Should i even get a new car?

[gohawks23]

Binding PO…below has updates by OEM.

https://electrek.co/2022/08/10/if-you-want-an-ev-buy-this-week-rivian-fisker-ev-tax-credits/

[rxy007]

Firstly, I would like to thank this community for the advice and insight to my previous post.

Now that i have decided electric vehicle is not for me right now. I have another Question.

Background - I have 2 cars. a 2021 hyundai palisade, that i purchased last yr at msrp that i plan to keep as my long term family car (atleast 5 years).

The car in question is Bmw X3, leased, ending Nov 2022, so 1 payments left. Monthly is $550. Residual is 29k. This car is share bw me and wife, mostly commuting to the office (15 - 25 miles total daily, and 3-5 times a week), as 2 car seats wont fit properly. The car has barely 15k miles in 3 years.

So i am pretty confident that i will not drive more than 3-5k miles a year.

Now my question is - do i buy my current lease or get a new lease ? Please help me make the right decision.

Current lease is 550 a month, 29k residual, plus may be 3-4k in taxes. I will probably finance it. And approx 2-4% APR for may be 3-5 years. I will end up paying anywhere around $35k in total. I am expecting monthly payment to be 400-500. also if i sell it, car max and carvana will give me around $36k.

On the other hand, my wife suggested that I lease a new car.and simply turn in the keys for this one. even if i get into a similar deal as my bmw ( and i will try to get a cheaper, non luxury car through a broker), i will end up paying 350-550 a month and total over 3 years will be around 20k.

I am so confused right now. The car market is tight and will be so for the next 1-2 years. my gut says buy the bmw and keep it for another 2-3 years atleast, may be longer. but the idea of getting into another lease seems significantly cheaper.

• which way should i go ? buy out or new lease ?

• do people who buy out their leased cars (specially luxury ones like bmw) tend to keep it for many many years or sell it later ?

• is there a point of going through the hassle of buying out and selling to carvana etc ? the whole process will take 1-2 months between me getting tags and title and carvana value may or may not change in that time. and I am not sure how much profit will i make. besides i will need a car anyways to drive around.

Thanks for bearing through my incoherent rambling.

[trism]

@rxy007

2 car seats wont fit properly

I hate to be the guy who picks out one phrase from a thoughtful post, but would it help your decision if you could find two car seats that fit better?

[rxy007]

No, not really. I am pretty happy with my palisade if i want to haul kids around. this car is mostly for me or wife to commute to work. i have enjoyed a luxury car like bmw, now i am ok with something cheaper (not smaller though because i am 6 feet tall)

[Bluemkn57cars]

@rxy007

Now my question is - do i buy my current lease or get a new lease ? Please help me make the right decision.

@rxy007

as 2 car seats wont fit properly.

If car seats won’t fit in the X3, then why contemplating buying it out?

Have you started researching other cars/SUVs that might meet your needs; vis-a-vis car seats and budget?

[hurjio2]

I may be mistaken, but I don’t think OP is saying fitting 2 car seats is a requirement for the X3 replacement.

[trism]

I wasn’t sure, but I also didn’t see any other reason for mentioning it.

I took a shot thinking that perhaps a simpler solution may solve the root cause of the indecision over a much larger spending decision.

[Britten440]

Did you check other options that can buy it out directly like Autonation or @DNA_Auto_Wholesale1, who is local? Typically Carvana is not paying the highest price today and you can avoid the time it takes plus the sales tax.

If you can take upwards of $6K in equity out and really just need something to get from point A to B, I would take the cash and look for something cheaper to lease.

[Superbenj]

I recently had the genius idea to swap out the big booster seat in our V60 with the smaller one in our XC90

3 months of children struggling to put their own seatbelts on cured in 20 seconds. I patted myself in the back for this great thinking as opposed to kicking myself for not thinking of it 3 months ago.

[max_g]

1. Maximize any equity you might have. Sell it to an entity that can buy it directly from BMWFS and without needing you to buy it.

2. Deposit the check.

3. Check the LH Marketplace for any good lease offers; if they don’t exist then finance something. What are your priorities in your next vehicle?

[rxy007]

great idea. do you know who can buy from bmwfs directly ?

also no real priorities in my next car. if i will lease, i will look for something cheap to tide me over for the next 3 years when i finally buy an electric car. i cant get anything small, as i am 6 feet tall. other than that, i am willing to accept a non luxury car, like toyota and honda, as long as it has apple car play, till i can buy an BEV.

[rxy007]

also the problem i faced in my last lease was, none of these 3rd party buyers could buy this close to lease end, they all needed atleast 3 months out. now i am only 1 month away.

[trism]

@rxy007

i cant get anything small, as i am 6 feet tall.

How meaningful is this constraint?

I’m a bit taller, and this has only been an issue for me in a Wrangler (knees) and a former boss’s 198x 560SL (knees, and headroom with the hardtop in place).

I even fit in a Fit.

[max_g]

@rxy007

do you know who can buy from bmwfs directly ?

Get offers from multiple BMW dealers. Try to do it as remotely as possible.

Also conglomerates that own BMW dealerships such as Carshop, Autonation, etc.

And some of the LH brokers listed in this thread:

List of places to sell or value your car online

For the quickest results: Copy your VIN to your clipboard and just paste it into each site. Quicker than plate lookup. Enter “I own the vehicle” where applicable — you don’t need to get into the details of your lease payoff or loan balance until you’ve eventually chosen one entity to sell to. Use a Google Voice or some other device you can turn off at will. Otherwise your real phone will be bombarded initially. In alphabetical order: Buyer Name Direct Link Review Link AutoCo…

[max_g]

@rxy007

other than that, i am willing to accept a non luxury car, like toyota and honda, as long as it has apple car play

Should be easy to research who has wireless ACP

Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, etc seem like good places to start narrowing down cars to a very short list of which to finance.

[M3WC]

@trism

How meaningful is this constraint?

I’m a bit taller, and this has only been an issue for me in a Wrangler (knees) and a former boss’s 198x 560SL (knees, and headroom with the hardtop in place).

I even fit in a Fit.

Yeah 6ft is not that tall. I am well over 6ft and drove a Porsche Cayman for 2.5 years. Don’t knock smaller cars until you try them, you’d be surprised how spacious some actual feel.

[Firstkill]

I went through this month, early Oct due date… X3 lease return 33k miles, Residual was 28K… I couldnt get any REAL offers for more than 32k. I did not try that hard.

After time spent/sales tax/new tags. Waiting…I decided the margin was slim that I did not want to go through the work. We had BMW lease protection, covered some front and rear bumper scuff, 4 tires.

We decided to let it go since the car had some cosmetic issues and needed new tires. It will be hard to find something similar for the same price.

[rxy007]

what did you end up doing ? i am curious. what did you get eventually ?

[Firstkill]

Im in CA, we bought a volvo xc60 recharge. Wife wanted carpool sticker and did not want to go full electric. No good deals, no hacking. It seems like an equal x3 with warranty

Purchase makes sense if you like the car still. I could have been more proactive on looking for equity.
Maybe you will have better luck squeezing the equity out of the X3. If theres a few K in equity at trade in your payments will be around 600… Not much more for new car/warranty and a few included services.