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February 5 series lease deals: best deals, EVER.

18K views 160 replies 28 participants last post by  hufington 
#1 ·
2250 lease credit for returning customers and .63 residuals for good credit.

You can lease a 5 series for less than an Acura. That's almost unbelievable, right?
 
#5 ·
The Lease credit (cash value) sounds great, but is a 63% (I'm assuming on a 36 month Lease) that good? I mean, I know it's *technically* great, but in this day and age with insanely artificially raised residuals to give cars out for cheap rentals, I can't tell what's what in terms of what a truly "high" residual is supposed to be.
 
#20 ·
I have no idea how to calculate and figure these lease programs.

What is the final truth with the amount to put down and the monthly note on this F10 lease? How long would the lease have to be for? Sorry to ask for a handout answer. Thank you!
 
#68 ·
#72 ·
This has been discussed at length over and over again, do a search. In summary, you risk losing some (or all) of that money if the car is totaled for any reason. The lease includes GAP insurance so let that work for you. There's no guarantee you'd lose the money though, it's all a case-by-case.
 
#78 ·
Thanks to all for wealth of information. As suggested earlier, I did search and read on the concerns with different lease payment options.

Are there any financials concerns with a one-pay lease and availing a MF reduction of 0.0008 (1.92% APR) versus making a large down payment. I think risks are significantly lowered; however, would like to have a few words of assurance from forum members in case my thinking is faulty.
 
#82 ·
Thanks to all for wealth of information. As suggested earlier, I did search and read on the concerns with different lease payment options.

Are there any financials concerns with a one-pay lease and availing a MF reduction of 0.0008 (1.92% APR) versus making a large down payment. I think risks are significantly lowered; however, would like to have a few words of assurance from forum members in case my thinking is faulty.
Funny, the only lease I have ever contemplated is a one payment lease. I do not lease or finance as a rule, but I finance my cars personally in imaginative ways when I want to. I like to get the payments out of the way or not have them at all. I would say the real difference between leasing and owning - is the residual value risk, which has been discussed many times. With these deals you are better off to lease. When the residual value inherent in the lease goes say..as low as 50% or lower, you end up paying for so much of the car through lease payments, you know when you return it, the dealer has a big gain on his hands and you either buy it anyway, or just start all over.

Lease the car, do what is comfortable for you, keep the payments affordable. The lease deals are good.
 
#80 ·
Lol, once again: This is why I used the advertised leasing program as the baseline.

The train quickly goes off the tracks when you don't compare apples to apples.

There is no right or perfect deal, only your opinion :)

For example: another poster in another thread noted that he's been buying BMW's for years and he always "let's" his dealer make more than the 500 bucks most of the Internet Heros swear they never "allow" the dealer make off of them. 'Cuz Internet Heros is smart and we is dumb.

This poster walks into his dealer whenever he wants for service and they give him any test driver he wants to take home as a loaner. They install BMW performance parts for him for free. They change his oil whenever he wants, give him all sorts of comp stuff like floor mats and stuff, swap out stuff that isn't true warranty work, etc., etc.
 
#90 ·
Another +1 for MSDs. I'm saving $52 a month for 39 months on a $3,850 deposit. That equates to a 16.2% "return." I believe the return is maxed out when you create a payment that is just below a number divisible by fifty as the MSDs are 7x your monthly payment rounded up to the nearest fifty.
 
#94 ·
Soooo a bit lost here, which is better, MSD's or the one-payment lease? Which one saves you more money (excluding any abnormal activity that would create havoc upon return of the car at lease end)? V/r, Tim
 
#112 ·
If you assign your lease, the new leasee is credited with your deposit.
I've assumed leases in the past including one BMW. A large security deposit makes for a difficult if not impossible transaction. Persons shopping for lease assumptions generally aren't inclined to turn over a lot of cash no matter the circumstances.
 
#113 ·
Hooray, you found a potential downside: MSDs make it harder to transfer a lease. I guess now you have reinforced you own confirmation bias for all of your great deals you have made in the past without MSDs. Congrats! :thumbup:

Anyway, I think most lease options have been presented here, so please buy, finance, or lease your next car in the manner that you prefer. Good luck with your choice. I am certain you will defend your decision as strongly as anyone else here. ;)
 
#117 ·
I declined MSD's on my car since I like to "put my money to work" and didn't want to sacrifice any capital. Though, the "return" would have been about 25%+ or so, which makes me think I should have just signed over the $4,500 (max amount they'd take as a MSD on my car). I sort of regret not doing it, but I chalk it up also to cold feet in giving a deposit, i.e if they'd try and "screw me" on the return, like find more reasons to deduct portions, or if the car got in an accident, etc. (most of which have been answered here), so I guess I wasn't "comfortable".

Would have been nice to save over $50 a month on my Lease and get the amount back at Lease end though!
 
#118 · (Edited)
This turned into quite a thread. Let me try to give it a balanced perspective. MSD's are really cash collateral that lower the overall interest rate on a lease. The implied return is pretty good given what you have to post as collateral to get the "reported" reductions in interest and corresponding lease payments. Now to say, with some confidence, there is no risk in these MSD's and that their return to the customer, at least in part, are not at risk would be unrealistic. There has to be some risk or they wouldn't attract the return they do. Is it better than a lease down-payment? Interesting perspective. A lease down-payment is nothing more than that...a lump sum lease payment paid up-front to lower the lease payments. An MSD is cash collateral that lowers the future monthly lease payments in the same manner, but is (theoretically returned) when the lease is up. From a financial point of view an MSD is better. Is it a "security deposit" in name only...doubt it. If something goes wrong, you are likely at risk for some of it.
 
#119 ·
That's what I keep thinking. BMW isn't trying to give out free money. There HAS to be something in it for them, that they would realistically try and utilize, for giving you such a great return on your money?

But, proof would be in the pudding. Maybe a thread with a "hands up" for those who have gotten back MSD's once or more than once with no problems would be helpful.
 
#132 ·
Oh sh**. The boys just pulled out their fancy watches, thread hijacked the most ultimate hijack.

Good timing. :D
 
#133 ·
Dave Ramsey, the radio/TV financial adviser, has an interesting take on automobile leasing:

Explain How A Car Lease Works

QUESTION: Listener asks Dave to break down the mathematical flaws in a car lease.

ANSWER: A car fleece is basically renting a car. You pay $400 a month and at the end of the new car lease, you turn it back in. If you want to buy it, you are buying it for what they estimate at the beginning of the fleece to be the market value. At the end of the lease, it's called the residual value. If you pay $400 a month for 60 months, you pay $24,000 before turning it in. The car will not have gone down in value more than that, because the car companies would lose money if it did. When they get the car back, you will have paid them more than the car has depreciated during that time.

During that time, you're maintaining the car as if you owned it. You'll get charged for excessive wear and tear, or if you put too many miles on it. If you rent it for $24,000 and it went down $15,000 in value, then it cost me $9,000 to rent this car for this period of time. That is their profit during that time.

Another thing is that the interest rates on a vehicle lease are not disclosed because the Federal Trade Commission has determined that this is not a debt, so there is no federal disclosure involved. Therefore, you have no truth in lending disclosure sheet. The interest rates you get charged are unbelievably high. That's where you'll realize you got screwed over.

People get sold automobile leases because they are told that it's what sophisticated people do. But as it turns out, the car companies make more money on leasing you the car than if you bought the car with cash, according to the National Auto Dealers Association. Broke people think 'how much down and how much a month'. Rich people think 'how much'. If you can't pay cash for a car, then ride a bicycle. But don't lease a car.
 
#134 ·
#138 · (Edited)
When I see the auction selling prices for recent BMW lease returns, I'm seeing 20 and 30 percent discounts to residuals.

I'm a little confused about who's getting "fleeced" in this case?
What's interesting to me, is that on my car, for example, I have one of those Lease deals where I'm the one "winning" in the first term (i.e the Lease term), because BMW gave me a 74% residual to artificially lower my Lease to get me into my car just before year end (24 month Lease).

Therefore, my buyout is a $46.9K on a $63,450 MSRP car.

Obviously in BMW terms, considering my residual 74% factor is so artificially high, that's a very high residual price to pay. At the same time, when I look at 2011 M Sport 535i's, they sometimes still go for $50's! $46K for a decent mileage 2011 535i was a steal when I was looking just a month and a half ago. IF and a big IF M Sport models still hold their values like they did in 2011/2012 until today (hypothetically speaking), then even those "artificially high residuals" we get to artificially lower our Lease payments aren't so insane after all. Of course, I'm just basing this on a 2-year sample as that's what my Lease is and that's around if not a little under how old 2011 cars are now (hence the comparo).
 
#142 · (Edited)
Another issue generally not acknowledged by people who denigrate leasing is this more recent concept of "diminished value".
One of the reasons I'd be hesitant about buying a new car these days is because of the databases which are kept by companies like Carfax. The "diminished" value concept is pretty new but highly organized.

Leasing is almost like accident insurance for accidents.

A 10 or 15 thousand hit on a new luxury car will crush her value. Sure, prior accidents always lowered the potential value of a car but nowhere near the extent it does today. That's a fact.
 
#145 ·
The Suze Ormans and Dave Ramseys of the world will tell you that buying anything over and above the cheapest most basic car that meets reasonably your needs is a poor financial decision.

With that said, the Ramsey scenario is a one-sided portrayal of the situation. Contrary to his claims, it's possible to lease with close to free money and given the artificially inflated residuals that subvent many lease deals it's far from the fleecing he portrays it to be. The only universal truisms are that there are good deals and bad, and that the poorly educated consumer is more likely to land himself with the latter and not the former. It's possible to get terrible deals with traditional financing, and it's possible to make a bad deal and overpay for your car when you're writing a check.
 
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