monacobmw

Well, my lease ends at the end of the month.

The 2010s are on the way, and will be at the dealers in two more weeks.

I want to get a Carbon Black 550i, fairly loaded in the $73k MSRP range.

I found a 2009 about 200 miles away. BMW is offering $2500 cash as a part of its lease loyalty program. They are also offering a good money factor and residual. The dealers will probably budge more on the price (e.g., $4000 to $4500 discount, giving the dealer a $1500 to $2000 profit).

My local dealer stated that he can divert a 2010 from South Carolina that has the same stuff. He will give me $3000 off. The new 2010 seems to have a new feature. The seats on this particular car have air ventilation that costs $1200 as an option. Wow!!!! We have asked for this feature for years. He is saying that the money factor and residual is the same. Can anyone confirm this? Does anyone know if the $2500 loyalty cash is available for a 2010?

Assuming that the $2500 cash is not available (and the money factors and residuals are the same), do I go with 2010 or 2009? They seem to be the same car. I am really waiting for the F10, so this is a 3 year holdover (a funny thing to say). This also means that I have no interest in buying the car, so the year of the car is irrelevant to me.

Any thoughts or insight on the actual numbers for a 2010 model?
What would you do?

sdg1871

I had the same choice and went with a carbon black 2009 550i Sport. The big difference between the 2009 and 2010 is that the 2010, with nav, comes with the new hard-drive-based I-drive and nav, which people are describing as a big upgrade over the much slower DVD-based nav and older hard drive in my car.

Your pricing negotiations should always begin with the actual dealer cost -- not the MSRP. I do not believe that the $2500 rebate comes with the 2010 but it does with the 2009. I got my 550 at about $750-$800 over deal cost. In my region (I live in New York), dealer cost also includes a MACO charge and a small training fee. So in my region, the dealer cost is the invoice, plus the MACO and training fee (I am forgetting the exact amount). So what I did was negotiate up from the dealer cost. My deal ended up considerably under the invoice after the application of the rebate. My MSRP was over $71K and my purchase price ended up at about $63K-$64K (a $7-$8K discount off of MSRP, but again, MSRP is never the right baseline from which to negotiate a car deal) (I am forgetting the exact amount although I could dig it out of my emails if you need to know).

As for the ventilated seat, that has been available for years. If I am not mistaken, you cannot buy the ventilaed seat without also buying the perforated leather -- the combined price of which drives up the cost of seat ventiliation to close to $3,000.

As far as deals go, if you are leasing, the actual money factors and residuals are posted on the bimmerfest board by Tarry from LeaseCompare.com. Although BMWFS allows dealers to mark up the money factor, do not agree to that (the dealers will always budge).

How many annual miles are you looking to get for your lease (the standard increments are 10k, 12K and 15K)? I got 18K miles per year. Above 15K per year, BMWFS does not actual the MF or residual but instead charges you 15 cents per mile above 15K miles per year.

You should be able to find the invoice pricing for the car and all specific options in this board in the information section or, if you want the computer to do the math for you on Edmunds.com.

With the rebate and favorable lease deals, you should be able to get a better monthly payment if you get a 2009 rather than a 2010. But if you want the nav, the difference might not be as huge because, as I recall, for the 2010 550, BMW is throwing in the nav for free as part of a value package.

If you are leasing, be sure to roll in your state sales tax and the BMWFS acquisition fee into the monthly payment. And do not agree to make a cap cost reduction (dealers love to get you to make a cap cost reduction because it "looks like" the monthly payment is cheaper. Roll everything but the deposit into the monthly payment (because if you pay $$$ up front and your car is stolen or totaled, you'll lose the money). I would not roll the security deposit into the monthly payments because if you do, BMWFS will increase your money factor. Another way to reduce your MF is to make up to 7 multiple security deposit payments with BMWFS. These will be refunded back to you if the car is stolen or totaled (or at the natural end of your lease). Each MSD payment reduces your MF up to a total of 7 MSD. Some dealers do not like MSDs or are not familar with them but if you don't mind parting with the money for the length of the lease, you will lower your monthly payment.

My guess is that your payment should end up in the $900's per month if you roll everything into the lease and get a 2009 at a good price. I would shoot for $750 above dealer cost.

Best of luck. The carbon black 550i Sport is a hot one.

monacobmw

Ahhh... A member who thinks just like me.
Thanks for the very long email.
Totally agree to negotiate up from invoice (and training fees) rather than down from MSRP.
I am not sure if you did the security deposit deal. They have discontinued it, so it is no longer available. I did this on my last lease. Correct me if I am wrong here.
On a 2009, you can get a good $700 above invoice deal. However, on the 2010s, the dealers feel more empowered to ask for more. They are dealing with new allocations, and they don't want to waste a new allocation for a $1500 profit if they think they can get $3,000.
I am looking for a 12k lease, and the residual on both for 3 years is 59%. The money factor on both is .00175.
On the 2009 models, they need to get rid of a liability to get a new allocation on the 2010s.
You are correct, you need the special leather to get the ventilated seats. It is $1700 for the leather.
I have to weigh the 2009 which has NAV and heads up display vs. the 2010 which has the nice seats, but no heads up display. The NAV is standard in the 2010. I could always order a new 2010, but then I have to extend my lease for 2 more months. The 2010 is pretty much a good one.
The 2010 is $73k MSRP and the 2009 is $75k.
The 2010 is actually $2k more expensive in the end (in real dollars) without the $2500 benefit and the higher dealer price.
I live in South Florida, so the ventilated seats with black leather could actually be a big issue for me.
I just don't know. Either way, I can't go wrong.
When you get to this price, I guess the few extra thousand is not as big of a thing.
Any other thoughts????

sdg1871

You've thought it through and have all the info you need. The question is whether the extra $$ for the 2010 is worth it to you.

z06bigbird

Hey, I learned something here. Thanks.

sdg1871

Any time. Leasing is so much more complex than purchasing and there are just so many opporunities for the dealer to stick it to a customer if they don't understand what goes into a lease. I've leased my last 5 cars and have really tried to learn everything I could about leasing so that I didn't get screwed by the dealer. Some dealers are terrific and honest but others are not and there are just so many components of a lease where they can get you financially in a big way.

305bimmer

Personally, I would wait for 2010 because I hear it is going to be available in Navajo White. PM CaptainAwesome if you need more details.

sdg1871

monacobmw

White is for old people here in South Florida.

sdg1871

I expect you'll get a dissenting view from, among others, members Alpine White Girl and AlpineWhite.

My mother has lived in Broward and Palm Beach Counties since 1989 and I totally understand your perspective on this. My grandfather's Cutless Cierca was......white.