Lease is due in 6 months and I want to buy my car from BMW.

[dagolfpro]

My lease is due in October and I have started to think about the lease end process.

I plan on buying the car back from BMW and have a few questions:

1) Currently my car has the all the mods listed in my signature, anyone buy their car back with mods still installed? What that an issue?
2) Repurchase at a lower price than their residual? I know this was done in the past but don’t know how the market is now for M3’s as new models are being released.
3) Did you shop around, if so, how competitive were the other dealers?
4) Did you have the car CPO or purchase other third party extended warranty? If you didn’t CPO, whom did you buy extended warranty from?
5) Anyone purchase the Excess Wear & Tear Protection from BMW and used it to repair damages then buying it back? I purchased this but was told by local dealer (not the one who sold me the car) that this is not possible if I decide to purchase the car versus returning it back to them.

I love my car and plan on keeping it for as long as I can. (My last BMW I kept 12 year and drove it 175k miles).

Thank you in advance.

Moderators, please move if I have posted this in the incorrect section.

[Ezio]

i have bought a car after its lease. it was heavily modded with a built motor. they gave me the price for buy out and i bought it out. no one needed to look at the car it self. although maybe its different for bmw

[dagolfpro]

Originally Posted by Ezio

i have bought a car after its lease. it was heavily modded with a built motor. they gave me the price for buy out and i bought it out. no one needed to look at the car it self. although maybe its different for bmw

how long ago was it and was it with BMW or different company?

[aus]

If you're ever in SoCal within the last 3 months of your lease, call Will Shaw at Shelly BMW in LA. (818)441-8813. He will sell the car for $1,000 over AUCTION price, which is generally WAY lower than the residual. There will be a couple hundred for an "inspection" that's just to make sure it's safe to drive. They don't care about mods as long as it's safe to drive since the dealer technically buys it from BMWFS at auction price and then sells it to you.
BMWFS won't let the car go for cheap until it's within the last 3 months of the end of the lease

.

[dagolfpro]

Originally Posted by aus

If you're ever in SoCal within the last 3 months of your lease, call Will Shaw at Shelly BMW in LA. (818)441-8813. He will sell the car for $1,000 over AUCTION price, which is generally WAY lower than the residual. There will be a couple hundred for an "inspection" that's just to make sure it's safe to drive. They don't care about mods as long as it's safe to drive since the dealer technically buys it from BMWFS at auction price and then sells it to you.
BMWFS won't let the car go for cheap until it's within the last 3 months of the end of the lease

.

Great, that's what I'm looking for! I was told that Ryan used to do this at Steve Thomas as well before he left. I contacted Dave and he said needed to see the car in person for the evaluation process before he talked numbers. I'm in Nor Cal, so it's not an easy thing to do. But, I'm willing to drive down as I can always make a road trip, especially if it's going to save me at least $1000 or more.

[Harry Da Hamster]

It's a closed end lease. You're guaranteed an option to buy out the lease at the end for the residual price that was disclosed to you in the beginning. There's no reason to shop around other dealers. Just contact BMW Financial and tell them you want to buy out your vehicle and pay them directly, or go to your local FCU to get financing.

[aus]

Originally Posted by FNG

It's a closed end lease. You're guaranteed an option to buy out the lease at the end for the residual price that was disclosed to you in the beginning. There's no reason to shop around other dealers. Just contact BMW Financial and tell them you want to buy out your vehicle and pay them directly, or go to your local FCU to get financing.

Read my post above. BMWFS will let the car go at auction price within the last 3 months of the lease; before that, they still only let it go for the residual price at that time.

OP, if you talk to Will, tell him you want the same deal he gave Austin with the M3.

[bsiciliano]

I bought mine out through Nick Alexander about 2 months prior to the lease end - this was December 2013. They knocked about $1,500 off the residual. They never looked at the car, just asked for the mileage. They didn't care about the mods.

[dagolfpro]

Originally Posted by bsiciliano

I bought mine out through Nick Alexander about 2 months prior to the lease end - this was December 2013. They knocked about $1,500 off the residual. They never looked at the car, just asked for the mileage. They didn't care about the mods.

Did you get CPO done?

[aus]

CPO pretty much has to be stock car with good tires and brakes. It adds a few thousand to the price of buying the car back.

[dagolfpro]

Originally Posted by aus

CPO pretty much has to be stock car with good tires and brakes. It adds a few thousand to the price of buying the car back.

That's what I'm afraid of.

[M3_Socal]

Originally Posted by aus

If you're ever in SoCal within the last 3 months of your lease, call Will Shaw at Shelly BMW in LA. (818)441-8813. He will sell the car for $1,000 over AUCTION price, which is generally WAY lower than the residual. There will be a couple hundred for an "inspection" that's just to make sure it's safe to drive. They don't care about mods as long as it's safe to drive since the dealer technically buys it from BMWFS at auction price and then sells it to you.
BMWFS won't let the car go for cheap until it's within the last 3 months of the end of the lease

.

I tried to buyback my car from Will a couple weeks ago. The best he could do was residual plus $600 dealer profit. FYI, I got the car from him originally.

[dagolfpro]

Originally Posted by M3_Socal

I tried to buyback my car from Will a couple weeks ago. The best he could do was residual plus $600 dealer profit. FYI, I got the car from him originally.

Thank you.

[M3_Socal]

Originally Posted by FNG

It's a closed end lease. You're guaranteed an option to buy out the lease at the end for the residual price that was disclosed to you in the beginning. There's no reason to shop around other dealers. Just contact BMW Financial and tell them you want to buy out your vehicle and pay them directly, or go to your local FCU to get financing.

That is correct. BMWFS will offer you 5% financing but you can get 2.5% or lower at your local bank or FSU.

[Harry Da Hamster]

Originally Posted by aus

Read my post above. BMWFS will let the car go at auction price within the last 3 months of the lease; before that, they still only let it go for the residual price at that time.

OP, if you talk to Will, tell him you want the same deal he gave Austin with the M3.

What auction price are you referring to? Kelley Blue Book "Hard Book" Auction values? That's a new concept to me. I don't understand why BMW FS would break their contract for less money.

Originally Posted by M3_Socal

I tried to buyback my car from Will a couple weeks ago. The best he could do was residual plus $600 dealer profit. FYI, I got the car from him originally.

Now that's a complete rip off. All auto leases nowadays are closed end meaning you residual is guaranteed. If "Will" from Shelly BMW in LA is charging you $600 over, you're getting ripped.

[aus]

Originally Posted by M3_Socal

I tried to buyback my car from Will a couple weeks ago. The best he could do was residual plus $600 dealer profit. FYI, I got the car from him originally.

Are you within the last 3 months of your lease?
I'm hoping things haven't changes since I have 5 months on my lease and was planning on buying it from him. If you have more than 3 mo on your lease, he can't get you a deal because BMWFS will not let the car go for Auction price. The auction price is an estimate of what the dealer gets the car for at those dealer only auctions. They make a killing on used cars.

Most people know what the invoice price is for a NEW car and want to pay maybe $1,000-2,000 over invoice depending on the car. But on a used car, the dealer can get the car for many thousand below the residual. My wife's 335 had a residual of $28,500 and Will was able to get the car for around $23,500 and sold it to me for $1,300 over the auction price ($300) was for an "inspection" by the service department that took many hours or sitting around a waiting; that was the only part of the transaction I was not happy with and will make sure I'm not sitting around that long next time.

Again, it has to happen within the last 3 months of the lease.

.

[aus]

I just talked to Will and he said he can still do the deal. We didn't get into numbers yet since I have 5 more months.

[dagolfpro]

Originally Posted by aus

I just talked to Will and he said he can still do the deal. We didn't get into numbers yet since I have 5 more months.

I'm waiting until I'm within 3 months as well. My lease ends 10/13/14.

[jphughan]

OP, you have no chance of getting a CPO on your car. If you read the CPO checklist, a car under consideration for CPO is automatically failed if there are any non-BMW performance modifications or non-OEM safety-related components -- unless of course the dealer wants to replace all of those with OEM parts in order to CPO the car. The KW V3, BBK (and its non-OEM pads), camber plates, harnesses, Lux, and painted reflectors all qualify under one or both of those general guidelines, and in fact the checklist specifically calls out all of those items individually except the painted reflectors.

As for buying out the lease, my understanding had been that you just pay BMW FS the buyout amount, in which case you never need to get it inspected or anything. You're buying the car for the agreed-upon price, so they don't care what condition it's in. But according to others in this thread, there are ways to get better pricing working with some dealers (and possibly dealing with some inspections), so I defer to them on that topic.

I'm not sure what Excess Wear and Tear Protection is, but it sounds like something to limit fees associated with returning a leased car that has high mileage, dings, etc. If you're buying the car out, I don't see the point in having that, and if it's designed only to limit your liability on returning a lease (which it sounds like it is), I doubt they'd let you use it for general repairs without turning the car in. In fact even if you WERE turning it in, it probably only acts as a fee waiver, not a means for you to get the car fixed yourself. Given that you've already bought the coverage, I also doubt there's a way to get a refund on it now. You don't get road hazard payments or insurance premiums back if you don't use those, after all.

As for extended warranty alternatives to CPO, there are already tons of threads on that subject you can call up together by Googling "extended warranty site:m3post.com". Good luck!

[nmehta211]

This is very interesting, thanks.

It sounds like one could even buy the car at $1000 over auction price, and potentially flip it for profit.

[coloradoe92m3]

Seems weird. Why would bmw do this as it kills profit if they can get owner to pay residual

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by coloradoe92m3

Seems weird. Why would bmw do this as it kills profit if they can get owner to pay residual

Because if the owner decides to turn the car in, BMWFS doesn't want to own a bunch of cars directly, so they'll sell returned cars to dealers, apparently at prices below residual. And it seems dealers are willing to pass a portion of that benefit on to lessors who decide to keep the car by buying the car from BMWFS and selling it right back to the lessor. I'm sure that's not how the system was intended to work because yes, it means BMWFS loses some profit compared to a lessor just buying it out directly with BMWFS at residual, but I suppose this was inevitable given the mechanics of the situation. Dealers must have realized that by offering this option to lessors who intended to buy the car out, they could get a piece of the action rather than letting BMWFS take all the profit, and the lessors are happy to get a better buyout price. From there it's just a question of which dealer is willing to offer the biggest discount and sacrifice the most profit in exchange for getting the business at all.

Originally Posted by nmehta211

This is very interesting, thanks.

It sounds like one could even buy the car at $1000 over auction price, and potentially flip it for profit.

Depends on how the residual and auction prices compare to market value at that time, but yes I suppose that's possible. Whether it's worth all the paperwork and effort to sell privately is another question. I doubt it would be economical to do this intending to trade it in at another dealer because I doubt the trade-in offer will be significantly more than auction price -- in fact it may even be lower if they plan to sell it at auction anyway since obviously they'll want to make money on the deal.