I stumbled upon this article.
Based on that, they are basically saying it’s better to lease a 2021 model if I am doing it at the end of the year (November / December 2020) because the residual for 2020 model will be much lower compared to 2021 model.
I never knew this, but it just happen that for ALL my leases (current and for the last 10 years), I always did it in December/January timeframe and for next year model. E.g. did a lease for a 2016 model in December 2015).
But a lot of time the discounts of the older model is more than enough to offset the residual differences. Dealerships are more motivated to move late year model so you ll generally get a better deal.
How much are typically the discount? More than 10%?
I think I should also mention that for 2020, given the low inventory issues, dealers are not willing to budge on MSRP price. I have spoken with almost all dealers within 150 miles in my area and NONE will negotiate below MSRP for 2020 model, even for not so popular model like wagons.
Unless you’re buying an Audi, which now have “Employee Pricing” promo if you’re a Costco member that essentially give 10% off.
There’s really no rule for this. Residuals are often inflated by the manufacturer and do not reflect reality. For example, in years past BMWFS occasionally had higher residual values for certain current year models than with the next year model.
Best thing to do is, when it’s time to lease a car, compare between a past year, current year, and future year model and go with whichever one is the cheapest.
Do you know which BMW model is this? Also, is there a way to track residual value for a given model for, say the last 10 years?
EDIT: NVM. I can see those in Edmunds. Maybe I can spin up a quick script to scrap those based on model year and post dates and dump it in Kinesis.
What car are you looking to lease?
What you should do at the end of the year is run the numbers on both options.
In fact, any time there are concurrent lease options on two model years available, you should run the numbers on both options. No need to only do it at the end of the year. As usual with these things, the answer will vary.
GLE 450… at least until I found out MB have the 2021 All Terrain Wagon coming in…
The GLE does not lease well at all. Take a look at past deals in the “Shared Deals” section or current broker deals in the “Marketplace” for a reference point.