I sincerely thought this somehow could not happen to me (hadn’t had a “real” accident in 18 years) but 8 months into an X1 lease- a speeding teenager in a 2015 honda accord put an end to it. You may think you’re the safest driver in the world, but you can’t control what other people are doing. Thousands gone. I am getting a whopping $100 check back from BMW due to the payoff amount vs insurance valuation.
Luckily, a LH connect put me into a much better car yesterday with a better deal (yay loyalty! yay return of MSDs!) so it worked out as well as it could, but still. Everytime I see someone here post a deal with thousands DAS, I get sympathy anxiety. There is really, really a reason for this advice. I promise you it can happen.
At the VERY LEAST buy a dash cam to protect your investment, people.
Well said, no reason to put money down since accidents happen.
That said a dash cam isn’t gonna matter. You are getting actual value of your car back whether it’s your fault or other guy. Always better to be able to show who is at fault for insurance and potential liability issues but it doesn’t help you recover down payment on a lease.
The dash cam does not matter relative to the actual lease itself, yes, however not only is my car totaled, I am dealing with the other party lying and claiming they are not at fault (second time this has happened to me- though the first was a mild fender bender- complete fabrication on the other parties account and I couldn’t prove it) and it’s making it that much harder for me to reclaim damages that could have offset the losses I took on the car.
I second the dash cam. I had a person hit the back of my car while I was stopped at a red. Luckily low speed and very minor damage but since it is a lease i wanted to repaired. I put a claim through to their insurance (AAA) and they rejected it because the person said I reversed into her!! They believed her over me. Luckily I had a dash cam that showed my car being pushed forward. I sent them the video and they reversed their decision and paid.
Pretty ridiculous but a dash cam is definitely worth it. $40 on Amazon.
With my previous fender bender years ago , I was at the end of a parking garage pulling out head-first, had only just started, saw a car come around a beam and stopped to let her pass by as she had plenty of time down the aisle to move around me. She wasn’t looking and plowed straight into the tip of my car. I still remember my disbelief at watching her do this- then she lied and said I suddenly pulled out in front of her, I couldn’t prove otherwise, it was settled at 50/50 and I lost my deductible. If only I’d gotten a cam after that. Can you link yours?
People here negotiating for weeks with dealers not realizing there are plenty of other people in this world who will screw you over for a dime. PROTECT YOURSELF.
Of course they’re going to believe her…it’s her insurance. They aren’t going to pay if she said she’s not at fault. Once you showed them the video, that changed of course, so good for you for having the evidence.
You should’ve called your insurance and had them fight it out. That’s what you pay them for.
This is a problematic “PSA” for a number of reasons:
When you put the emotion aside, the probability of totaling your brand new car in the first year is extremely low. I estimated this before and wrote about it on the forum.
If we are going to have PSAs about catastrophic, low-probability events, let’s talk about things that cost a hell of a lot more than just a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars.
Going through life paying taxes on things that aren’t otherwise taxable (such as most state fees) is very irrational.
$0 DAS by capping your first month is very irrational. Paying interest and taxes on top of interest and taxes? No thanks. First month plus state fees (DMV, etc) makes more sense.
BTW, there is no single objective valuation of your totaled car. You should fight the other party’s insurer for a higher valuation and your deductible if applicable.
This is all personal opinion, like any sort of gamble. And why people choose minimal insurance coverage, etc. Some get by fine. Some regret it severely.
On my new lease, I chose to pay the first months + ~$500 to cut down on capitalizing fees since it would be the rebate I’d be getting back from CCA. The rest all went into MSDs. That was as comfortable a risk as I’m willing to take ever again, even though the likelihood of it happening to me TWICE is very low.
I stand by my original statement: don’t put down money you can’t afford to lose. This advice is literally in leasing 101 on this very site. That risk will ALWAYS be there and it’s not a risk you can control because as I said, you can’t control the actions of other people. Your car could get totaled while parked.
Kind of hard to figure out whats really goes towards DAS costs since most of the deals posted here usually say 2000, 2500 DAS, but the allocation isnt broken down.
What he said. Except DMV fees ARE recoverable I’m told, though I haven’t settled with BMW yet what will be returned to me and in CA they’re quite high.
I stand by what I said: don’t pay upfront what you can’t afford to lose. Obviously, first payment would be the least risky.
