Then forget about it.
There have been good EV deals every month since March. Keep an eye on Marketplace between now and 12/30
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My wife went to a Mini dealer yesterday (I didn’t go). Her lease on an i3 ends in Dec. She’s looking at approximately $1700 in excess mileage, a $350 disposition fee, and $700 for tires. The dealer offered to absorb all of that if she takes one of the Mini E models off their hands.
The issue is that it’s a 3500 downstroke, and there’s no indication they will sweeten the deal. The upside is that she sidesteps the excess fees on the i3 lease end, but walks into a deal that’s not that great, with an EV with limited range. Term is 36 with 12K a year. The dealer has both Mini & BMW.
I’m going to see if there’s a way to improve the deal around the edges–with a lower down or increasing the miles to 15K a year.
Does this sound like a good trade-off. Sacrificing a crazy large down payment to avoid $2700 in extra charges on an i3. I don’t have the MF, or buy rate because the sales person wouldn’t give her any of the numbers (shocking no one). I’m assuming it’s pretty much the standard nationally advertised deal.
Should she take this deal? Of course the sales person said it was only good through the weekend. I believe there’s no rush but that’s not what the dealer is saying
This is no way to evaluate any deal. Become a LH supporter so you can use the RV and MF built into the calculator.
I also don’t believe driving on sub 4/32” tires, hoping for the next deal to have enough profit for the dealer to eat that cost, is a great idea either.
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How much have you been offered for your i3 to buy it out independent of a new vehicle transaction?
Honestly, haven’t even tried. It’s going to be way under the car’s residual value. The car is 3+ years old. It just seems like an unnecessary step. I understand the logic of separating the transactions…but the trade in range is 21-24K and the RV is $31,000. There’s no equity in the car.
Would you be able to get close to $250 (36/10) a month with $3000 DAS for a Signature trim? The savings of $2700 essentially offsets the DAS. Without any state incentives, it’s probably very difficult to find any other EVs that’s as low as $250 a month. In terms of the range, Mini’s is not too different from i3’s.
Yeah…I kind of looked at the 2700 vs 3500 kind of a wash…but if I’m being 100 here…exccess mileage charges just seem like a flat out cash grab. I know…you agree to certain terms and you have to abide by them but sometimes people’s situations change in the middle of a lease. That’s my problem and not BMWs but 6,5,000 extra miles on a car that’s never going to be sold for its RV anyway…there’s just an arbitrary value assigned to the miles that don’t seem to square in my mind.
Anyway…a couple of dealers have indicated they’d take the i3 as is, but the the DAS is 3500 regardless. Can get the annual mileage bumped to 15K but the lowest I can get the monthly is 395 which to me seems insane for a car with 110 miles of range but we’re kind of backed into a corner on the excess mileage and this just might be the least bad option.
Gonna try a couple of other dealers tomorrow. Everyone says the deal is only good thru October 31 but one of the sales guys said if the car had more range they wouldn’t be able to keep it in stock–to me that translates to my supposition—this car isn’t selling well and they want to get em out the door. It makes me wonder if the Nov and Dec deals would be better—but waiting also tacks on additional miles on the i3 and more wear on the tires.
395 with 3500 DAS is ridiculous; that’s getting close to Tesla Model 3’s, which has almost 3x of Mini SE’s range. The dealer might be right that the (national) lease incentive of $9900 could change after 10/31 though.
Did you get any quotes without mentioning the i3 lease return?
I agree that’s it borderline insane…but just doing fuzzy math, Tesla is 4500 down, PLUS we’d still have to absorb the 2700 in extras from BMW once the i3 is grounded. To my knowledge Tesla wont ground a non Tesla (but could be wrong). By staying in the BMW/Mini family we avoid the 2700 out of pocket. The lease could change to be BETTER in Nov as well. No way to know.
How many extra miles would you need to drive over that it wouldn’t be a cash grab?
You made a contract, you’re contracted obligated to return at a certain mileage or face a penalty, if they don’t do this, whose to stop people from just driving every leased car 100k miles and saying “here’s your worthless car”. Mileage is one of the highest contributing factors in used car value.
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Doesn’t bmw allow you to buy extra miles at a discount?
Call BMW after you turn the car in and ask them to waive charges for tires . They almost always do. Disposition and mileage will stay.
If you have no way of getting rid of your i3 without paying the $2,700 for excess mileage etc., and the dealer is agreeing to pay that for you if you take the Mini, than technically you are paying $3,500 DAS and $320 per month or $800 DAS and $395 per month.
You’re not being backed into a corner to get the Mini and don’t let yourself get pulled into this lease (if $800 das and $395 per month are not the numbers you are ready to pay) in order to avoid the guilty feeling of paying $2,700.
All good points. I guess that’s one way to look at it with respect to the excess charges on the i3 vs the DAS on the Mini. In the past few months I haven’t seen really great terms on any brand lease wise…most have 2-3K down. I know it’s not like it was 2 - 3 years ago so maybe this isn’t the worst deal out there…it’s just that the range of this car is so limited. We have a Chargepoint at home already but still…there are probably better deals to come in the next 2 months. I don’t know that we have the luxury of waiting
Even if not leasing another BMW?
you are still working on it.
Sorry I don’t understand. I’m just asking if they’ll waive the tire charges if you aren’t re-leasing.
Unless you like the style of a Mini, seems there are better leases (with longer range) on other small EVs.
You seem to have chosen to remain willfully ignorant of the EV market outside your MINI-sized blinders.
The past few months have been the best for EV leases in the brief history of EVs.
So man up, quit whining, pay for what you used, and get your balls out of BMWFS’ vice. Signing a bad lease to cover the expenses of your prior lease is a terrible idea.
With respect @max_g, I have been driving EV’s for a decade—since the HONDA FIT EV. I’m currently in a BOLT EUV at a payment of $240 a month. Prior to that I had leased 2 other EV’s at a payment WELL UNDER wheret the current market is at. So the past few months have NOT been the best for EV Leases in history–perhaps for a few particular models here or there–but that’s ALWAYS going to be the case. I think I know my way around a lease. Perhaps not as well as you, but well enough. I never said this is a great deal. And…it’s not for me; it’s for my wife who’s job situation changed which is the reason for the excess mileage.
I believe that the best leases of the year are going to pop up in Nov & Dec. When you REALLY look at it and see all the “offers” put forth here…most have 2-3K down. If I want to make a general comparison, having BMWFS swallow the excess charges isn’t the worst deal on the planet. It is by NO means a great deal…but I’ll ask you this…paying 2700 in excess charges and then having to lay down another 2-3K to get into another lease…would you advise someone to go that route?