My 2017 i3 lease is up

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Kimluk

New member
Joined
Sep 19, 2019
Messages
3
My lease will be up in 6 months. We like our i3 very much and want to keep it at the end of the lease or lease another i3. I have leased a few BMWs before and always returned them and leased a new one. However, this time we are seriously considering buying it. It will have 30k mile when the lease is up next April. The residual value is $27k. It is high compared to the current used i3 market which is around $22k. I would like some advice how to negotiate a better deal. What’s the best lease deal available now?
Thank in advance.
 
Where are you?

I think you're already on the right track cross-shopping what's on the dealer's lots.

Here in the San Francisco region a fully loaded 2017 BEV with under 20k on the odometer is being advertised for $26k, and a REX version at $29k. But I know first hand that there's room in those numbers, in my case another $2k. Because the supply is high, and because there are new options from other brands at similar price points, AND 2018 models trickling in freshly off lease, it seems to me the high-dollar, well equipped i3 can be a slow mover and a drag on the dealership.

There's lots written online about negotiating down end-of-lease purchases to reflect market prices. But don't forget that the dealer has to invest resources in taking back and selling your car. So start the conversation early, shop other dealerships for i3s with your spec, and don't be afraid to offer less than the going book values. If you convince them that you're serious about purchasing and have something lined up across town, they'll most likely try to win your business for the easy turn. And if they don't -- oh well, you'll have already done your homework and can drive home in somebody else's lease return the same day.
 
Hello, Kimluk –

As eNate points out, you don't share much info in terms of where you are, BEV / REX, or options. Location makes a difference. Looking at autotrader.com, if you're in Tulsa, OK there are zero used 2017 i3s available. In Dallas, TX there are two. In San Francisco, CA there are 57!

In general, the last thing your dealer wants is your i3 lease return. As soon as they get it from you they're likely going to ship it off to auction.

Any chance you know someone in your area with a car dealer license? If so, ask if they have a Manheim membership and would do a search to see what your config is going for at auction.

With the limited details in your post, here's a retail i3 at Peter Pan in San Francisco, CA... a 2017 BEV with 30.7K miles, asking $21,998:
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=527146260

This car will probably sell at auction between $12,500 and $14,500.

If you can get real auction data available for a car that compares to yours, you may be able to negotiate a discount with your dealer. Before your lease is up, schedule a meeting with your dealer's Lease-End specialist and share with them comparable auction sales.

BMW doesn't allow a dealer much freedom on a lease return (you're not going to get your car for $14K!) but you should be able to get a buyout for less than the advertised retail price.
 
There is really no point in trying to negotiate your lease buy-out with the Dealer. They have no skin in the game. The lease is with BMW Finance. All the Dealer will do, is call up BMW Finance and play man-in-the-middle, and they have no incentive for getting you any kind of a deal - in fact they lose money, as BMW pays them a fee to handle the lease return for them - and they will want you to do a new lease, which they get a commission from BMW on. If you buy out the lease, they get nothing . The only i3 owners I have heard of getting good deals on their lease buy-out, are those who dealt with BMW Finance directly. Look up the value of your car in Kelly Blue Book. Auction wholesale price should be a number in-between trade-in price, and private party sale price, all depending on the auction market in your area. Give them a middle number as to what you think the wholesale auction price would be, and tell them you are will to pay that, and see what they come back with. They will have more accurate auction price info, and should come back with a reasonable number. If not, you can always just turn the car in, and look for a similar lease return for sale in your region. You can search for i3's for sale at Dealers within 500 miles of you on this site, https://cpo.bmwusa.com/ and note prices to use as part of your negotiation with BMW Finance, ie, " why would I pay $xxxx for my lease return when I can buy the same car from this BMW Dealer for $yyyy"???
 
Thank for all the good advices.
I am in Los Angeles and my 2017 i3 is a barebones base model with 94 AHr.
I can see MKH’s point on negotiating directly with BMW Finance. I really want to keep my i3 and don’t want to buy a used one because I won’t know if it has any hidden issues.
Anyone has any experience negotiating directly with BMW Finance?
Is the $7,500 Fed credits still available?
 
The $7,500 tax credit was used on the car at the beginning of your lease, to reduce the retail price your lease was calculated on. It's long-gone.

A board member here was able to buy his lease return for market value and not residual value, He went to one dealer, and was turned down, but another dealer negotiated with BMW Finance and got him a pretty good price, and added a CPO warranty. Here is the link to his postings on it,

https://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5248
 
MKH said:
The $7,500 tax credit was used on the car at the beginning of your lease, to reduce the retail price your lease was calculated on. It's long-gone.

A board member here was able to buy his lease return for market value and not residual value, He went to one dealer, and was turned down, but another dealer negotiated with BMW Finance and got him a pretty good price, and added a CPO warranty. Here is the link to his postings on it,

https://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5248
MKH,
Thank for posting the link which gives me all the info I needed.
 
There is really no point in trying to negotiate your lease buy-out with the Dealer.

MKH, my experience does not agree with your statement.

I presented my (Southern California) dealer with what I knew to be the current auction value of my car. They reduced my buyout price by $2K.
 
MKH, my experience does not agree with your statement.

I stand corrected :p

Good to know that there are Dealers out there who will go to bat for the customer, even if there isn't a lot of profit in it for them.
 
Current BMW policy is to offer a slight reduction in the contract buy-out price. In the past, one could do a deal with the dealer to turn in the lease and then purchase the car at current retail, which is usually several thousand dollars less than the buy-out price. However, BMW has recently informed dealers that if they sell a lease turn-in back to anyone in the lessee's household, BMW will charge the dealer for the difference between the retail sale price and the contract buy-out price. Result: Dealers are no longer doing a deal with former lessees for "their" car. The above post which seems to contradict this could be that the Dealer actually got BMWFS to agree to the retail price sale.
 
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