Selling a leased BMW to BMW dealer (e.g. AutoNation)

Hi,
I’m trying to sell my currently on lease 2020 X3 that also have MSD.
4 month left till lease (current payoff is ~28500) due and been to several non-BMW dealers but has the authorized BMW dealer in their branch.

One is Autonation, they offered 34500 and told me that they offer the positive equity on the same day.
Other one was Land Rover (and told me they can buy the BMW since they have BMW dealer in their family branch), offered 34750 but don’t offer positive equity rather saying they first sell the car and whenever title get cleared from DMW then they’ll mail the positive equity in mail which would take 3 - 4 weeks.

Both mentioned that they aren’t very familiar with the process of MSD. They say even if I sell a car to dealer, MSD will be fully refunded and be mailed to the original customer of BMWFS which would be me.

My question is that when I process the lease sell via BMW dealer do they typical NOT cash you instantly and rather have to wait until car is completely paid out buy the dealer? And would take several weeks to receive the positive equity? If so, what documents should I have to make sure that they do send me a check (I’m just worried if they don’t ever send me a check after waiting for weeks…)

Second, anyone who had experience with Autonation, do they offer instant check? Also, are they knowledgeable handling the MSD issue?

Just wondering if $250 would worth waiting for month for my checks to be safely arrive :slight_smile:

This is ultimately your choice, but I would take the positive equity right away from Autonation. From my experience, Autonation will try to low-ball you when you get to the dealer and they take a look over the car, so be ready for this.

I don’t exactly understand that this works, is this a guaranteed equity from the Land Rover dealer for the specified amount or will they adjust the equity after selling the car if it does not sell for a targeted amount?

Thanks! I actually physically visited today that they will guarantee the price after inspecting my car. So hopefully that doesn’t happen again.

Yes… I’m not quite sure either but this is how they explained. They say I will be offered at the price (so probably may give some kind of document of proof that the car was sold at 34750 from me) but the final equity will be mailed after them completing the whole process of paying off the car and transferring the ownership. It kinda made me scratch my head.

It’s fairly common for a dealer to not give an equity check till they get the title from BMW or another manufacturer. They probably got burned once and it’s company policy or something.

For $300 I’d just go with the option that you can leave & be done with it. Make sure it is spelled out that MSD’s are to be returned to you.

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I sold my leased BMW with MSD to a Hendricks BMW dealer couple months ago. They spelt out the total money I was due including MSD and I got the check within a week. But yeah $300 I rather have my check right away.

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Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah I would go with autonation for instant cash.
Also, if I look my BMWFS payoff document the total payoff includes the unearned amount which seems to be the sales tax on the remaining payment. I would need to make sure that the sales tax is NOT included in the dealer’s payoff value, correct? As dealer do not pay sale tax, if I correctly learned from LH

Your post caught my attention, I’m coming into a similar situation in a few months and want to see how this plays out.

Did you try Equity Hackr or one of the trusted marketplace buyers like lease companion?

EH quotes are super low per my experience, just go with AN.

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Absolutely take the option that allows you to leave with a check that day. If a dealer cant write a check that day, move on. IMO, its not worth the begging after the fact you are likely going to have to do to get the equity.

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