[Shah86]

Anybody have any idea how it works to purchase the car after the lease? Its my first M and I'm really in love, such an amazing car. Although I leased it I'm now starting to think this is a car I'm definitely going to want to keep for more than 3 years. Does anybody know how it works? Do I just subtract the amount I've paid by the end of the lease and subtract that from the MSRP of the Car to find its new price? Thanks.

[M Heart]

It's pretty simple actually. If you leased your car, you're paying the expected (per BMW's leading terms) depreciation of the car. Depending on your leading terms, you're residual value is set up front and you should know this. Let's just say you're car's residual value at lease end is 60% of your msrp, and your msrp was $75,000, you're residual value at lease end its $45,000. That's the amount BMW financial would expect you to pay for it. If you choose to buy it now within your lease period, that's a different deal.

[997usa]

Originally Posted by M Heart

It's pretty simple actually. If you leased your car, you're paying the expected (per BMW's leading terms) depreciation of the car. Depending on your leading terms, you're residual value is set up front and you should know this. Let's just say you're car's residual value at lease end is 60% of your msrp, and your msrp was $75,000, you're residual value at lease end its $45,000. That's the amount BMW financial would expect you to pay for it. If you choose to buy it now within your lease period, that's a different deal.

If you buy now, you need to call BMW FS and get a pay off quote that is valid for 14 days. Send them your payment equal to the pay off and they will send you the title. Voila, now you own the car.

[dagolfpro]

Originally Posted by Shah86

Anybody have any idea how it works to purchase the car after the lease? Its my first M and I'm really in love, such an amazing car. Although I leased it I'm now starting to think this is a car I'm definitely going to want to keep for more than 3 years. Does anybody know how it works? Do I just subtract the amount I've paid by the end of the lease and subtract that from the MSRP of the Car to find its new price? Thanks.

I've written most posts on this topic. Do a search and you'll be rewarded. I negotiated my buy back with a dealer saved about $800 off my residual value. It could have been more if M3 auction prices weren't so strong or if I had higher miles. (About 27k miles at lease end).

Good luck.

[xlover]

if your dealer really wants to be a pal they can CPO the car too before they sell it back to you... more warranties!

[OneRib]

Also consider buying a newer M3 if the residual is set too high or you didn't get a great deal to start with.

Puts you in a newer car at a potentially better price point.

[TYMAH123]

I bought my car after a 3 year lease. The price would be specified in your contract that you signed when you leased the car (residual value). Mine was something like $37K and I was only able to drop it down to $35.5K no matter what I tried. Went to a couple of dealerships also and they showed me what BMW is expecting to get from them from this sale (probably bs of course) but I did exhaust all of my options and nobody could offer me a better deal. Even offered the guy cash under the table for my target price, they wouldn't take it. They did however offered me a better bank rate than my bank so that was a little bit of good news there. I originally was shooting for $5K off my residual value but kept hitting a solid wall of NOs. So to make a long story short you probably will have to pay pretty close to what is spelled out in your original contract. That's my $0.02.
PS You do save around $500-600 on the return inspection/transportation fees as well but they usually wave those if you're buying another BMW from them. I had a Benz before and they got me for that since I wasn't getting another Mercedes.

[Shah86]

Thanks for the input guys much appreciated.

[Smokester]

Don't forget to factor in the total cost of ownership. When you buy off lease you will eventually inherit the repairs and maintenance. This can be thousands per year which can make leasing another new one more attractive. I really like the suggestion of convincing the dealer to CPO it.