Question for all you lease experts..

[bdoooh]

I was trying to get a 135 earlier this year and then things fell through.. I'm going to be trying again this upcoming spring. I'm saving up now and my intention is to have 10 grand to put down..

I've been entertaining the idea of a used 135.. but the ones in my price range have 40-60k miles on them.. With 10 grand down, I don't want my payments to be over $250-ish a month.. And from doing a Google, more people don't recommend getting a higher mileage 135 if you don't want to pay for maintenance here soon.. So moving onto a lease..

According to BMW's website.. the lease payments equal $15,000 based off a $42,000 car and $2,500 down payment.. Sure. Let's go off of that. If I say put 10 grand down, wouldn't my monthly payments be incredibly cheap since I'm essentially spreading like 7 grand across 3 years with a .00200 base rate??

[DanoG80Cx]

Your payments would be low, but keep in mind it is generally a bad idea to put significant money down on a lease. If someone hits you or you get into an accident and the car gets totaled all that money is gone. Most people will tell you to lease with zero down.

[Sinister Crayon]

I leased using about $4000 in security deposits. The MSD program means that you can put down up to 7 security deposits to buy down your MF a small amount. It's a lot less than the amount you'd get off by putting a down-payment on the car, but at the end of the lease you get all that money back. With a down-payment you lose it.

Generally, I'd recommend going the MSD and zero down payment route (so long as the approval goes through). In the event the car's totaled you won't be out that money. Yes, the monthly payment will be a tad higher but there's less risk of loss.

[bdoooh]

Originally Posted by Sinister Crayon

I leased using about $4000 in security deposits. The MSD program means that you can put down up to 7 security deposits to buy down your MF a small amount. It's a lot less than the amount you'd get off by putting a down-payment on the car, but at the end of the lease you get all that money back. With a down-payment you lose it.

Generally, I'd recommend going the MSD and zero down payment route (so long as the approval goes through). In the event the car's totaled you won't be out that money. Yes, the monthly payment will be a tad higher but there's less risk of loss.

What's the MSD program now?

I guess I didn't think about the car being totaled part.. I have loan/lease payoff on my insurance but, then that initial down would be gone.. I didn't think about that.

That's a hard decision though because if I put that much down in the end.. I would have paid less due to not having to pay interest on all that.. but then again, I up the risk factor.

[Sinister Crayon]

Originally Posted by bdoooh

What's the MSD program now?

I guess I didn't think about the car being totaled part.. I have loan/lease payoff on my insurance but, then that initial down would be gone.. I didn't think about that.

That's a hard decision though because if I put that much down in the end.. I would have paid less due to not having to pay interest on all that.. but then again, I up the risk factor.

MSD program is literally "Multiple Security Deposit". It's basically where instead of a single security deposit at lease inception, you put down multiple. Each MSD will be the amount of the payment rounded up to the nearest $50... so if your lease payment is $455 a month you'd pay your MSD's at $500 a month. Up to 7 of them.

Check this link; http://www.fairbmwlease.com/guide.html#cMSD

The problem is, you're not going to get close to $250 a month using MSD's. Even with perfect credit you're probably going to end up at twice that. Yes, you could do the down-payment but as I said that's a bit of a losing game since you're investing in something that isn't yours. Remember, this is a rental car... at least for the purposes of discussion. You're just renting it for a LONG time. As a result, there's no need to put a lot of money into it particularly if you're not going to get it back.

The MSD's on the flip side actually provide a decent ROI since they reduce your MF. While you'll get the same cash value back at the end of the lease (whether totaled or just complete the contract), the money you'll save amount to a pretty decent return. I think as I recall 7 MSD's ($3500 in the above example) will give you up to about a 10% annual return in monthly payment savings. That's better than I've made in the stock market the last couple of years

Leasing is all a black art to some... but it helps if you just think of it like a rental car contract. Hopefully this all helps

Oh, and if you want to figure out your options, build and how it will affect payments, the best lease calculator and configurator I've found is here; http://bmwconfig.com/BmwConfig/Config.aspx. Using that, I figure that if you go with a BASE 135i with zero options and can spring for a euro delivery pickup, then you're looking at about a $4000 out of pocket and a bit over $400 a month on payments. Pretty sweet deal for an awesome car IMO

[bdoooh]

Another question.. If I want one in the spring, should I place an order in now? Or should I wait until march-April and see if there's any around I can pickup?

[DanoG80Cx]

Originally Posted by bdoooh

Another question.. If I want one in the spring, should I place an order in now? Or should I wait until march-April and see if there's any around I can pickup?

Depends on how picky you are on options. I knew I wanted AW/CR 6MT and here in the bible belt that was just not going to sit on a dealers lot.

[bdoooh]

Well I went ahead and put in an order! Got my production number today! Jet black M-sport!