First time lease - 340i M sport

2018
BMW
340i M Sport
Premium Package
24mo/12k miles
97209

Hey guys, curious about this offer. It honestly seems awful to me, but hey maybe I don’t know anything. My credit is fair, it was good (724) but is now 680ish give or take a few points due to overspending my CC’s.

The amount that they want down seems high to me, the mf seems high, and while the residual seems good… why do I have to put so much down to get a reasonable payment?

Thank you all for your sage info/advice
Is this a terrible deal, or so I expect too much?

MSRP: 56,835
MF .00206
Residual 66%
End value $37,5

Cap cost $52,3
Adjusted cap $41,5 (incentives plus trade in, trade in value of 6,700)
Monthly payment $357 (with tax)
$7500 due at sign

By the way, the car I really wanted is the M240i convertible which is very similarly priced if not even a few thousand less. For some reason the monthly payment on that car came out to like $550/mo with the same money down, $7500.

I really don’t understand why it’s $200 a month more for the car I want, nor do I get why I have to put a whopping $7,500 down on a lease (plus the $6,700 in equity in my trade.)

2 Likes

Run, do not walk, from that offer. It is absolutely awful considering the $13,000 effective down payment

6 Likes

Yea, I thought so.
Thank you.

Thats absolutely crazy for a 3 series, about to be replaced by a redesigned model.

For reference, you can get a loaded Guilia TI Sport (better feel, almost as quick) (~53K MSRP) probably in the ~450/month range on those terms, first month DAS (maybe less). This comes to roughly 55% less than
the quote you got on an obsolete 3 series. Thats crazy.

1 Like

Yea I totally agree.
I was shocked honestly.
I called and asked if they made a mistake lol.

If no money down, but still taking in the $6,700 trade then the payment is $650/mo for a 36mo lease.

I just had different expectations I think based on what I’ve seen other people saying they got on this board. I really don’t want a 3 series at this price.

I’ll call around and shop around and take some time, probably look at other brands as well.

When we bought, financed, a $53,000 car the monthly payment was 720/mo. This just makes no sense to me.

What am I missing?
Aren’t lease payments supposed to be between 3-400/mo on a 3 series with little to no money down?

If anyone knows why this is not making sense I’d love to know, because the monthly payments are almost as high to me as if I were financing the car and I don’t understand that.

Honestly, just negotiate with dealers in Los Angeles. It’s a cheap plane ticket. You’ll save money in the thousands even considering you’ll have to register the car in California first. Once you re-register in Oregon the sales tax will drop off the monthly.

1 Like

Yea I’m really thinking you are right.
Started reaching out to out of state dealerships.
Any suggestions?

I don’t mind a quick plane trip and a relaxing drive back, not at all.

The Marketplace forum is full of great, reputable BMW guys from SoCal so I’d start with them for sure.

1 Like

Ok, so I went back and asked for a better deal and I got something I am happy about.

$1500 down, plus the trade in, and $495/mo.

I realize this is not a killer deal compared to what I see on here, but this is way better than the initial offer and I’m happy with it. At a certain point I feel bad, car dealers gotta live too and they were really nice guys.

I hope I didn’t get killed on the car, but I feel like it was a fair deal. It is fully loaded, 340i m sport x drive with all the bells and whistles.

Thanks for the advice here guys!
I feel good about the deal.

It’s less about the deal and more about the fact you put down an insane $8200!! That money is gone if you total the car tomorrow. For your next lease: $0 down!

You could have done better, the 340i is soon to be out of production as the brand new one is being unveiled in less than a month, and discounts are heavy, but as long as you love the car that’s what matters.

On the plus side, funny enough, your deal is bad enough that after two years you may have positive equity in the lease so you can recoup some cash (in other words, the car might be worth more than the residual). So keep that in mind come September 2020!

Oh man, really?
I did THAT badly?

Damn it.
I actually thought I did ok.

Truthfully I do not totally understand what you mean about the equity, is that because the residual is so high… so they may give me money back?

Damn man, I do love the car and what you have said does not diminish that at all, but I have much more to learn. I didn’t think that it was bad because I only put $1500 cash in, but yes you are right I really put more in because of the trade.

Well, it was my first lease and although that is no excuse, it is a payment I can afford and I do love the car.

Can you tell me how I might actually get money back though?
I don’t understand that part.

Ouch. That’s a really bad deal.

4 Likes

Oh Jesus, really?

Wow.
Ok, thnx I suck.

Damn

Did I pay too much or is it simply that you are supposed to pay zero down on the lease because you want all the risk on the dealer?

I feel like the amount I am paying for the car is reasonable, isn’t it?

Wow, I cannot believe how terrible I am at this lol. My whole family was like “good job” ha ha, feeling kinda stupid tbh and I think I will keep this info to myself.

Yup. Not sure why you posted on here about it and then still bought it lol. Considering your trade in (which was probably undervalued), your effective payment is really high. Honestly, though, if you like the car, don’t let it bother you and just enjoy it

Because the terms changed.
Initially they asked for $7500 cash plus the trade.

I thought this was much better.
Well, I still have a lot to learn.

This is by far not the stupidest thing I have ever done with money, but yes I will keep this in mind for the next one. I actually thought I had done ok.

Alright, well… pile it on ha ha, I’ll take my hits on the chin.

:joy:

I will say that I think it is funny how fast I went from feeling good to feeling like an idiot lol.

I’m kinda in shock, I don’t know how I could have done much better. The juke has a little bit of damage on the front end and a few scratches and I felt like 12k was really, really good.

I very much want to understand what I did wrong and am going to post the full contract. Just cannot do that right now, out “celebrating” with family.

Lol, ugh.
You know whatever man, I will get better. I have three years to figure it out lol.

You are effectively paying $836/month on your lease, so you should be well above the residual value when your lease is up. You can flip it for the difference. That’s the only potential silver lining here.

The dealers were really nice guys? They took advantage of you and pretty much stole $8200 from you.

5 Likes

Yeah it’s pretty bad but look if you can afford the payments and you love the car, it’s not the end of the world.

Since the deal is so bad you are overpaying over the next two years. You have a residual buyout which is say $36xxx. After 24 months though, the car might be worth $40xxx. So instead of just turning it in, take that equity and get a check for $4xxx. The easiest way is probably selling to maybe Vroom or one of those other apps. There’s no guarantee you will have equity, but bad lease deals likes yours often will.

Also wait…3 years or 2 years? At 2 years it bad but whatever. At 3 years, WTF you should have financed it.

1 Like

Oh Jesus,
Well I just screwed the pooch I guess.

I did 3.

Yes, I understand. I’m not saying that I want to hand thousands of dollars over to “nice guys.” But honestly, other than the fact that the risk is on me in an accident, I thought that the monthly payment and the numbers on the contract were ok.

I clearly have no idea what I am doing.

I think the leasehackr calculator said that the best I could do was $466 and I was $495 and I really didn’t want to do this for another week.

The price of the car was around 56, it was dropped to 51, and then with the incentives and everything it came to 41 roughly, don’t have it in front of me.

Look I fully admit I don’t know what the hell I am doing. I tried, and failed, apparently.

I am just going to enjoy driving the car around and try and learn what I did wrong. Yes, the payments aren’t bad for me, but I like money too and I want to do better next time.

I’m just not sure what I could have changed beyond taking the cash for the trade in, putting nothing down, and having very high lease payments. Wouldn’t it have basically been the same outside of who holds the risk?

As for more money in my pocket, what could I have done?

Pushed further to have a lower MSRP?
Pushed for more trade, pushed for a lower MF?

The residual is set in stone right, so nothing there.

I admit to still being a bit confused about what more I could have done to pay less for the car, beyond those things.

I realize the g20 is coming in a few months and I know that affects a lot of people, and maybe I should have pushed harder for a lower cap cost.

No he won’t!! He got completely hosed and taken for a ride! He likely paid pure sticker.