Positive equity and replacement options in the current market

You’ve got 3 months? Plenty of time to order a new car.

Look at the marketplace and order yourself a Wrangler 4XE. I would def sell your GC and take $14k equity.

That would completely pay for your 4XE for 3yrs. LoL

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Yes, sell…take the $14k, and cover the entire cost of a smartly obtained 4xe for 3 more years.

Which bank is it through?

If CCAP I’d unload it before you hit the 60 day pre lease end mark

and $14K in anything is worth selling even if the next deal isn’t stellar

It’s found money

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Sell the car, cash the check and then start the new vehicle search from scratch.

Aside from 4XE and Frontier, there really aren’t any leases worth considering so you’d have to finance something

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Since my original topic here is closed due to inactivity, I will share my strategy that turned out to be quite profitable in my situation.

I believe BMW’s plug-in models are the best deal one can get in this market if:

  • You are ok with financing as opposed to leasing
  • You pay at least $7.5k in federal income tax
  • You have state tax credits for PHEVs
  • You can wait for a custom order to arrive
  • Have a BMW dealer willing to work with you on price and allocation

My hypothesis is that the PHEVs do not depreciate any different than mainstream models and BMW has been relatively aggressive keeping their incentives in place. Below is my experience in 2021:

Transaction 1: Traded in 2021 X5 45e for the same net price that I bought it for a year ago and I got to claim $11.5k in tax credits on top. This 21 45e was replaced by 22 45e that became available when a customer changed their mind.

Transaction 2: Traded in the 22 45e above for another 45e that I had custom ordered. Similar to the first transaction, my trade-in was valued at the same net price I bought it for. I will claim $10k in my tax return this year for the trade-in, plus due to a fender bender I was able to collect $3k in diminished value claim. The second MY22 45e is also eligible for $10k tax credit

Transaction 3: Bought a 330e benefiting from OL Code, loyalty and APR credits plus a decent dealer discount. I will claim about $8.3k in my tax return this year. Based on a recent appraisal, car breaks even before the tax credits

All three transactions benefited from a combination of OL codes, APR credits, loyalty, BMW CCA, and type J through Penfed membership (made my wife a member as well so we double dipped on the $3250 for the two X5s. This incentive unfortunately got cancelled for 2022). I would admit that the dealer discounts I have received would be hard to replicate for most people but the tax credits would more than cover for any lack of dealer discount. So even at MSRP these BMW PHEVs are at least free to drive if not making money through tax credits.

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Good morning

First post and thank you all. My wifes Mini 2019 Countryman S lease is due on March. Car has 37k miles, lease buyout with taxes and fees and everything is $23k. I know the car has equity, carmax and offlease only have quoted the car at over $26k. We have contacted Mini Financial and they want a certified check and obviously they dont allow us to sell it to a third party. So what do you guys suggest? Should i go through a broker or but it myself and then sell it? In my situation what do you guys think i should do? First timer doing all of this. Thanks

3k? Find a broker who will buy it or a mini dealer who will.

That 3k becomes 1k after you go through the hoops of a buyout and that 1k might even vanish with the time it takes.

Assuming your vehicle is leased through Mini FS, you can sell the vehicle to a BMW or Mini dealer without having to pay sales tax. When I sold my Nissan lease (also didn’t allow third-party buyouts) I went to all my local Nissan and Infiniti dealers and got buyout quotes. I also went online to various “local” brand dealers’ websites to see if they had KBB Instant Offer or CarFax Value Your Car links that would give me an estimated price for my car. I brought those offers to the local dealers near me and said this is how much I want, after some negotiation I got a great offer and sold my lease.

I’m not sure if BMW/Mini restricts buyouts close to the end of the lease, if so you may be forced to buy it out with tax then free to sell it after.

Thanks. Can you explain how the mini dealer buying the car works? I know i can turn it in, i didnt know i could sell it to them, technically Mini still owns the car lease or at lease Mini Financial does.

Also any brokers you can recommend? Thanks for your time.

  • Get a Carmax / Carvana / Vroom quote
  • Walk into Dealer that supports Mini, BMW / Mini / Some Big Car Companies like Autonation
  • Ask to see the used car Manager that you want to see what they will buy your car for. DO NOT TALK TO A SALES GUY.
  • Ask them to meet or beat the best price.
  • If price exceeds the payoff (Not RV btw), then ask for the difference in a check.
  • Take the check and RunAway / LookAtTheCarThere / GoNextDoorAndGetAnotherCar

They are the only ones that you don’t have to pay salestax to.

For a broker, I don’t see one, post in MarketPlace → Wanted Part 3 and see if a broker gets back to you for Florida

Thanks. Can i sell it to the same Mini dealer that sold me the car or it has to be a different Mini?

Any mini, also look at BMW, I heard they use the same finance arm.

I ll look into it, appreciate the help

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Yeah im gonna call them and see what they say about selling it to them. I know on the buyout paperwork it says they won’t accept third party checks only certified checks from my wife. Thanks

Many loan companies issue checks to you and you write a check to them, but remember you can lose up to $2k in taxes and fees. A dealer doesn’t have to pay those.

Question when you sold your nissan to the dealer, did they cut you a check the same day or does it take more time?

Depends on the dealer / situation. If they know the title is easy to get then they do, if they know it takes a few weeks, they take a few weeks. They need to confirm the car is legit as well you know.

The participating dealer BMW/MINI is not considered a third party since they are affiliated with your lessor.

If within the 60 days can you still sell the car to Autonation Jeep dealer? Sixty days only applies to 3rd party buy outs?

If people are going to finance their next vehicle instead of lease, isn’t it better to buy their current lease and trade it in instead of selling the lease to Carvana and buying another vehicle? Assuming the trade in value is the same or higher than the Carvana/ Carmax offer, this should save some sales tax on the positive equity if tax is paid on the lease residual when buying the lease and amount over trade in value.