Negotiate the buyout of a lease?

[GS4Life]

Do the dealers let you do this and those of you that did, was it sucessful? The buyout on my 335i sedan is $27,000 after 3 years, i would like to have it around 25?

[mryakan]

You should negotiate it with BMW FS not the dealer, he would just be a middle man taking a cut. Do a search, someone recently did this successfully I think, or at least asked the same question.

[joec1101]

I was just told last week by a sales manager at a BMW dealership that BMW Financial will negotiate residual payoffs. I'm guessing they will probably negotiate down to whatever the "current value" of the vehicle is at the time of the payoff.

[yakitiyak]

Got 2k knocked off the residual and they will certify the vehicle. Bringing it in this weekend. And this was done thru the dealer

[GS4Life]

Thanks, I know that the buyouts on Bimmers are ridiciously high, I was looking on swapalease at 550i's, an 06 buyout is around 41-43K, that is crazy, i found 5 black ones on Autotrader, all around 33-36, The mileage was around 38-45K. These are just on 3 year leases.

[budman1]

This is good information to have. Our lease is up in November. A nice buyout and certification may go a long way to us buying out the lease.

[GS4Life]

Thats why I always liked to buyout my leases, because I know I'm the only one that ever drove it.

[brunp]

There are a lot of people that buy their leased vehicles, but not through the typical "buy at end of lease purchase option". They return the car and then ask to buy it back as a certified car because BMW Financial bite the bullet on the lower value as the initial residual value is high.

Someone pays (not you) for certifying the car and adding the warranty and you get your own car back at a price lower than you would had paid if you took the buy option.

Heard of these cases happening at Volvo and Saab.

Paul

[mryakan]

There are a lot of people that buy their leased vehicles, but not through the typical "buy at end of lease purchase option". They return the car and then ask to buy it back as a certified car because BMW Financial bite the bullet on the lower value as the initial residual value is high.

Someone pays (not you) for certifying the car and adding the warranty and you get your own car back at a price lower than you would had paid if you took the buy option.

Heard of these cases happening at Volvo and Saab.

Paul
You'd think BMW FS (or BMW Canada) would be smart enough to be willing to negotiate with you to give you a discount on the car to avoid having to go through all this process and losing money, think of it as finding a win/win solution. Also certifying your own car is pretty redundant, you know it's history from A to Z, so only thing you may want to bargain for is the equivalent extended warranty.

[Beer Goggles]

Just what happens with the time. Our VW Touareg V8 once it went to lease end (90 days left in your lease) they re-calculated the value and dropped the residual from 24,000 to 17,000....a $7,000 swing. This is a bad time for leasing if you're a manufacturer because the market is so soft....but that means it's good for buyers.

[Frank ZZR]

Just got off the phone with BMW Finance Canada. I inquired about negotiating the residual value for buyout. I was told that BMW does not negotiate the residual value. When I asked if she was sure she stated, "I'm 200% sure, we have never done that". Anybody in Canada had the residual negotiated by BMW Finance or their dealer?

[Beer Goggles]

Just got off the phone with BMW Finance Canada. I inquired about negotiating the residual value for buyout. I was told that BMW does not negotiate the residual value. When I asked if she was sure she stated, "I'm 200% sure, we have never done that". Anybody in Canada had the residual negotiated by BMW Finance or their dealer?

Did you get into the 90 day termination period? They hand that over to a different department...well at least they did with VW. I know this because the salesman told me to wait until it enters lease end so he could see if they dropped the value.

[Frank ZZR]

Did you get into the 90 day termination period? They hand that over to a different department...well at least they did with VW. I know this because the salesman told me to wait until it enters lease end so he could see if they dropped the value.


No, I'm a ways off before lease end. But I just posed the question to her without letting her know when my lease expires. For all she knew my lease could expire tommorrow. I just got the big NO. I will keep trying as I get closer but it would have been nice to know well in advance if that was even going to be a possibility.

[Beer Goggles]

You're assuming they even know what happens at the place you called...lol.

[mryakan]

Things could be different in Canada, who knows, not the only thing we'd be getting screwed for. The last lease I purchased was with BMW FS in the US although I was in Canada, they really didn't care. You are worrying too early, engage them again when you have 2-3 months left on your lease, things could change dramatically by then. If they are not willing to negotiate, leave them the car and get another one and let them take the depreciation hit, that is the nice thing about a lease.

[Beer Goggles]

Actually most who leased in the past 3-5 years made out. Values dropped out of the sky and the manufacturer or lease holder got screwed by the depreciation!