[Miller1989]

Originally Posted by Jay757

Greetings everyone,

So I did do a forum search but nothing much came up but an older thread, regarding this topic.

Anyhow Active Duty U.S Air Force here and I recently volunteered and got picked up for a 365 deployment (one year deployment) to Afghanistan (rare for us Air Force folks). With that being said, is it possible to turn my BMW in early with military orders? The lease ends in June 2018 and I've had the car for almost a year.

I will most likely be stationed overseas again after this deployment and yes I'm going to try and get Germany, since I get advanced assignment consideration for doing a 365 deployment. I really hope I can give the car back, as that will be a hefty amount of money back in my pocket a month. If not, I'm guessing I'll have to fly back to the states and turn the car back into BMW after the lease ends

Sorry to revive an old thread. I may be in a similar situation soon. I hope the deployment is going or went well. Seems like it was about a year ago you posted. I was just wondering how the whole process was? What kind of leg work you had to do to actually get the car turned in. Thanks for your help. And thanks for your service

[Jay757]

Originally Posted by Miller1989

Sorry to revive an old thread. I may be in a similar situation soon. I hope the deployment is going or went well. Seems like it was about a year ago you posted. I was just wondering how the whole process was? What kind of leg work you had to do to actually get the car turned in. Thanks for your help. And thanks for your service

Hello, it was a fairly easy process. I was in and out of dealership within 30 minutes. I had a Dinan stage 1 tune, and window tint on the car at the time of turn in. My dealership said it wasn't a problem.

Additionally, I purchased the lease end protection. While some may think it's a waste of money, it came in very handy. I needed a whole new set of tires and all my rims had a little curb rash on them. I had a few door dings from people opening there doors on my car. Also had a nasty scrape at the bottom of my front bumper from a dent in road.

All in all, I ended up coming close to $4K in damages. I didn't pay a cent, just gave the car back and filed a claim with the company and everything was completed within a month while being deployed.

If you have anymore questions, let me know.

[Eternal]

Glad it was smooth. My last deployment to Afghanistan a buddy did a lease turn in (not BMW) and got royally screwed over. Everything was Kosher until 30 days in, Chevy was still charging him for the lease. Luckily we were still in training and he was able to deal with it, but it took the majority of our deployment for it to be rectified and him to get all of his money back.

Have you gotten your follow on? I just did 2 years in Korea and was denied mine . Ended up at SJAFB.

[jeffc83]

Thank you for your service gents...you should be treated MUCH better!

[Jay757]

Originally Posted by Eternal

Glad it was smooth. My last deployment to Afghanistan a buddy did a lease turn in (not BMW) and got royally screwed over. Everything was Kosher until 30 days in, Chevy was still charging him for the lease. Luckily we were still in training and he was able to deal with it, but it took the majority of our deployment for it to be rectified and him to get all of his money back.

Have you gotten your follow on? I just did 2 years in Korea and was denied mine . Ended up at SJAFB.

Funny thing is, they canceled the Afghanistan deployment and sent me to Qatar... and only for 6 months, so I got no follow on :. It ended up working out for me though, as I'm about to join the Guard and do overseas contracting making double what I make now.

Sorry to hear about your buddy though, and you being stationed at SJ. I have a contracting buddy who used to be stationed there.

[X2 Monstah]

Thanks for your service. Retired USAF here. Oh, and if you need to dump that S5, I'll take it!

[zinner]

Good luck and thanks for your service!

[Miller1989]

Originally Posted by Jay757

Hello, it was a fairly easy process. I was in and out of dealership within 30 minutes. I had a Dinan stage 1 tune, and window tint on the car at the time of turn in. My dealership said it wasn't a problem.

Additionally, I purchased the lease end protection. While some may think it's a waste of money, it came in very handy. I needed a whole new set of tires and all my rims had a little curb rash on them. I had a few door dings from people opening there doors on my car. Also had a nasty scrape at the bottom of my front bumper from a dent in road.

All in all, I ended up coming close to $4K in damages. I didn't pay a cent, just gave the car back and filed a claim with the company and everything was completed within a month while being deployed.

If you have anymore questions, let me know.

Sorry for not responding. I was expecting it to email me once I got a reaponse! Thanks for the info I really appreciate it. It looks like I'm going to be heading back to the Stan end of October time frame. I'm only like a month and some change into my lease. Unfortunate timing hopefully bmw doesn't give me a hard time because my lease time was so short. I see you got to go to the deid, lucky you!! How was it?

[Jay757]

Originally Posted by Miller1989

Sorry for not responding. I was expecting it to email me once I got a reaponse! Thanks for the info I really appreciate it. It looks like I'm going to be heading back to the Stan end of October time frame. I'm only like a month and some change into my lease. Unfortunate timing hopefully bmw doesn't give me a hard time because my lease time was so short. I see you got to go to the deid, lucky you!! How was it?

No worries. I'll probably run into you at some point. Most of the contracting job offers I got were in Afghanistan. The Deid, it was alright, felt more like a TDY than a deployment. I was really looking forward to that afghan deployment they canceled on me last min last year.

You shouldn't have any problems with the lease turn in. BMW made it extremely easy, with no hassle at all. If you do though, pull that SCRA info up.

[Miller1989]

Originally Posted by Jay757

No worries. I'll probably run into you at some point. Most of the contracting job offers I got were in Afghanistan. The Deid, it was alright, felt more like a TDY than a deployment. I was really looking forward to that afghan deployment they canceled on me last min last year.

You shouldn't have any problems with the lease turn in. BMW made it extremely easy, with no hassle at all. If you do though, pull that SCRA info up.

I'm sure we will. I'll have to pm you. What career field are you? The deid is something else. I only spent 24 hours there and I hated it. Gulf state deployments are the worst. I love Afghanistan everytime I've been there.

[Calvin36]

Thanks for your service! Hopefully everything worked out for you!

[Jay757]

Originally Posted by Miller1989

I'm sure we will. I'll have to pm you. What career field are you? The deid is something else. I only spent 24 hours there and I hated it. Gulf state deployments are the worst. I love Afghanistan everytime I've been there.

Sent you a PM so this thread doesn't get too off topic. Defiantly PM me though, I check this website daily, even though I own a Audi now haha.

Btw after you get your bimmer turned in, let us know how the process went, so future deployers and readers can see just how easy the process is. BMW is awesome!

[Miller1989]

Originally Posted by Jay757

Sent you a PM so this thread doesn't get too off topic. Defiantly PM me though, I check this website daily, even though I own a Audi now haha.

Btw after you get your bimmer turned in, let us know how the process went, so future deployers and readers can see just how easy the process is. BMW is awesome!

I definitely will do that. I've surfed the internet forever and couldn't find anything except your thread. So I'll be more than happy to put up the info. What kind of audi do you have ? I came from a 2013 S5 to bmw. I loved it. Just needed to get back to a sedan for the kiddo.

[Jay757]

***Typed this up on my phone, so forgive me if you find any grammar/spelling errors***

Ok, so to go a little more in depth about the process. I called BMW, told them I was deploying overseas for longer than 90 days. Next thing they did was ask me for my orders. Once I sent them over and they verified that I do in fact fall under the SCRA. From there, their SCRA department sent me forms via email to fill out to get the BMW turned in early.

I don't have a copy of the forms in front of me now, but they're relatively easy to fill out. Once you fill them out, you will send them back to BMW. They will ask you what dealership do you intend to have inspect your vehicle. I was also given the option to have a 3rd party come to my house and evaluate the vehicle to look for any lease end damage as well. I chose to go through my local dealership, where I originally purchased the vehicle from.

From there, I just called up my local dealership and spoke with the BMW genius. Me and him are actually good friends. He told me to let him know what day I was going to stop by and turn the vehicle in. Fast forward to the turn in day. I go to the dealership and he pulls out an iPad and assess the damage of the vehicle on it and then sends the report up to BMW. After that, I left in my rental car. I was literally in and out the in less than 30 minutes.

A few weeks into my deployment, he messages me on FB saying, please send me the final bill/letter from BMW, so I can send your claim up for the lease end damages to the claim company (in this case it was a company under Allstate). My lease end protection covered up to $5K in damages. Once he sent the final bill to the company, about a month later, he messages me and says you're all done and the claim payed out. Overall, I found it to be an extremely easy process. You're results may vary, depending on what dealership/process you go through.

I've attached some pictures of my final bill and also how it will look online, once your final bill is generated. I'm happy to answer anymore questions, from anyone that has any.


***EDIT*** So the pictures didn't come out too clear from being sent from my phone. I will try to upload better pics, once I get off work today.

[Jay757]

Originally Posted by Miller1989

I definitely will do that. I've surfed the internet forever and couldn't find anything except your thread. So I'll be more than happy to put up the info. What kind of audi do you have ? I came from a 2013 S5 to bmw. I loved it. Just needed to get back to a sedan for the kiddo.

Funny that you owned an S5 before. I just picked up a 2018 Audi S5 coupe, back in July! It's a beast of a car, I think I'll be ready for an M car, after this lease is up!

[ksa]

Good to know the process is fairly straight forward. What sort of damage did you end up doing to the car in the end? I don't have any lease protection but I'd be curious to know what they consider damage. Even though I would never keep my car the entire lease term as 4 months in I am already bored and have negotiated with my guy to turn it back in after a year. Haha.

[Jay757]

Originally Posted by ksa

Good to know the process is fairly straight forward. What sort of damage did you end up doing to the car in the end? I don't have any lease protection but I'd be curious to know what they consider damage. Even though I would never keep my car the entire lease term as 4 months in I am already bored and have negotiated with my guy to turn it back in after a year. Haha.

See my above post on the damages. It's post number 24. As long as the car is good condition and the tires have the approved amount of tread on them, BMW isn't too harsh. They didn't even care about my Stage 1 tune. They have a thread somewhere on here about lease end damages and what BMW looks for.

Why did you get rid of the M3 and switch to the 440xi? Needed AWD for those brutal Canada winters? Also why are you bored with the 440xi? What are you getting next?

[Miller1989]

Originally Posted by Jay757

See my above post on the damages. It's post number 24. As long as the car is good condition and the tires have the approved amount of tread on them, BMW isn't too harsh. They didn't even care about my Stage 1 tune. They have a thread somewhere on here about lease end damages and what BMW looks for.

Why did you get rid of the M3 and switch to the 440xi? Needed AWD for those brutal Canada winters? Also why are you bored with the 440xi? What are you getting next?

So was the extra time because of the claim you had to make? I had actually been considering purchasing a vehicle after I trade it in so I can pay extra on it while I'm deployed. Wonder if that would be an issue? Glad everything went so smooth!

[Jay757]

Originally Posted by Miller1989

So was the extra time because of the claim you had to make? I had actually been considering purchasing a vehicle after I trade it in so I can pay extra on it while I'm deployed. Wonder if that would be an issue? Glad everything went so smooth!

More or less, yes. Takes about a month for BMW to generate your last bill with all the charges. You can then either pay them off yourself or you use the claim insurance, if you have it, like it I did.

Purchase what, the 528xi?

[ksa]

Originally Posted by Jay757

See my above post on the damages. It's post number 24. As long as the car is good condition and the tires have the approved amount of tread on them, BMW isn't too harsh. They didn't even care about my Stage 1 tune. They have a thread somewhere on here about lease end damages and what BMW looks for.

Why did you get rid of the M3 and switch to the 440xi? Needed AWD for those brutal Canada winters? Also why are you bored with the 440xi? What are you getting next?

Damage didn't sound bad at all actually and usual wear and tear. Hopefully I won't get that in a year. Honestly, I used winter driving as part of an excuse to get rid of the M3 for a 440 GC but I was just bored of it. In 6 months. I know, I am terrible but I can't help it. I am on my 5 car in the last 4 years or so. Went from a C63 AMG to E92 M3 to E70 X5M to F80 M3 to now the 440. The last three cars I kept for 6 months each more or less.

The other reason for getting rid of the M3 was because it was financed I barely ever drove it. Whenever I had a long drive I would drive a different car and spare the mileage on it which IMO defeated the purpose. But I babied it too much and was way too worried about it all the time. Now I am leasing and I've negotiated a lease that I can get out of the vehicle after a year for whatever else I want without any penalties and regardless of the mileage.

While overall this has been good and I've already put 8K km's on the 440 in 4 months, I feel bored and going to get stuck with the BMW brand for a while if I keep doing this yearly thing. I liked the S5 Sportback and conversed with a salesperson when I took my wife's Q5 for service and to trade my 440 I was looking at 19K negative equity. That is obviously crazy and not something I would do no matter how much I like the S5 Sportback. I am sure it would be similar story with other makes too. So long story short, think I am going to be stuck in the BMW brand for a while unless I take a big hit to break the lease or keep the vehicle for a full lease term...and that would most likely not be possible.

[Jay757]

Originally Posted by ksa

Damage didn't sound bad at all actually and usual wear and tear. Hopefully I won't get that in a year. Honestly, I used winter driving as part of an excuse to get rid of the M3 for a 440 GC but I was just bored of it. In 6 months. I know, I am terrible but I can't help it. I am on my 5 car in the last 4 years or so. Went from a C63 AMG to E92 M3 to E70 X5M to F80 M3 to now the 440. The last three cars I kept for 6 months each more or less.

The other reason for getting rid of the M3 was because it was financed I barely ever drove it. Whenever I had a long drive I would drive a different car and spare the mileage on it which IMO defeated the purpose. But I babied it too much and was way too worried about it all the time. Now I am leasing and I've negotiated a lease that I can get out of the vehicle after a year for whatever else I want without any penalties and regardless of the mileage.

While overall this has been good and I've already put 8K km's on the 440 in 4 months, I feel bored and going to get stuck with the BMW brand for a while if I keep doing this yearly thing. I liked the S5 Sportback and conversed with a salesperson when I took my wife's Q5 for service and to trade my 440 I was looking at 19K negative equity. That is obviously crazy and not something I would do no matter how much I like the S5 Sportback. I am sure it would be similar story with other makes too. So long story short, think I am going to be stuck in the BMW brand for a while unless I take a big hit to break the lease or keep the vehicle for a full lease term...and that would most likely not be possible.

Damage was very minimal, mostly cosmetic, at best. Just keep your car away from everyone else's. When you go to Walmart especially. People have zero respect for your stuff. I park all the way down now. I don't mind walking. How was the maintenance on the C63 and E92 M3? I love that V8 sound in the old M3. We have a few on base here, they sound so lovely.

I understand where you are coming from. I hate driving this S5 sometimes. It's just cost so much money and I don't want anything to happen to it. I need to get a beater and just drive that around. Maybe make the S5 my weekend car. Just this morning, some lady ran a red light making a right hand turn. Almost ruined my car. I literally had to slam on the brakes. She didn't even look in my direction, after it happened. I guess she felt embarrassed.

Yeah, I was just saying to myself, I know you're losing out on a lot money, turning these vehicles in so fast. The 440i is great car though! The B58 is a silky smooth engine. I test drove one of the only 440i GC they had on the lot. It was loaded. Although, compared to the Audi, the interior was a bit dated, the quality of the materials lacked, and more road/wind noise. All of this was to be expected though, and I'm not knocking BMW at all, as the F30 is older than Audi's B9's, that just came out. Plus the fact, that I literally had a 428i GC before, all went into my decision to get the S5.

I'm actually in a group chat now and some other folks that had F80's, also traded up for the new S4 and S5's. So, you're not alone, in the fact, that you traded your F80, for a lesser car.

[Miller1989]

Originally Posted by Jay757

More or less, yes. Takes about a month for BMW to generate your last bill with all the charges. You can then either pay them off yourself or you use the claim insurance, if you have it, like it I did.

Purchase what, the 528xi?

I didn't buy the insurance. Ahh maybe I should have. Was there any other fees besides the damage? And I was considering buying a focus rs actually. Then paying down a bunch while I'm deployed.