Worst leases you've seen

Judging from allowed mileage it looks like a 10k/36

So, I have been lurking for the past few weeks on the these forums as I’m looking to replace my Cadillac ELR. I decided to call Erhardt BMW in Farmington Hills, MI, they had a nicely priced executive demo for $51,585 with less then 4k miles.

I was thinking to myself that I should be getting a great deal on this car as I have seen several posters on LeaseHackr get killer deals on these demos. Well, I was wrong and felt insulted when the salesman told me the numbers (see below)…He proceeded to say that typically X5’s lease in the $900s and He also had the nerve to ask me to come in for a test drive…Needles to say I am running the other way from this deal. Just wanted to share with the community here.

Year, Make, Model, and Trim: 2018 BMW X5 xDrive35i
Saved Numbers on Leasehackr Calculator:

MSRP: $ 61,585
Selling Price: $ 51,585
Monthly Payment: $ 599
Cash Due at Signing: $ 7,499
MSD: 0
Incentives:

Months: 36
Annual Mileage: 10,000
MF:
Residual:

Region: Detroit
Leasehackr Score:

$900 lol … some of these guys are hilarious

1 Like

It could also be 48m/7.5K

I really doubt Audi FS or anyone else had leases available for a 2017 model in July 2018

1 Like

Erhard is terrible. They cater to the foreigners in the area that just come in and plunk down a crapload of cash and are totally uninterested in making a reasonable deal. If you find a good BMW dealer in the area let me know. I’ve heard good thing about Grand Blanc BMW.

Damn foreigners, coming here in caravans, stealing our BMW deals!

4 Likes

I was about to say that 599 was great! Then saw the cash down… Yikes… Effective 840 a month payment on a loaner X5. That’s a lot of scratch.

Here there is a large foreign population that is both extremely wealthy and will walk into a dealer to buy a car without any negotiation. That’s just what most of the luxury dealers in the NW Detroit suburbs cater to and expect. They definitely aren’t stealing our deals, the dealers just don’t want to bother with negotiation and waste their time on it when they could be doing no hassle $$$$ deals. I have a couple friends in car sales here and this is what they say.

I’m afraid I’ll have to share my lease terms with this thread. I leased a 2017 Chevy Cruze LS from Autonation Coral Gables back in October 2016 (two years ago).

MSRP: $18,525
48 month lease (!!), $325 a month, $1500 down, 10k miles per year.

$17,100 for a Cruze for 4 years!?!?!?!? Holy crap that’s awful (absolutely amazing for the salesman though)

This isn’t even that far removed from all the really good Cruze deals from a few years ago either.

Curious what draws wealthy foreigners to NW Detroit. Is it the auto industry? Universities? Ann Arbor?

and that’s for a base model LS! He could’ve bought the thing for less than his lease payments will be over 48 months!

2 Likes

IMO it is just observation bias and heuristics from the sales people. There is very little chance wealthy foreigners actually skew the market in NW Detroit.

1 Like

Oakland County is one of the wealthiest counties in the country. If you’ve never been here, forget the “Detroit” stereotypes. There are a huge number of expats here in the auto industry on 2-3 year work contracts with company paid vehicles or huge allowances. Basically anyone in the auto industry gets a “free” company car I.e. a lease or purchase allowance. Hell I get $900/mo and I’m not even management.

I work for a Japanese company and we lease 6 vehicles for the expats. I’m talking a Grand Cherokee for $800/mo, an XT5 for $1150/mo, a 3 series for $700/mo. No joke. I’ve seen the contracts and I’d post them if I wouldn’t get fired. They’re HILARIOUS.

Believe me or not, but these guys buy cars almost without a budget and don’t even try to make a deal.

And of course there are thousands of wealthy Chinese students at U of M driving around in M3’s, but I think that’s a small proportion compared to the expat workforce.

Not saying it’s not POSSIBLE to get a deal, but the sales guys I know tell me they just don’t bother with it unless they’re bored or need to move a few extra units.

How is that even possible? Genuinely curious. Do you mind posting the initial terms?

Detroit suburbs are very nice. Had to travel there for work at a previous job. There are plenty of pockets of wealth. Key being…suburbs. Detroit proper…that’s a different story. Let’s just say when I ever went to Windsor, Ontario, I’d pay the premium for gas across the river before stopping in downtown.

Gotcha! Interesting how these Japanese (I assume) expats are seemingly choosing to drive German and American metal. :laughing:

1 Like

I would if I could find the lease paperwork. I moved from South Florida to SoCal 6 months ago. Since the lease terms were so bad, does that mean the car is basically mine when the lease is up? I’m basically financing it…

They are very nervous to stereotype themselves and want to “fit in”. We have only one Japanese car lease out of 6, a brand new Ascent.