needforspeed

Had a chat with my dealer today about changing my car - the good news is that he told me the new car warranty was unlimited milage (is that right) so I am covered until Mar 07.

He tried to get me an indicative finance quote for a 535d Msport which was a bit of a farce really.

What car have a target price of ?37,844 to which I probably just want to add metallic paint and the media pack - so I started to work on the following:

Vehicle Price ?41K

Less deposit of ?1K

Amount to finance ?40K

Lease purchase over 48 months with balloon payment equivalent to retained value - based on 25000 miles a year.

They managed to come back with a payment of about ?820 a month - cheeky feckers.

I just plugged the numbers into this (thanks gIzzE ):

http://www.dynamic-webs.co.uk/information/...calculator.html

At 6.7% (the rate I got last time) and a 40% retained value (?16,400) the payments come out as ?648.57 a month.

Big question is what would a 4 yr old 535d with 80,000 miles plus fetch ..... ?

(Just seen a Mar 02 sport example on bmw.co.uk with 75,000 miles at ?15k)

Looks like 40% might be optomistic given my mileage - bugger

gIzzE

02 plate must be a 530d and the old shape?

Forget that, the 535d will always be worth a fair bit more as it is the top car and there is far less about.

4 years I would say look at a balloon of around ?17k, with 80k miles on it. You may have to sell privately but it will sell quickly.

colejl

Ah, a 350ci would be a monster!

pedrollo

I don't think that you are too far out at 40%, the WHATCAR figures are certainly optimistic though.
IIRC, they were quoting 63% on a 535d sport touring after 3 years, the dealers (and my observations) tended to agree with Gizze's 50%.

The problem with balloon payments is that you are in negative equity in the early days (assuming that you don't make extra payments - I don't think Gizze is typical in this), and it gradually comes right over the designed term (if you get your value right). I like the idea that at any time I can hand the car back without penalty, comes from the days of starting a company on a shoestring probably. For the difference between the finance borrowing rate and the best deposit rates I don't think that it is worth worrying about.

As already said though, we all deal with it in a way that suits us.

Incidentally I couldn't get to 1% with Lombard, bottomed out at 1.2% over base with BMW pulling out at 1.25%. Lombard's fees are also less.

gIzzE

That reminds me, Lombard charge a ?250 set up fee, haggle that down to ?100.