DrLev99

What no one has done for you is to actually calculate whether your monthly payment you were quoted actually matches what it should be based on the MSRP, you capitalized cost, your Money Factor, your Residual % and your sales tax.

You said sticker is $59,285, cap cost = around $46K, MF = .0025 and a 57% residual @ 36 months/12K. With $1000 down as additional cap reduction (not including first payment, acq. fee, document/tag fees, etc), assuming a 10% tax, your payment should be a lot less than $600.

It would actually be $555/month, probably less. You'd be responsible for the first payment, possibly a sec. depost, acq. fee, document fees, and a % of the $1000 down as sales tax = to your $1000 x tax rate. Meaning, if your tax rate is 10%, then you pay an additonal $100 tax on the down payment of $1000. This is another reason why you shouldn't put anything down at signing, period. Pay your first payment and roll everything else back into the cap cost.

Remember, if you total your car, all that money up front is gone forever. You only get back from your insurance company the amount of the loan taken. All down payments, acq. fees, etc. are lost if you total it or have it stolen.

What you needed to do was to find out where the residual of 57% and the money factor of .0025 were coming from. Usually the residuals posted to the dealers are based on 15K mile leases. You add 1% for 12k mile leases. I don't have access to the '08 residuals or money factors....not posted on here. Also, sometimes you can only get the posted money factor if you put down a sec. deposit or have BMW Owner loyalty, then you can waive it. If you do not have OL, then the MF goes up by .00015 if you choose to waive the sec. deposit. Some dealerships may waive the SC and still give you the going rate. They usually can do this by paying your SD for you.

The payment here is really sweet for one reason....your LOW capitalized cost. The closer you can get to the residual of the car, the less depreciation you pay, hence a lower payment.

kscarrol

Doesn't really matter at this point, sounds like a done deal. Is it the best deal in the world, maybe not. Craig is obviously pleased with his car, he is happy and that is all that really matters. Let him enjoy it...

DrLev99

Yeah, I see that now. This is what happens when one quickly scans posts.

It appears he got ripped by a few bucks, assuming his figures were accurate. If his sales tax where he lives is only 6% (instead of he 10% I used), then his payment should have been $538/month.

Regardless, enjoy your new E60, Craig!

einstein57

I'm not sure about other states but in California when a vehicle is totaled out you received the ACV (actual cash value) plus prorated registration fees. I've had it where someone got a great deal on a lease who put 0 down and walked away with cash back when people were selling cars way over msrp like the mini and the prius. Even the yaris when gas was almost $5 a gallon. The only difference is on purchase, the payout you receive would also include sales tax on the ACV. The concept is if you own your car outright you'd should get a check to go out and purchase another used car just like your. Excluding your deductible and contract preparation fees and such.

DrLev99

Like you said, insurance is always going to reimburse only the current value of a car, regardless of a lease or buy. On a lease, it doesn't pay to put anything down since only the loan gets paid off if totaled or stolen, and if there happens to be any extra left over after that, it goes to the Leasing company...not you, since you don't own the car. Einstein, you said "others walked away with cash back"...not sure what you meant.

Example: You put down $5K towards a cap reduction and pay upfront the $650 acq. fee, $250 for document fees, another $500 for tax on the down payment, etc....on a lease for a $60K car. As your drive off the lot, you total it. The insurance company calls to tell you the car's value is only $55K, due to INSTANT depreciation when you drove off the lot. The bank will get their $55K for the loan you took, but now you're out $5K plus $650 acq. fee, plus the $500 tax, etc. It's gone forever. If you had put $0 Down in this case and borrowed $61K (by rolling other fees into cap cost), the insurance company would have had to EAT the $6K, not you...and you are out nothing.

Unlike a buy, you don't need gap insurance on a lease.

craigm1841

well i am here in fl. they gave me 2500 for my maxima which blue books at 2100, which i think may have affected my payment. the MB dealer was only going to give me 800. i am obviously happy i didnt get the MB. the car actually costs closer to 49K with the warranty. i am well aware of what it has and doesnt have. i did a ton of research before getting it. do i need the cold weather package? i live in tampa. would the navi and sound system be nice, yes it would be. I couldnt really afford to lease an 09 and have the pickings of the dealership lot. well, maybe i could afford it, but i capped myself at 600.

I turned in my weathered 99 maxima with 156K miles and walked drove away with an low milage 535 leased to me as new, with the extended warranty and didnt take a dollar out of my pocket. my payments are 599 after taxes and all that. am i happy? yes. the lexus dealer wanted far more money than that for a GS, the MB wanted a little less than that for a 31K car. do i think i got a great deal, i do because i got the car i wanted for the price i wanted. do i think if i brought a gun to the dealer and started shooting hostages they might take another 15 off my payment, maybe. in the end, if i am going to worry about a few bucks, i shouldnt be driving an new bmw. do i wish i had navi, sure, but i also wish i had an M5. I am 25 years old and just got out of the military and took my first real job and I feel i made an informed decision, but most of all i feel privelaged to be driving this car at my age with nothing more than my military experience getting me a job. god knows i didnt put anything about my one semester of college on my resume

this is my 3rd bmw, the other two were junkers that i bought for a few hundred bucks in highschool. great little cars, however... this is my first real bmw and i cant stop smiling. thank you all for your input, positive or negative. I appreciate the devils advocates as much as the motivators

i look forward to becoming a part of this community and learning more about the new coolest thing i own.

DrLev99

Craig, my question is this: What did you do with the money that the dealership gave to you on trade? Did you use it as a cap. cost reduction (down payment)? Did you pocket the $2500 cash or apply it to the lease on the new BMW?

If you applied it to the BMW, then how it is applied matters. Did you pay the acquisition and other fees with that money and use the rest as cap reduction? If so, how much was left over for the extra cap reduction? It should have been about $1500 if you did. Another trick they could've used would be to use the entire $2500 for capitalized cost reduction and rolled those other fees into the lease, which isn't good....you end up paying more tax on the cap reduction in that scenario.

As a rule, you never give the dealership a monthly figure you are willing to pay. They will find every scenario possible to get you to that figure, even if that means you could have gotten it for less had you negotiated the cap cost of the car instead of the monthly payment. Dealerships LOVE people who offer up a monthly payment figure.

craigm1841

see this is the stuff i dont know about leases. i did a lot of research last night and it seemed people were paying for more for comparable stuff. the original dealer actually came down to 605 with 10K a year. when i told him i found the other one for slightly less and and 12K a year, he actually told me there was nothing more he could do and that i should go lease that one, especially if it is certified.

DrLev99

Oh well.....who cares at this point? I was just showing off anyway!

You still got a good deal on a sweet car, regardless of whether you could have done slightly better. Just go and enjoy it at this point!

We want to see MODS right away, even though my only mods so far are the rear spacers on my car. Do winter wheels & tires count as mods?

craigm1841

well i do want to put on some bigger wheels, am i limited due to the run flats? i am tinting the windows this week. and i would love to do some performance mods that are easy to remove since it is a lease. maybe its time for some new forums or time for me to utilize the search feature. i am new to this board, but not to forums in general..