I see alot of the leases advertised on here (or folks closing deals) on a Audi, Mercedes, BMW, etc. with only 7500 miles. Does this really work for alot of people or is there a way to get extra miles either before the lease or during lease at a reduced price compared to $0.25-$0.30 per mile that is charged at the end for overage mile? I am typically so 12K a year so was wondering if doing a 7500 mile lease ar first and there is way to still come ahead if I do 12K a year.
Something I found moving to luxury brands from mass market ones is that luxury buyers tend to commute less. They tend to pay more to live right next to where they work/go to school and thus have shorter commutes.
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You will pay too much in mileage overages. People post them as smoke and mirrors to make the monthly look lower, especially on higher MSRP cars. I always post at 10,000 miles. That’s the most popular term. Even as someone who works from home for my normal job and doesn’t shuttle around kids or anything, I was nervous about 7,500 miles on my car before it was a lemon and I rarely drive it anyway.
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Same here I work from home too, but 7500 would be too little. 10K was working for me and my wife, but once we had our child my next car was 12K and that seems to work good for us.
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My last three leases have been 3/10k, but I’ve never put more than 7k per year, and that’s only because I have to shuttle my kids around. Everything that I need, including work, is within 5 mile radius from my house. Personally, I would pay a little extra up front for more miles to avoid mileage anxiety.
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To me it’s better to lease if you just see the car as a transportation expense. I’m sure other people have their reasons for leasing an expensive car for 7500 mi/yr (like tax breaks, looking good to their clients or friends) but to me leasing a certain car begins to not make sense if you can divide by 2 and still get a rather good car for more miles.
For instance if someone is considering a 800-1000+ per month at 7500 mi/yr they most likely don’t mind that they can get a $400-$500 lease at 15k/yr for a rather mainstream car.
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In 30 years of driving I’ve never put more than 7K a year on a car.
There are certain times the increased residual makes it more expensive than just paying the overage milage fee or its almost comparable.
I have also leased 7 cars from the same dealership over the last 12 years (all were amazing deals) and the dealership takes my leases as long as I get a new one.
I have taken advantage of pull ahead programs aswell and have never been charged for damage, tires or over milage. I’ve estimated thats saved me over $17k over the years.
I use to get leases for the mileage I thought I needed but I realized the dealership would always take the car and absorb the over milage and all the damage.
Not sure if they still do it but BMW use to let you buy additional milage 6 month before lease end at a discounted rate.
Brokers and dealers started advertising lease prices with 7500mi terms as base prices to counter “sticker shock” of the post Covid inflated lease market. Do I like it? No. Does it work on the majority of people. Yes.
The car I leased in June of 2019 (and subsequently purchased) still hasn’t hit 13,000 miles.
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For 99.9% of people it makes sense to sign the lease for the miles they need, instead of writing a check for excess miles even if it’s slightly cheaper.
The difference isn’t likely to be material for most sub $100k MSRP cars.
The real question is whether the lease makes sense in the first place. When people do something as stupid as lease a 6-cylinder German car for $1,000/month 36/10 it doesn’t matter whether they found a way to save a few bucks on excess miles.
I have a twist on this question.
Having “fallen” for one of these 7.5k leases on a BMW two months ago, and now realizing that I’ll likely put 12k miles a year on this thing, what is the most economical way of consuming those miles?
Just pay the overage at the end? Buy out? Pull-forward? something else?
Prepurchase additional miles before lease end.
Don’t buy out if it’s a rapidly depreciating model. Or pull forward into a bad lease.
TLDR don’t spend dollars to save pennies.
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I think a lot of people like to pretend (probably incorrectly) that lease equity will continue so they’ll simply sell without ever realizing the overage penalties.
That said there are cars where paying the overage is close or cheaper than the residual hit (ie high MSRP etron GTs or a few years back the nsx at 20 cents a mile).
Work from home and only do 3k miles a year if that /shrugs.
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