I was helping my gf pick a car and shortlisted the Audi Q5, Mercedes GLC 300 & BMW X3.
36 month, 12k/ year lease. The lease terms, credit, pros/cons and other queries have been handled well by me
If we exclude other factors and look at the cost of ownership, I would appreciate help with the following:-
Cost of servicing the car with the dealer, assuming no dents & dings and standard servicing. I’m guessing it would once in 6 months or a year.
When returning at the end of the lease, additional costs. Are dealers picky on minor scratches if no major accidents, dents etc ? Tyre or battery wear & tear- upto dealer’s interpretation ?
Honestly all of your options will be similar in terms of maintenance costs. I would just do your homework on what each manufacturer offers as included and/or prepaid maintenance plans.
For example, Audi offers Audicare for $999, however this is residualized and bumps your RV by 1%, which is in effect a $10-$20 increase in monthly payment to have all your regular maintenance covered.
And for end of lease wear and tear, the dealer has zero say in what you get charged or how much leeway they’ll give you.
Each manufacturer has clear guidelines for what is normal wear and tear and what you’ll be charged for, as well as how much tire depth should be left, etc. Your car will get inspected and a damage report issued by an independent inspector about a month before lease end (not by the dealer).
Yep, fair enough, I guess I was speaking more in terms of general reliability, hence the suggestion for the OP to compare included and/or optional maintenance plans and include in total lease costs.
similar spec feature wise Audi will be the most expensive to lease
also if you want to get out of lease early then BMW is the only true option currently … MB has stopped transfers and Audi keeps the original person liable
Thanks for that. I didn’t know it was available for $999. A few of the dealers were peddling something around $50 - $75 per month - some of the covers were not really needed.
Make sure you are differentiating between the manufacturer’s included or prepaid maintenance plan and some type of wear and tear, tire and rim, GAP, or some other coverage the dealer may be offering.
You’ll have to forgive anyone for not really having any confidence in what’s being handled by you, since you’ve missed easily searchable answers such as BMW’s free scheduled maintenance and residualized maintenance from both MB and Audi.
So what are these mystery terms you’ve negotiated on these vehicles?
Well, yes and no in the sense that all 3 makes are well known for maintenance plans that would effectively make the out-of-pocket maintenance expense effectively $0 (but, yes, BMW includes it for free).
If the OP doesn’t know about maintenance plans, then you may need to explain the “fart” term.
It quite clearly says under the “Maintenance” menu selection on the BMW website that oil changes and such are covered for 3 yrs/36K mi. 4 yrs of service is unnecessary for your lease terms.
You can use the search thread here or look at brand-specific forums to see how picky they are about damage. You can get a pre-return inspection to get a sense of what needs to be fixed/replaced.
When I leased an Audi, I was aware of the $999 prepaid maintenance from reading about it here. It was the only type of upsell not offered by the dealer during the hard sell process. I had to ask for it, and it was the only extra I got. The dealer must not have a big makeup on it, or I assume they would have offered it.
$0 “out of pocket mainetnance expenses.” I didn’t write that the maintenance package itself was free.
Once the maintenance plan has been added to the total lease cost, you can just compare DAS and monthly for all 3 brands and get a fairly accurate sense of total cost of ownership.
Not really, even if residualized it still costs something, even if 0 out of pocket. Electric’s unicorn bolt was close to free, but unfortunately was not free.
Comparing deals including maintenance is different, you’d have to consider if an Indy shop would be cheaper, and so on and so forth for true cost of ownership, but screw that, that’s actual work.
So if I ask for quotes from MB, Audi, and BMW and include maintenance packages for the MB and Audi, all w/ $0 DAS, I won’t get a sense of my total cost of ownership over the course of the lease by simply comparing the monthly cost for all 3?
