Where are the off-lease cars?

I was hoping to see a lot of off-lease cars showing up starting in May (which is when I thought the first two-year leases would be ending) given the news of the extra range for 2017, but I haven't seen any. Where are all of the off-lease i3s going? Is the residual being dropped to the point that they are kept?

In my case, yes: at the end of the lease on my Electronaut in September I was able to negotiate a satisfactory residual price and interest rate, so I kept it.

Who did you negotiate that with?

Well, actually, maybe it doesn't matter. I'm owners choice w/flex.

Anyways, BMWFS told me "the only option you have is to satisfy the balloon payment (though returning the car + $7500 or giving them ~$35000). They did suggest I might be able to talk to the dealer afterwards to buy the car as a certified used.

Seems mildly stupid to me. the car surely isn't worth what they want for the balloon payment, and going through the hassle of certifying it is only going to cost them more money.

I dealt with Al Solorzano at SFBMW, and was satisfied with the end result.
Hitch #1 is that (if I understand it right) leased cars are still technically owned not by the dealer but by BMW Financial USA, who has to sign off on the deal.
Hitch #2 is that (if I understand it right) cars returned at the end of lease do not get automatically sold through that dealers used-car department, but are put on the wholesale market and could end up elsewhere.
Those who know better, please correct me on either of these points.
And let me take this opportunity to repeat my rant that the Balkanized traditional car dealer network is at a strategic disadvantage to the unified structure enjoyed by Tesla.

Almost a year ago I had an opportunity to check results of the Manheim dealers auction. http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3411 Would be interesting to see how the things have changed. Search on the current Manheim inventory shows 36 i3s nationwide.
Are you the same Anton who posts on Advrider?

You can go to truecar.com, and shop used and look at their nationwide database. It claims there's about 100 for sale nationwide, with the median being about $23500.

But that's "list" price at a truecar certified dealer.

Thanks for those idea. And yes, I post on ADVRider. I have a BMW Motorcycle repair shop here in Charlottesville, VA.

We had an i3 for an extended test drive and liked it a lot. Didn't love it - all of the nontechnical things have to be perfect for that to happen - but we were mightily impressed and would certainly welcome one in our driveway. Unfortunately Virginia is very EV-unfriendly - rather than receiving a state incentive, we get penalized for buying an EV - so the crazy deals that I've read of here are just not possible. But I was hoping that some of the off-lease cars might show up for under $20k, which would make the conversation about owning one happen. All I've seen are cars that are close to $30k, which is not far below what some owners paid new.

FWIW, this one is in Lexington, KY and under $20K: https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/WBY1Z2C57EVX51828/2014-bmw-i3/

Schnort said:

FWIW, this one is in Lexington, KY and under $20K: https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/WBY1Z2C57EVX51828/2014-bmw-i3/

Click to expand...

It even includes oil changes and belts They've missed to mention that the car has fast charging (acc. to bmwvin.com)

Anton, glad to see you here! The good deals were possible because of the unsold inventory. I just checked cars.com and found only 10 unsold 2016s nationwide. This time last year they had well over 1000 2015s. A used i3 will probably be a better value. More of them should show up soon. The sales didn't take off until the late summer of 2014, and not everyone got a 24 months lease.
Another option is an old stock car. There is one not too far from you https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/670965088/overview/
I remember I talked to them about it quite some time ago, I'm sure they will be more flexible now.

Schnort said:

FWIW, this one is in Lexington, KY and under $20K: https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/WBY1Z2C57EVX51828/2014-bmw-i3/

Click to expand...

This one is a stripper, the cheapest possible configuration.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-i3-Range-Extender-/152266776309?forcerrptr=true&hash=item2373ce9ef5:g:emcAAOSwYIxX9Alv&item=152266776309

Good luck!

Bob Wilson

This one looks like a considerably better deal http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-i3-Base-4dr-Hatchback-/272404304966?forcerrptr=true&hash=item3f6c8fd446:g:SQ4AAOSwLnBX9zGH&item=272404304966