Underwater on a 2019 i3 REX Lease Buy Out

Ask the Hackrs Buy/Finance
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Disclaimer: was not in the best life situation at the time and was forced into buying out my lease (which was thanks to Leasehacker at $249/month including tax). My ex wiped our joint savings account (over 6-figures), destroyed my credit, then dragged me through a costly divorce. Learn from me - get a pre-nup. Definitely don’t want to hear the negative nancies or the chumpy chads.

Edmunds shows my 2019 BMW i3 REX (19K miles) as $30K value, but my total payoff is $32.9K with BMW financial. My monthly payment is ~$700, My life circumstances have changed so that I can’t charge at home, and I live in LA so finding an open fast charger just as difficult as the 30s dating pool.

Any recommendations? What would you do in my shoes? My credit is now 700+.

Appreciate any guidance. Good karma to you!

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How much are you driving that the REX isn’t meeting your needs?

As much as I’d like to sell you a solution, perhaps dealing with the inconvenience of fueling up every 100 miles or so may be cheaper than losing your ass on the negative equity (Real talk, your car is probably more like a 23-25K trade — FS was WAYYY optimistic on RV.)

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My non-dealer BMW shop advises I keep the battery charged at 20% to maintain long-term health, so I prefer a hybrid at this point in my life (had one too many creepy run ins at fast chargers).

Yeeeah I’m lucky if I get $25K. I appreciate your reply though! Part of it is that I miss the insurance on my 2017 Chevy Volt… was paying less than $1K annually!

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I suggest selling the vehicle and buying a reliable pre-owned Honda or Toyota. (Rolling in all negative equity)

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I’d say 50% is more conducive to long term battery health. I’ve heard of people coding a battery hold mode that runs the REX to maintain rather than just when charge level is low.

@IAC_Scott might be able to tell you more about it as they have an i3 in their family.

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40-50% is best for battery health for lithium-ion (NMC, NCA, LFP, the manganese variants that Nissan created). 0% and 100% are big no-nos.

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What is the requirements of the used car EV credit kicking in next year?

May be with 2-3 more payments you may be able to get more value next year if i3 qualifies for it…

Just thinking outside of box.

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username checks out

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Very unlikely. Has to sell for under $25k by a dealer to qualify.

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Always fun to check the urban dictionary as well

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if KERZ wasnt capitalized i would believe you

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You can code in a function that will let you run the REx anytime the battery is below 75%.

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  • Solution :white_check_mark:

I’d ride out the nasty part of the negative equity with this one weird trick.

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I am going on the assumption you didn’t already buy out this car.

You were able to go from ‘destroyed credit’ in 2019 to 700+ in 2022? That might be a ‘fake 700’ such as a Bankruptcy or other flags. If you can get a loan, it might be easier to get a cheaper car and just let the rex go back to the bank.

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Btw. 700+ is not good credit relatively speaking if you had near 850. It can easily go to that with a debt collection. Credit default, etc.
credit is hard to build, easy to wipe.

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High utilization will knock down a 800+ down to low 700’s

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Credit is not hard to build and I speak from experience. 700+ will sell you a car at tier 2 I think if under 740 unless things have changed recently.