’ll cut to the chase. My lease was up for my 2018 BMW 340i with ~11k miles, and… I sold it to Autonation, and opted to not replace it, for now…

Couple of bullet points for those with semi-great 3 series deals from 3 years ago.

  • Previous car was 13.4% off pre-incentive, 22.3% off after incentives, so $432/mo after tax, 36 mo (10k), $2500 driveoff, no msds
  • Best I could get pre-incentive was ~3k off on this M340i, which, after my OL code, would be ~$730/mo and $2400 driveoff (or, ~60% more $$ than my '18 3 series)
  • If you can find one, the '21 M240i’s have a $2k lease incentive, versus $1k for the '21 3 series (or $0 for the '22s)
  • For some reason the tires are universally garbage on the new 340s, almost always all-season grand touring or summer ‘touring’ tires. I hadn’t realized (even though they’re no Michelin P4s’) that the Brigestone Potenza S001 rfts I’ve had for the last 3 years are better than anything you can currently find in the area (aka, budget ~$1500 for the Michelins if you want to actually ‘experience’ a 340 properly)

In terms of getting #s on the '18 340i, I got quotes from Carmax (33k), KBB Instant (33.3k) Vroom (35.4k [before I realized they’re not doing lease buyouts]), Carmax (35.6k), Shift (35.7k) and Autonation (36k). The payoff was 34.2k, so, I ended up going to Autonation (Land Rover Encino) for ~1.8k above the payoff. FWIW I was ‘way’ under on miles, but… the car had a couple of scuffs on the rear bumper/ding under a headlight so my PPI from BMW of Santa Moncia said BMW would charge me $800 in addition to the $350 disposition fee.

So, coming ahead ~+3k versus turning things into BMW I can’t say I have that much fomo about chasing even more $$ in terms of a private sale, which, barring the timing of things would mean I’d be out $3,500 in sales tax + ~450 for the registration. So, I’d need to get > 38.1k to make it worth my while, and, as these things go, I opted to take the money and run, and see how living without a car that we only ever drove~100mi/mo for the last year (or ~180mi/mo over 2 years) would go.‘’

Here’s what BMW considers ~800 of damage for those with upcoming lease terminations (400 ea. for the front and then rear bumper)

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3 Likes
2

correct me if I am wrong, but I thought BNW FS would not allow third-party buy-out anymore. how did you sell it?

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Bmwfs still allows 3rd party buyouts, they just require the lessee to request the buyout rather than the 3rd party.

4

oh, that is cool. thanks

5

~$750 price cut (not surprised). Semi-surprised that they didn’t even try to fix the chipped paint on the rear bumper.

https://www.landroverencino.com/used/BMW/2018-BMW-3+Series-1335e5870a0e097120e50d48d3d5055b.htm?utm_source=Autotrader&utm_medium=ThirdParty&utm_campaign=000001766

One other anecdote (back in September) from someone at the used dept of Santa Monica BMW is that the general vehicle supply issues are largely with SUVs/Trucks in regions that snow. So, one reason he was skeptical of any sort of ‘bidding war’ on my 3 Series is that sedans in Southern California are generally plentiful (even more so now in October). Now, wasn’t necessarily calling for a glut of supply, but threw out ~Februrary as a month where sedans ‘could’ begin to normalize in terms of pricing.