It doesn’t matter if there’s diminished value or not. The car could be worth a cool dollar when you turn it back in as a result of the accident. It’s still not your problem
There’s a good reason I extended my 2019 Tacoma lease which was set to expire in September until z March. In August I put 4 new tires on it and just had new front brake pads & rotors installed. It’s still cheaper than trying to buy or lease something new in this market.
Just extended my 2020 Tacoma for 6 months as well while also kicking myself for not doing a 36 month in the first place…
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Going through a similar experience… 2020 X3 lease. Guy in front of me (at a stop sign) reversed (#truth) his beater car into my X3 (11K miles on odometer). Minor front end damage & a BMW certified repair shop gave me an estimate of $2500 (with more to come as they dis-assemble it during repair). Parts/labor/supplies shortage means they can start working on it only in mid-March (vehicle will likely be in the shop for 3 weeks). Geico adjuster still needs to come down to estimate/agree on the costs/repairs.
Geico took 45 days to declare me as “NO fault” driver (the other guy decided to lie, so had to provide evidence/witness info). I have 9 more months & another 34K miles remaining on this lease… 
Wondering if I should:
a) Buy it out now & pocket that $2500, vehicle drives fine (parking sensor warnings only).
b) Get the car repaired & let the lease run out. Enterprise/Geico is trying to put me in a Toyota SUV.
c) Work with local BMW to get me into a new lease & have them figure this out with Geico on their own.
I don’t like (c) above. But there is NO realistic way to hit 45K miles before my lease is up, does BMW allow you to negotiate the buy-out price on an “accident” (lease) vehicle/return (in this market)?
Glad you’re okay! My accident was a very minor incident… So, NOT really an apples to apples comparison.
No, they will not negotiate the buyout amount with you.
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Just a friendly reminder that while it may drive great and you may not have any issues with a vehicle with a history, an insurance claim will likely ding the vehicle report (CarFax, etc.) and may lead to lower future offers.m when you eventually try to sell this fella.
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Highly unlikely you’d even find a dealer willing to go through this headache and uncertainty, especially without them significantly lowballing you on the trade to protect themselves. So you really only have 2 options
They won’t negotiate the buyout price because you didn’t use your allotted miles, just like they won’t come after you for the diminished value of the car that you were renting from them and happened to get into an accident with, your fault or not.
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Sorry that happened to you. I’m glad you weren’t injured. The guy backed up into you at a stop sign? Jeez. I’ve got to get dash cams for my cars. Glad you had witnesses that cooperated. Geico is your insurance or his insurance?
Don’t buy your X3. Yes it stinks that they are putting you in a Toyota. Just get it fixed & turn it in.
Yeah, he moved forward & for whatever reason simply reversed into me at full speed (I didn’t even get a chance to actually move my car forward). I was simply shocked that something like this could even happen… LOL. It happened right next to a 7-Eleven that was nice enough to share their footage.
He wanted to leave after exchanging insurance info but for whatever reason only one thought ran through my mind “you’re the car behind, call the police & get a report written”. I decided to wait for cops (after initially agreeing to exchange insurance info), he wasn’t happy & started to argue “that he’d never change his story to the insurance”. Anyways, glad I did wait because police report clearly mentioned he reversed into my car. End of story.
He may have been trying to deliberately damage his own car or whatever… I’ve been trying to find good dashcams since this experience. Don’t want to deal with something like this.
Both of us had Geico & after this experience, I feel it is the worst insurance company out there… He obviously lied & said I rear-ended him. Even after police report was submitted, he stood on his “rear ended” claim. Geico gave him 10 days to amend the report & asked me to find CCTV footage or something else as evidence. 45 days later Geico agreed that I am at “NO fault”. Unbelievable.
I placed an order for a Tesla Model 3 to replace my BMW. I know leasing a Tesla is kind of blasphemous since they’re notoriously not great leases for more reasons than one. But it oddly fit perfectly within my budget compared to every other similar option in this inflated market lol. Plus they’re great value. My BMW was well equipped and the Model 3 offers a lot more at the same price point. And I’ll finance it if a revised form of BBB passes and I get the new EV tax credit.
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Let me know what you find, I’ve been searching for one as well.
haha i see. fingers crossed! and congrats on the new car!
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To me, a dashcam is a must these days. I received one as a Christmas gift a few years ago and am glad I have it, as people drive too recklessly all of the time. I most likely would have never thought of purchasing one on my own. The one I have is just good enough to do the minimum. I have been looking to upgrade to a dual cam (records inside in addition to the standard forward-facing). The reason being I was rear-ended a couple of months ago, and of course, the other person lied to their insurance company (which was/is Geico). I immediately called the local police, and they declined to come out because there were no injuries. I took pictures and video but failed to take detailed photographs of his car. I received a letter from Geico saying they had not heard from him (I had put in a claim through my insurance minutes after it happened). They were going to give him 30 days to respond. Three days later, I received a letter saying they found me 100 percent at fault. It makes absolutely no sense, and my insurance company was of no help. I had to hire an attorney to see if he could adequately resolve this.
The biggest lesson I learned from this is dashcams are great for evidence – unless there is rear-end collision. My footage shows evidence of a crash, but my own insurance company says it is not enough, as it offers nothing from behind. Additionally, there were no cameras to corroborate my account in the area. I had a passenger in the car, but my insurance company claims they cannot give a witness statement as they are family. It is a weird mess. After my accident, I went to YouTube, and drivers’ reversing into other vehicles (after gunning it) is far more common than you could ever imagine. It is a scam.
I am looking for a new dashcam and insurance company – both are difficult to find. After the accident, I immediately began looking at dual dashcams, but reviews are always all over the place when it comes to any of them. And after my insurance company failed to defend/advocate for me, I am looking to move on from them as well, but it is the same issue – reviews put my current carrier above the other choices. The bottom line is you never know how good your insurance company is until you have to file a claim (and I have the lowest deductible for both collision and comprehensive and carry 100/300/100 liability and uninsured motorist). As I was looking at quotes from other companies, I found the accident is already showing on my record, thus increasing my rates. I have never caused a single accident in all of my years of driving.
It is a valuable lesson moving forward. People lie A LOT. I thought I was doing a great job of protecting myself but found the changes I need to make to do so honestly.
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Yeah mate… Totally with you on this.
I’ve been looking for good dashcams but found NO real good deals recently. While price is NOT the only deciding factor, I do want to buy 2 sets for both vehicles in my household… So want to get a good price, if possible.
I saw someone on YouTube successfully installed WyzeCams as dashcams in their cars. It is an interesting choice & I’ve been looking into doing it myself as well. I use WyzeCams for home security already, so have experience with the brand & like how they work overall. But there are some comments about WyzeCams NOT recording after the car has restarted (when WiFi is unavailable), some say the issue has been resolved. Some others say it is still a major issue, so looking into it in more detail.
If WyzeCams can work as dashcam, that would be pretty good (video quality wise) for small money/investment. Fingers crossed.
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The wyzecams aren’t built to withstand heat and you won’t have parking mode unless you somehow hardwire it or buy a suitable battery pack.
There is a list of recommended dashcams by redditors if you go to their dashcam forum. Some of the dual dashcams such as from Viofo or Blueskysea can be had for under $200. Or you can stick with better known brands such as Blackvue.
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This is the extent of the dashcam discussion here
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I was in a similar situation with Mercedes Benz recently and received the 14k overage as a separate check from Geico. Your insurance should ask for a letter for the payoff amount and anything overage should be paid to you. Look at your lease contract and see if you find the total loss section. I have it in my lease and it is pretty standard when you lease a Mercedes from Daimler financial. I believe BMW should be the same too.
You received it from Geico directly? Jealous. I filed as third party with Allstate (other driver was at fault for the accident) and they said they had to issue the entire check to BMW. I let them know my payoff prior to all of this too, but they were adamant about sending the entire check to the title holder regardless. My leasing contract is ambiguous and doesn’t specifically mention anything about overages. I talked to an account manager at BMW Financial and they confirmed no overages will be sent back to me. Wish Allstate was like Geico and just issued the overage to me directly. BMW is just grimy.
I was not at fault either but I filed with my insurance (Geico). The other driver had Progressive. I believe Geico will go after Progressive after they paid off the claim. I talked to Geico representative and she said the standard process when the leased car is totaled is that they ask Daimler financial to send them a letter for the payoff amount and then they only send them a check equal to the payoff amount and never tell them how much is the estimated car value. Then Geico sent me a separate check for the overage. In my lease contract, it clearly says if you totaled the car you should pay any remaining payment + insurance deductible + residual
A BMW lease payoff says if the car is totaled and insurance company is making payment, the payoff amount is no longer valid and they have to contact BMW to settle.