should I buy out my 35d 2011 lease

I have had a 2011 35d with tech and climate package since 6/2010. I love my truck and did the lease with the intentions of buying at the end of the lease, 6/2013. This is my first BMW and love it but I am concerned about the cost of maintenance after the warranty period is over. I currently have 40,000 miles on it, so I'm already over the milage limit. I know the new version is coming out for the the 2014 model year but if it is not going to be bigger or get a big time boost in mpg I'm not really interested in spending the extra $$. The projected buyout is $36,000. I was hoping I would be able to negotiated that down but I have read that BMW sometimes does not do that. I have not had many issues with the truck except for one bad sensor and the recalls. I just wanted to get a take on other's opinions. If anyone can give me a feel for what kind of maintenance would be needed after the warranty period is over would be helpful (like the really costly stuff.)

You should buy the car if you want to keep for a while.

Get an extended warranty if you are really concern or find a good independent repair shop locally. That will carry you to year 7 of your car. By that time, depreciation cost is almost nothing and fixing a car typically costs less than a new one.

Remember, the cost of repair is nothing against first few years of depreciation of a new car unless your engine or transmission goes out.

At end of lease, your car has depreciated by at least $20k. It takes some major repairs to get that high.

Sent from my LG-P999 using Bimmer App

See if you can get into a short-term lease of a MY13d. I know BMW has tons of "pull-ahead" programs and they overlook the extra miles.

Maybe find a dealer that could finagle a CPO onto the car and sell it back to you...the CPO warranty is valuable. They are not supposed to, but you might find one willing to...

A

Originally Posted by AutoUnion

See if you can get into a short-term lease of a MY13d. I know BMW has tons of "pull-ahead" programs and they overlook the extra miles.

What is a pull ahead program?

Pull ahead is that u can abandon your lease early in exchange for a new one. Remember the dealer already once sold the vehicle to you and if they can sell one more they will do it. The old one they will buy at wholesale price from BMW finance and then resell it. If you buy it the same will happen the dealer will buy it from BMW fin and then at a profit sell to you. I have tried to negotiate prices but ended up with a new lease instead.
H

I doubt many dealers will agree to do "pull ahead" with a car which has more than 6 months left... Usually it's around 3 months or so.
Personally I would recommend to try and get rid of your current lease through Swap-a-lease or LeaseTrader and order the latest current model of X5... Or just extend the warranty on your current one if you're perfectly satisfied with all its options/features.
I would definitely not wait for the future model - it may have significantly redesigned interior which you may not like (like I currently feel about the awful mess inside the new 3-series), or it may have various software programming issues which may take several years for BMW to patch

Originally Posted by Ripred

I doubt many dealers will agree to do "pull ahead" with a car which has more than 6 months left... Usually it's around 3 months or so.
Personally I would recommend to try and get rid of your current lease through Swap-a-lease or LeaseTrader and order the latest current model of X5... Or just extend the warranty on your current one if you're perfectly satisfied with all its options/features.
I would definitely not wait for the future model - it may have significantly redesigned interior which you may not like (like I currently feel about the awful mess inside the new 3-series), or it may have various software programming issues which may take several years for BMW to patch

He stated he is ALREADY over the mileage allotment so there IS going to be a mileage penalty and I can't think of ANYONE who would assume a lease when the miles are ALREADY consumed. Also, the "pull ahead" programs don't (normally) forgive excessive mileage. He says his plan was to buy it but now he's getting "cold feet" due to potential maintenance risks. He is basically "learning the hard way" that a lease may not be that great of a deal. He needs to add up the cost of the excess miles TODAY and then may simply want to "park it until the turn in date. Residual is residual and that means that BMW does HAVE to "negotiate" ANYTHING. All that was done when the original lease was taken out many years ago. This is just another reason why leasing might now be right for some.

At this point it may make sense to buy the mileage @ .16 cents/mile and then turn it in.

I am not sure paying that residual amount for a 2009 makes sense. Also, you may have to pay taxes when you buy it back from BMWFS. Not sure, but in TX one has to.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by sunnygps

At this point it may make sense to buy the mileage @ .16 cents/mile and then turn it in.

I am not sure paying that residual amount for a 2009 makes sense. Also, you may have to pay taxes when you buy it back from BMWFS. Not sure, but in TX one has to.

Thanks.

I would tend to agree. If he has a 36K limit, he's only paying an additional $640's at turn in (assumming he doesn't drive it). if he has to drive it for another 6 months, it looks like he may end up doubling the current 4K overage so that would probably be between $1,200 & $1,500 in mileage overage fees. An X5d with 40K miles is currently worth on $32K (as of today) so another $3K-$4K depreciation is likely in 6 months so it looks like the wholesale value would likely be around $28-$29K and if his residual is $36. Well, the math to buy out the lease may not make sense but we can only give him the information and let him make the decision.

If it were me, I'd go ahead and call BMW finance about the options prior to the end of the year. He is 6 months away but BMW needs to move cars @ the end of the year so you never know, they may be willing to deal, right?

Thanks for all of the advice. How did you determine that the current value is $32,000? When I did Kelly blue book it was in the $40,000's. if you are correct on your math your advice makes a lot of sense. I have always owned cars for years and it wasn't until I had business that I started to lease cars and I'm not a good negotiator. Thanks for all of your advice and ideas.

Just to clarify it is a 2011 and I do have a 36000 mile limit which I am over by 4000 currently.

Originally Posted by ijustice

Thanks for all of the advice. How did you determine that the current value is $32,000? When I did Kelly blue book it was in the $40,000's. if you are correct on your math your advice makes a lot of sense. I have always owned cars for years and it wasn't until I had business that I started to lease cars and I'm not a good negotiator. Thanks for all of your advice and ideas.

Almost NOBODY actually pays KBB. In most cases, the BEST anyone will do is to split KBB wholesale & private party values. I did make a mistake and originally ran the numbers for a 2009. Sounds like you put more miles on it a year than I had realized (nearly 18K/year) which means that you would probably have a higher buy out for miles than I earlier projected but the good new is that you are right. Wholesale is closer to $40K with those miles (right now) so $36K buyout 6 months from now is reasonable.

If I recall correctly, the original buyer (you) can ALWAYS take out an extended warranty directly from BMW without selling or trading it in as long as the miles are under 50K. Those contracts ARE pricey but they keep you covered by BMW directly rather than going through some of those "lower quality" 3rd-party warranty programs where you have to fight tooth & nail to get things covered. With CPO, it's all under BMW's dime...for about a $4K price tag but may well be worth it in this case.

Originally Posted by Ripred

I doubt many dealers will agree to do "pull ahead" with a car which has more than 6 months left... Usually it's around 3 months or so.
Personally I would recommend to try and get rid of your current lease through Swap-a-lease or LeaseTrader and order the latest current model of X5... Or just extend the warranty on your current one if you're perfectly satisfied with all its options/features.
I would definitely not wait for the future model - it may have significantly redesigned interior which you may not like (like I currently feel about the awful mess inside the new 3-series), or it may have various software programming issues which may take several years for BMW to patch

Swap-a-lease or LeaseTrader
becareful of both those they charge a small fortune to list your car,Which would be fine but when buyers are looking, they have to join and pay 45-60 bucks just to contact you..
They could move a lot of cars if they did not do this..I put mine on auto trader the cheapest ad.NOTE they will not remove your ad even when it expires so don't pay for anything extra,.
I put mine up for sale/ take over lease.In 2 weeks someone took over the lease.
FYI BMW charges you or the buyer a $500 application fee,(I split it) all but 100 refunded if they don't get approved.Took less then a week and car was gone.You can pre buy miles at 16 cents each.

Originally Posted by ndabunka

Almost NOBODY actually pays KBB. In most cases, the BEST anyone will do is to split KBB wholesale & private party values. .

True.

Generally people will get less than wholesale/trade from the dealer...

This varies quite a bit over time and with models, but my theory is that edmunds and kbb are in the business to support car dealers/companies (WE surely dont pay them!) hence their bias is in the direction that makes dealers more money. When you look at the paid car pricing services, you can see this discrepancy.

Unless your buying a car,Then they tell you KBB is to low, It does not take in account how popular the car is,Then when you trade it in,Oh that color is hard to sell we can not pay anywhere near KBB..

Originally Posted by ijustice

I love my truck and did the lease with the intentions of buying at the end of the lease, 6/2013.

Let this be your guide. IMO it is hit or miss with these cars. Some are at the dealer every other week. Some are driven to 200, 300k with only the basics.

If you are going to keep a total of 7 years or more then consider buying it especially if it has been trouble-free.