I have read some things about trading in a lease, not to the leasing company/dealer, but to a different dealer.

My wife has a 2011 fully loaded 328xi, and the lease ends october 2013. We like the car, but its not something we both really love. she got the car, before we were married, and her parents were against the coupe she wanted. and i just dont think its worth buying the car after the lease.

My first plan was to trade it in to a different BMW dealer for a 09 335 coupe w/ manual, but she didint want to drive my car. right now atleast.
But now i found an 08 TL type S, one of my all time favorite cars, with only about 50k miles. i was initially thinking about trading in my TSX as a direct trade. But now i think it would make more sense to trade in the 3.

im not 100 percent sure of the lease numbers, the price of the car was approximately $45k, assuming a $4k down payment. she pays, i mean now i pay, $566 monthly for it. and i believe the price to buy after the lease is up is a little more than $29k. I had originally thought i was gonna be closer to $21-22. and now i definitly dont think it would be worth buying that car, and trying to sell it right away. i think i would actually lose money on it. This TL would be a great way to get out of the lease, and buy my favorite car. But im not sure how the numbers would work out and how the dealers would work out the difference in the cars. as long as i pay lease than that monthly $566, ill be happy.

has anyone done something like this before? got any advice?

 

That $4k is gone, you wont ever see it again.

You have 10 months left on the lease so you would have to pay most of that. You currently owe around $5600 on the lease still. When trading in the dealer will not just forget that as it needs to be paid to the leasing company. So they will either put that negitive equity in your new car or tell you that you need a larger down payment to cover it.

You could also try to get someone to take over the lease...

 

Another idea; pay the lease as agreed for the remaining period then turn in the car. May be the least expensive option.

 

http://https://www.google.com/search...a&channel=fflb

you can try this google search . its where you advertise the lease so someone else can take over the payments hopefully you can find someone to do it.

 

yeah, i figured i would owe the final price of the car and the remaining payments, which would be a little under 35K.
yeah that would be kind of pointless since the car im looking at is only 23k.
i know the down payment is gone but what im confused about is what happens to the amount that we have already paid monthly for the lease. almost $15k at this point. doesnt that get credited to us in anyway? because the car is partially paid off. not like i am trading in a car just after buying it.

 

Not really. She committed to paying a portion of the car's value plus interest over a fixed period. So if the total of her payments were $21k, she's only covered $15k of it so far. There's still $6k in payments owed. That is real debt owed to the leasing company and would be treated the same as if she had bought it outright and the value of the car was worth $6k less than the amount she owed.

HTH

 

Finish the lease. By that time, you should have a bit more saved up to get your TL-S. Not to mention, the car should be priced lower.

 

If its a low mile car that is considered an easy turnaround a dealer might be willing to get you out of the car for no penalty.

But that would most likely be another BMW dealer.

You could also see how much the buyout currently is and see how much carmax would buy it for.

I just dumped my Prius lease 9 months early and flipped into another Toyota with no penalty or negative equity...but a low miles Prius will sell in LA without blinking.

 

You need to check what your current buy out is...for argument sake - lets say its $32k. If the dealer offers you $28k on a trade in, then you're responsible for paying the $4k difference. Its very similar to financing a car and selling it while owing the bank money.
There is an alternative - to find someone to take over your lease, then you/person you transfer to pay a transfer fee. Check out swapalease.com- its a useful site.

 

^ This.

But I will say in my experience, the residuals of the 3 series are ridiculously high and mismatched to what the car is really worth, making it even harder for someone to buy out the car from the lease without paying a LOT more.

My best suggestion is to either suck it up and keep the lease until it's up, or find someone willing to take over your lease on your own, or through a lease trading site (swapalease.com or leasetrader.com).

 

I did likewise twice consecutively: 07 AV6 EX-L Navi (3 months left) > 09 MDX base (5 months left) > 12 MDX Tech.....with my payment increasing only $6/month between MDXs.

 

you guys really prefer the TSX over the 328i? Anyway just find someone willingly to take the lease off your hands, which i'm sure would be easy with given car.

 

i have seen those lease sites, but im not sure how well they work, and how long your ad is up there before you get a serious inquiry.

im guessing we will just wait till the end of the lease and give it back to the dealer. I dont think it would be worth buying the car. since the price is just to high. equal or more than what the price of the car will be in 10 months.

we do like the 3 series, but she got the one that was the last one available, its fun to drive, but not as practical as the tsx. which has a larger cabin and much larger trunk. and then there is the mpg.
my plan is to get a 6 speed 3 series coupe.

 

This is a fairly biased group to ask so I wouldn't be surprised.

But I would assume a 328i and TSX with the same features would be separated by at least $10k.

That makes it hard to compare them.

 

was in a similar situation 6 months back with an IS 250 (2 years into 3 year lease).

To my surprise, i was able to walk away without a trade in, and pocket over a grand. I went to about half a dozen lexus dealers and got quotes between 22k-25k, then eventually had two dealers get into a bidding war and come up to 26.5k. They later found out my buyout was 25k, but everything was in writting, and truthfully, they didnt seem to care. They were however a pain in the ass to cut me a check for the difference.

Just be relentless. Avoid conversations about trade-in and do not disclose your buyout price, or information that will allow them to see your buyout price. You could actually get away without telling them it is a lease if you schedule a visit just with an appraiser. "You are only there to get a pure quote for the car".

My recc is to do the above, first, at BMW dealerships with CPO lots. Get your highest quote from BMW. Then go to an Acura dealership, dont tell them you are trading in...have them spend the time pricing a TSX, then ask them to match your highest quote from BMW to trade it in. That tactic should ease the pain as best as possible. If it works out, then execute at the end of your BMW billing cycle, and save yourself another 500 bucks.

 

couldnt agree more.

compare 3 series vs c class and tsx vs IS