[bobalis]

Originally Posted by laidback93

The letter came from my local BMW dealer, not BMWFS. Which leads me to believe they want to relieve me of my 340i and put me into an X3.

The SA sure tried a few months ago. UGH

This is it exactly. They don't want to do a lease-end pre-turn in inspection (In fact, if they're same as the manufacture I work for, the dealership doesn't even do the actual lease end inspection, it's a 3rd party company so whatever the dealership says about the damage doesn't even matter), they just want an excuse to sell you a car now. There is no fiscal incentive for you to do it now (unless there was some special program that would cover enough of your remaining payments that doing it now would be better than waiting).

This is just a simple sales tactic.

[skw]

Originally Posted by quikM2

Must be a work around on that though if you get your wife etc. to buy it and register to a business address or if you moved it would be a new address. Either way seems petty by BMW as what reasonable person would expect someone to buy out the car at a RV that far exceeds current market... It would be fair as in the example above that they would offer you an incentive to buy the car out to discount it to reflect market.

BMWUSA is using 3rd party data (ie: Experian) to track if the off lease vehicle went back to the original owner. There are things in play here that probably have been for a long time and they are now making it publicly known how they're being used.

Originally Posted by agentorange

I'll never forget my one and only lease experience. It was with Toyota on a minivan for my first wife. The BS they tried on the residual value was laughable. The van had been superseded by a new model, but they were still after over 60% of the purchase cost after four years. I flat out laughed at the person on the phone.

As the lease drew to a close the weirdness really kicked up. First, Toyota told me NOT to return the vehicle to the dealership it came from. Turns out some of the dealerships in that chain had been "losing" lease return vehicles. I thought the term was stealing, but I'm not in the motor trade and they often describe things oddly.

Just before the last payment, the RV plummeted by 33%. I was fit to be tied because I'd already had to go out and buy my wife a replacement vehicle at MSRP. Sis-in-law ended up taking it at the new price, but the short version is that Toyota cost me $14k. I would burst my bladder rather than take a whizz on a Toyota lease person on fire.

TL;DR version: If I was the OP I'd ignore the letters from the dealer and wait for the RV to drop. If it doesn't try reminding BMW that his vehicle is now a superseded model.

How did the RV change at all. One of the main aspects of leasing is that on day 1, the RV is printed on your paperwork. That number is still the same on the very last day of your lease. Are you referring to the market value?

[narcolept]

Originally Posted by skw

How did the RV change at all. One of the main aspects of leasing is that on day 1, the RV is printed on your paperwork. That number is still the same on the very last day of your lease. Are you referring to the market value?

Agreed. I know today, 45 days or so into my current lease and my RV is $29,448.00. I can see it now, I saw it on the paperwork, I knew it when I was negotiating.

I wouldn't expect to pay a penny less than that were I to buy it in 34 months. I also don't plan to, because I wouldn't pay that for a 3 year old vehicle even if I had been driving it for those 3 years.

[quikM2]

Why do you guys continue to harp on the RV being on the contract and "don't expect to pay any less" and "that's what you committed to and don't complain about it' blah blah... blah. everybody (almost) knows that so chill out. the point of this discussion if I may is the disparity between market value and RV especially when crossing over to a re-design and ALSO what bmw's tactics are to 'encourage' buyers to buy out their leases when the difference is dramatic as anyone with reasonable intelligence as stated above is not going to buy out their car despite it being their car if the ask is too high. BMW knows this, so what are the stories out there?

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by chiefneil

Agree with others that it’s not worth a trip to the dealer at this point. When you’re a month or two out, then maybe it’ll be worthwhile but only if there’s stuff you’re on the fence about fixing. When we turned in my daughter’s Mini the dealer let a couple minor scratches and a little curb rash go since we were leasing a 230i as a replacement, so you have some leeway if you plan to get another BMW.

I used a different dealer but I have a friend who has been leasing from Chapman and he tells me that when he reups they have been very good about inspecting and have not dinged him on minor items. But, as the saying goes, your mileage may vary.

[skw]

Originally Posted by quikM2

Why do you guys continue to harp on the RV being on the contract and "don't expect to pay any less" and "that's what you committed to and don't complain about it' blah blah... blah. everybody (almost) knows that so chill out. the point of this discussion if I may is the disparity between market value and RV especially when crossing over to a re-design and ALSO what bmw's tactics are to 'encourage' buyers to buy out their leases when the difference is dramatic as anyone with reasonable intelligence as stated above is not going to buy out their car despite it being their car if the ask is too high. BMW knows this, so what are the stories out there?

Previously, the "expectation" was to be able to buy out your vehicle for less than the contracted RV. This is what BMWFS had allowed for a long time, so it became the norm. And it made sense from the customer's standpoint as they could pick up an identical vehicle w/ similar miles and a CPO warranty (although w/o an in-depth knowledge of it's history) for less than the RV on the own car. However, these days BMWFS has decided to basically stick to the contract as regards to selling the car to you at lease end for the stated amount. They don't want you to buy your original vehicle. From a business standpoint, why sell just 1 car to you when they can sell you a new one and sell yours to a new customer? With the drastic difference in RV vs MV, you have to really want your original car. Only time will tell if this works out in their favor. Or will people just turn in their vehicles and switch makes?

[quikM2]

Originally Posted by skw

Previously, the "expectation" was to be able to buy out your vehicle for less than the contracted RV. This is what BMWFS had allowed for a long time, so it became the norm. And it made sense from the customer's standpoint as they could pick up an identical vehicle w/ similar miles and a CPO warranty (although w/o an in-depth knowledge of it's history) for less than the RV on the own car. However, these days BMWFS has decided to basically stick to the contract as regards to selling the car to you at lease end for the stated amount. They don't want you to buy your original vehicle. From a business standpoint, why sell just 1 car to you when they can sell you a new one and sell yours to a new customer? With the drastic difference in RV vs MV, you have to really want your original car. Only time will tell if this works out in their favor. Or will people just turn in their vehicles and switch makes?

Exactly good point - It must be a business decision and they are monitoring the metrics. Whether they stick to it or it not remains to be seen as I imagine they keep a very close eye as to whether you are staying with BMW at lease end and what the dealers tell them if you are not. I think there is something to be said for that 'CPO' as it just seems like it's an automatic comfort factor for people so like you said if they get the original customer into something new and have a CPO to sell it's a win win from BMW's perspective.

If it was me though I would definitely want 'my' car back vs. an unknown CPO car if I was looking to grab something used at lease end. I would even pay a slight premium for it so if the RV is close then perhaps it's in the conversation but if we are talking thousands and BMW is not willing to do anything then forget it. Time will tell if they care or not...

[laidback93]

Originally Posted by quikM2

Exactly good point - It must be a business decision and they are monitoring the metrics. Whether they stick to it or it not remains to be seen as I imagine they keep a very close eye as to whether you are staying with BMW at lease end and what the dealers tell them if you are not. I think there is something to be said for that 'CPO' as it just seems like it's an automatic comfort factor for people so like you said if they get the original customer into something new and have a CPO to sell it's a win win from BMW's perspective.

If it was me though I would definitely want 'my' car back vs. an unknown CPO car if I was looking to grab something used at lease end. I would even pay a slight premium for it so if the RV is close then perhaps it's in the conversation but if we are talking thousands and BMW is not willing to do anything then forget it. Time will tell if they care or not...

I would like to buy my car at lease end, but I'm not paying RV which will be thousands above MV. I hope they are willing to negotiate, but that doesn't seem to be the case these days.

Too bad my lease isn't up now. There is a Estoril Blue 340i M Sport Manual in Scottsdale with my name all over it.

[quikM2]

It will be interesting to see what the LCI F30 manuals start going for in a few years as they become used and the line between quality used and old and beaten up used starts to show. They are the last of their kind so I would think even across the range from 14 onward the 6MT start getting snapped up pretty quickly. It might be a car worth hanging on to being the last of it's kind essentially. My salesperson let me know the 18 he found for me that's on it's way over from the west coast is last 'new' in the entire country. I'm seriously debating whether to move to a 4 year lease from the 3. Loaded with all the M packs this is the closest thing to an AWD 6MT M3 you can get...

[Elvisfan]

Originally Posted by laidback93

I would like to buy my car at lease end, but I'm not paying RV which will be thousands above MV. I hope they are willing to negotiate, but that doesn't seem to be the case these days.

Too bad my lease isn't up now. There is a Estoril Blue 340i M Sport Manual in Scottsdale with my name all over it.

I understand leasing if you only want to hold onto a car for 3 years. Why would you lease if you are planning on buying the car afterwards? Seems like that would cost more money.