09/10 BMW 6-Series Lease Rates – May 2009

Published 2009/05/20 by G

logo_bmw My Take: The 6-series for both 2009 and 2010 are pretty decent leases right now simply because the residual values are pretty high. You can probably drop them down a bit by using MSDs instead of cap cost reduction so be sure to opt for that instead. Another thing I want to stress, make sure you PAY off your inception fees INCLUDING the Acquisition fee. Many times, the Acquisition fee is rolled into the lease loan. Not a good idea since that is probably the largest of all inception fees. So you will be paying taxes AND interest on the largest fee of the bunch. Bad idea. Ask the dealer to identify all your inception fees, have him/her total them including applicable taxes and cut a check for that. As far as which one I would lease, I would probably opt for a 2009 model even if the money factor on the 2010 is only .00010 more than the 2009. I think the 2010 will have a higher base price anyway, so you might as well stick with the 09s since the residuals are practically identical.

Ready for some quotes? Get a FREE Quote at Yahoo! Autos.
Get RIDE with G via a RSS Reader or Email!
Got questions? Post it on the RIDE AUTO FORUM TODAY!

2010 BMW 6-Series

2009 BMW 6-Series

09 BMW 7-Series Lease Rates – May 2009

Published 2009/05/18 by G

logo_bmw My Take: If you have been following this blog for some time, I’m probably sure you’ve learned to identify what good and bad leases look like. This one, isn’t a very strong one obviously.

Ready for some quotes? Get a FREE Quote at Yahoo! Autos.
Get RIDE with G via a RSS Reader or Email!
Got questions? Post it on the RIDE AUTO FORUM TODAY!

2009 BMW 7-Series

09 BMW Z4 Lease Rates – May 2009

Published 2009/05/172009/05/17 by G

logo_bmw My Take: I spend the weekend visiting Dave Persaud over at Long Beach BMW. VERY nice guy. This is the first time I met him, so I was plesantly surprised how “no BS” this guy is. Anyway, remember that when contacting/visiting dealears, you should do your homework first. You need to know what you want, you need to know your SALE price and have precalculated your payments so you know what to expect. Don’t show up there without knowing anything, that would defeat the purpose having me write/post all of the stuff on Leasing 101. My job is to educate you and then point you to good people that deserve your business. Moving on, I got a chance to check out the new Z4 and it is are very good looking roaster. I like the more aggressive styling and the available hardtop. Very cool. Anyway, Dave says the cars are not for sale just yet, but should be in the coming weeks. Here are the numbers in case you are ready to get one. MF is a bit high so MSD might be in order. I would recommend not leasing this car right now.

Ready for some quotes? Get a FREE Quote at Yahoo! Autos.
Get RIDE with G via a RSS Reader or Email!
Got questions? Post it on the RIDE AUTO FORUM TODAY!

2009 BMW Z4

09 BMW X3, X5, X6 Lease Rates – May 2009

Published 2009/05/152009/05/15 by G

logo_bmw My Take: I would probably recommend taking a pass the X3 this month. The X5 isn’t too bad since the residual is high and the money factor is lower than the X3 and the X6, so that may not be a bad lease with some MSDs. The same goes for the X6, which has an even higher residual value than the X5. By the way, there is a $1750 loyalty cash rebate on the X5, so if you qualify, take advantage of it. 2.9% financing for up to 60 month is also being offered right now. Same thing going on with the X6. Not too bad I guess, but I prefer MB’s financing this month.

Ready for some quotes? Get a FREE Quote at Yahoo! Autos.
Get RIDE with G via a RSS Reader or Email!
Got questions? Post it on the RIDE AUTO FORUM TODAY!

			At Invoice		At MSRP
Make/Model	Invoice	MSRP	24-month	36-month	24-month	36-month
09 BMW X5 xDrive 4.8i	$52,530	$57,025	$851	$703	$1286	$834
09 BMW X6 xDrive 5.0i	$62,145	$67,475	$1055	$816	$1046	$973

NOTE: Estimates assuming the following conditions:

Inception fees (1st month payment, DMV, doc fee, bank fee, tire tax and possible security deposit) due at signing.
Local Taxes not included.
24-month/15k and 36-month/15k terms.
All cars are stock, without any options.
No rebates/incentives applied

2009 BMW X3

2009 BMW X5

2009 BMW X6

09 BMW 1-Series Lease Rates – May 2009

Published 2009/05/12 by G

logo_bmw My Take: To answer Caren’s question from the 3-series post, the answer would be a resounding “YES, buying IS better than leasing the 1-series this month”. Here’s why…The money factor for the 128i Convertible is a whopping .00225 to .00260, depending on which term you choose. That basically breaks down to 5.4% and 6.24% APR, respectively. Right now, there’s 2.9% financing available for up to 60 month (OAC) through BMWFS, so that would be what I would recommend. There is also $750 Loyalty Cash available so make sure to factor that in if you qualify for it. Since Caren is looking for a convertible, I’ll pop some numbers and calculate the monthly payment ranges for a base 128i Convertible. Remember, for every $1000 extra in options you add, that’s another 25-30 bucks more a month.

Ready to get some quotes? Get a FREE Quote at Yahoo! Autos.
Get RIDE with G via a RSS Reader or Email!
Got questions? Post it on the RIDE AUTO FORUM TODAY!

			At Invoice		At MSRP
Make/Model	Invoice	MSRP	24-month	36-month	24-month	36-month
09 BMW 128i Convertible	$32,105	$34,825	$476	$439	$595	$521

NOTE: Estimates assuming the following conditions:

Inception fees (1st month payment, DMV, doc fee, bank fee, tire tax and possible security deposit) due at signing.
Local Taxes not included.
24-month/15k and 36-month/15k terms.
All cars are stock, without any options.
No rebates/incentives applied

2009 BMW 1-Series

09 BMW 3-Series Lease Rates – May 2009

Published 2009/05/102009/05/10 by G

logo_bmw My Take: For the most part, the 3-series base rate went up on the sedans and M3s while the residuals stayed unchanged for most of them. If I were in the market for a 3-series right now, I would just consider the coupes. However, if I really need a sedan, I would probably have to live with either the $1000 Loyalty Bonus Cash or the Conquest Cash (not sure what that is though). Another alternative is to go with the 0.9% financing for 60 months. Seriously, 0.9% APR beats any lease deal going on right now so you might always explore the “joys” of ownership. LOL. I don’t really feel like estimating payments on the 328i or the 335i this month, so just go to The List for April 2009 and tell yourself that the payment range is going to be a bit more than that.

Ready to get some quotes? Get a FREE Quote at Yahoo! Autos.
Get RIDE with G via a RSS Reader or Email!
Got questions? Post it on the RIDE AUTO FORUM TODAY!

2009 BMW 3-Series

Lease-to-Buy

Published 2009/05/052010/09/25 by G

If you are a RIDE with G regular, you have probably heard me talk about “lease-to-buy” numerous times, specially when it comes to Mercedes-Benz models. The whole concept of “lease-to-buy” refers to the idea of leasing with the intention of purchasing the car at lease-end. It is a very good way of getting into a nice ride with little or no money down and save some money should you decide to buyout the car. In this post, I will examine some key aspects of “lease-to-buy” and how it can save you some money compared to other leases and traditional financing.

When you lease a car, you normally want a high residual value and a low money factor since this combination yields the lowest monthly payments. This is because when your depreciation and money factor are low, your payments stay low. In a “lease-to-buy” scenario, you want the majority of your payments to go towards the depreciation of the lease loan so the payoff price at the end of your lease is lower. The best way to accomplish this is to find a car with a low residual value and a low money factor. This will ensure that the bulk of your monthly payments go towards the car, instead of the financing charge.

For the sake of comparison, lets take the CLK350 coupe vs the BMW 528xi Sedan. I know they are different classes of cars, but this is purely a numbers comparison, so bear with me.

2009 Mercedes CLK350 Coupe
36-month | 15k miles | residual 44% | .00008 base money factor (0.192% APR)

MSRP $48,975
Invoice $45,608
Monthly $668 (depreciation) + $5 (finance charge) = $673 + tax
Payoff $21,549 + tax

2009 BMW 528xi Sedan
36-month | 15k miles | residual 58% | .00175 base money factor (4.2% APR)

MSRP $48,925
Invoice $45,075
Monthly $463 (depreciation) + $128 (finance charge) = $592 + tax
Payoff $28,376 + tax

At first glance, you will notice the higher payments on the CLK350, don’t panic. It ends up being about $81 more per month on the CLK, which boils down to about $2,916 over the course of three years. Not bad considering the difference between the BMW and MB’s payoff is about $6,827 ($28376-$21549). That’s a savings of about $3,911, should you decide to buy the CLK instead of the 528xi at lease-end. As you can see, certain cars should never be bought at the end of a lease, specifically those with high money factors and high residual values. Now, if you plan to lease forever, then the BMW is clearly the better choice due to the lower monthly payments.

Here are a few things to look out for before you decide whether you want to “lease-to-buy”:

Make sure the money factor is much lower than the best purchase financing rate that’s available. You can find out what APR your money factor is by multiplying the money factor by 2400.
At lease-end, you will need to either pay the entire payoff balance upfront OR secure a low rate for the remainder of your loan to keep some of those savings. Keep in mind that your car would be considered “used”, which means low rates on loans may be a bit tough to get. The upside to this is that you aren’t taking out a loan on a $48,000 car.

Lastly, some cars are being heavily discounted from month-to-month, such as the CLK in April 2009. The monthly payments may very well be less than the $673 + tax that I estimated depending on how much you can lower your gross cap cost. The bottom line is this, you can save money even if you decide to buyout your car at lease end, you just need to know what to look for and plan ahead.

16 of 24
« Previous
1
…
14
15
16
17
18
…
24
Next »