This is a quick lease calculator I built....

We are trying to get at or below $615/mo. for a 328 coupe
0 down and the msrp = $38,000 (metalic paint, leather, stick, no other options)

The sales people seem to be taking the money factor up to 0.0027 and at the same time giving us a price reduction - so this seems to be the two numbers they play with.... below is my example of getting to $615/mo. using the Jan. 2008 base MF and a reduction amount to get to $615. We have a very high credit score...
15k miles pre year so I think we are stuck with the 58% residual.
We are turning in a Z4 on a 36mo lease and getting close to the end - 2 mos to go and want to order the car because it is hard to find a stick.

We are in CA so the sales tax is treated as a continuous sale.

So far have talked to several BMW dealers near San Jose CA.

Thanks very much for any comments or if you have done a lease like this in this area. Also, if you see a problem with my calculations please advise.


223057

Ask what the BMW MF is stick to the lowest. My advice is NEVER EVER say you want a car for "below this" or "This" because they can make it whatever you say.

Go somewhere else and do the numbers without mentioning what you want to pay.

I also use this lease calc

http://www.leaseguide.com/calc.htm

Also I don't know why people don't like putting cap cost reduction down. It's just prepaying some of the lease and it saves you money in tax. You're going to pay it anyway so why not throw 2-3K at the lease and have a much lower payment?

Good comments....

I'm trying to help my sister do this and she is manic.

Good point on down payment - I guess if you can't make 5% or a bit more after taxes on the money you save then you might as well put it down... assuming you have enough emergency cash... is that your point?

Also, the BMW base money factor for Jan. 2008 is 0.00200. from places I've read on the web. today.

I like the link to the calculator.. thanks I'm going to check mine out against that one.

Thanks for the input...

Also I don't know why people don't like putting cap cost reduction down. It's just prepaying some of the lease and it saves you money in tax. You're going to pay it anyway so why not throw 2-3K at the lease and have a much lower payment?
Also depending on where you live, you could be paying taxes on interest (the lease finance part) while you save those taxes on any cap cost reduction. I know this is the way it is here, not sure in the various states.

Some people will say that they will not put money down because it could be money lost in case of an accident or something. Wouldn't putting multiple security deposits serve the same purpose and have the benefit of getting it back at the end of the lease? I put down 7 security deposits I think.

Speaking of BMW MF. Has anyone got BMW's money factor without the dealership raising it? More than one dealer basically told me it wasn't even negotiable.

if you lease you can still be upside down. If you can't put 3k down then maybe look for a cheaper car? But you have to look at total out. In your lease you pay that 42% no matter what. Leaving at no money down means you can't get out until the end.

Speaking of BMW MF. Has anyone got BMW's money factor without the dealership raising it? More than one dealer basically told me it wasn't even negotiable.

Yes. My dealer didn't even attempt to raise it. They quoted the BMWFS rate from the beginning. They also didn't raise the acquisition fee, or play any other games. That's probably why I bought from them and not the first dealer I went to who only wanted to play the "payment" game.

OP: I would suggest calling the Internet Sales dept of several dealers and see what they can do for you. They are more likely to play it straight and quote right off the bat what they can do for you. They deal in volume moreso than the floor sales staff so they cut through *some* of the initial BS. I would go into the conversation saying "I am ready to buy, and want a lease quote for XXX car using the BMWFS buy rate which I know is XXX and........"

I am sure in every state you have to pay sales tax on the cap cost reduction. There would be a sales tax savings on anything like resgistration/license fees that you pay up front versus capitalizing as part of the lease but this is probably so small it is not worth worrying about.

I usually put a few thousand down on a lease but after the registration/license fees, first months payment, etc, the cap cost reduction is much less. The risk with cap cost reduction is if the car is totaled or stolen, your insurance company will pay off the calculated value under the lease assuming this is not greater than fair market value (If FMV is less, BMW has gap protection built into the lease). If you make a large cap cost reduction down payment, you are really pre-paying part of each months lease payment and saving the interest. If you are half way through the lease and something happens to the car, how do you get the unused prepayment back? Not sure that you can.

looking on the web. I see that the "base" BMW mf is 0.0020.

Beer Goggles - I compared my calculator to the link you posted. All is the same except for the sales tax per month...the leaseguide.com calc comes up with about 1/2 of what I get per month. I wonder if they have a bug. Give it a try if you have a few minutes... maybe the CA tax rules are different or changed. I used ( 8.25% * final cap cost ) / number of months.

also - I have read regarding what a number of you mention.... that in the case of an accident you can't get your down payment back... this could still be true even if you have the BMW gap insurance. It was explained to me that all the BMW leases have gap insurance built in.

On the sales tax, most states charge sales tax monthly on the amount of your lease payment (plus the sales tax on cap cost reduction up front). Just calc your monthly payment without sales tax and multiply times your rate, then add to the monthly payment to get the total.

The gap protection is if the insurance company says the fair market value is less than the lease pay-off amount. If it this occurs, BMWFS absorbs the difference. The risk with cap cost reduction is you have paid an amount up front that would normally be paid monthly through a higher payment. In the event of a loss the insurance company will pay the lease pay-off amount (unless fair market value is less) so you will not get the unused prepayment back.

Jhunter - ok, you are correct - I googled it and the sales tax per month is the payment * sales tax rate. This is added to the payment for everything minus the sales tax. My bad. Somewhere I must have read doing it the other way. Thanks.

I think the thing to do is try and negociate the price of the car down as far as possible. Then see what MF they come up with... as mentioned before it looks to be 0.002 for Jan. 2008... and with the interest rates going down... I would think it would be going down. For this car it was 0.0018 or 0.0016 not long ago.

If someone is nervous about possibly losing their cap reduction, why not put the cap reduction into an account, transfer what your decreased monthly payment would be into the account every month and have the lease payment taken from that account? I guess this isn't the same thing, but it would still mean a lower payment.

If someone is nervous about possibly losing their cap reduction, why not put the cap reduction into an account, transfer what your decreased monthly payment would be into the account every month and have the lease payment taken from that account? I guess this isn't the same thing, but it would still mean a lower payment.
Unless that account is paying off interest per month more than what you pay on the extra payment, then this won't work as well.

Jhunter - ok, you are correct - I googled it and the sales tax per month is the payment * sales tax rate. This is added to the payment for everything minus the sales tax. My bad. Somewhere I must have read doing it the other way. Thanks.

Most states do it this way. However, Ohio and maybe some others charge all the sales tax up-front on the total value of the lease. You pay the same amount in total but all up-front instead of over the term. I think this is theoretically wrong since you are paying sales tax on the interest but not getting the benefit of time. You should be able to research how your state handles sales tax on leases or just ask the dealer.

If someone is nervous about possibly losing their cap reduction, why not put the cap reduction into an account, transfer what your decreased monthly payment would be into the account every month and have the lease payment taken from that account? I guess this isn't the same thing, but it would still mean a lower payment.

You could, but this just leads to the classic argument of paying cash (if you are able to) versus financing. If the implied interest rate of the money factor is greater than the interest rate the account pays then you are losing money. Also the interest that the account earns is taxable so the effective rate is even less.

we did the deal yesterday...

mf 0.0024
for 15k miles - 58%
they seemed to change some fee names from last time... there is a "bank" fee and a lease aquisition fee - last time they would not adjust or wave the lease aquistion fee and I don't think there was a "bank" fee. Now the laf was waved and we did have to pay the "bank" fee. These were in the $750 to $800 range so they canceled but we still had to pay. Got agreement to no "inspection" fee on lease return and includes floor mats. At this place all lease cars require floor mats... that was not really stated anywhere but came up at the end. It seems that these dealers owned by large "parent" companies e.g. Autonation or Penske have "rules" that the sales manager can not break. The quotes coming out of the sales managers desk are printed and go through software control so the e.g. the mf can't be quoted at 0.002 only 0.0024 or higher. This basically left only the price of the car and a few other items as negociation points, e.g. mats. We got the security deposite waved, which I read is common if you have good credit and are a past BMW customer. In our case the FICA score is about 800, so this may have helped. In anycase we got the car on order so it would be here by the end of the lease. 328ci, sparkling grafite, saddle leather, manual trans, no other options... MSRP $38,000... final lease price was I think $37,2k - the sales lady, Mai, I thought was very good... and I usually don't like sales people much. Thanks for all the comments.

First off, congrats!

Secondly, the bank fee (or aquisition fee) is unavoidable but should be $625. Anything more than that is an optional markup from the dealer. You probably could have gotten it for the 625 but not sure you want to quibble over it now.

What is the base MF for your car this month? If it's less than .0024 and they said they aren't allowed to go lower than that, they lied to you.

First off, congrats!

Secondly, the bank fee (or aquisition fee) is unavoidable but should be $625. Anything more than that is an optional markup from the dealer. You probably could have gotten it for the 625 but not sure you want to quibble over it now.

What is the base MF for your car this month? If it's less than .0024 and they said they aren't allowed to go lower than that, they lied to you.

+1

BMWFS sets the acq fee (aka bank fee, same thing) at $625 and the MF at .002.

Sounds like the dealer was trying to "pass the buck" and blame their "parent" company. More than likely, they've just found that using that argument leads to less hassle pushing those fees on people. They sound shady.

Beyond all that, once you get the car you'll forget about the deal (good or bad) and just enjoy the car!

Congrats!

i had a two hour search throughout metro new york to determine whether a new york resident could utilize MSD's in new jersey. after calls to BMW financial, two new york BMW dealers and two NJ MBW dealers, finance managers, it appears that it is legal to do so.

my own dealer told me "it is illegal and new york state will penalize you and tax you." After three additional discussions with other finance managers, he called to apologize that 'BMW used to not allow it, but it is legal now".

re 335xi coupe, navi, premium, cold, comfort, metallic package, MSRP 51K and all taxes and charges into th lease, except first payment. i was able to get 693/mo w 8 deposits (5600) and an additional 1700 down in NJ.

after relaying this to my local NY dealer, he came down to 749/mo and 745 down TOTAL. i am taking the local deal even though the NJ deal is slightly better but is 50 miles away. local dealer is 5 miles away.

ASK ABOUT MSD'S. if you can utilize them, they can/will save approximately 10% of lease payment and you get entire deposit back.
the opportunity cost of the deposits (@4%, say) for 3 years is 200/yr while the savings is around 3000. do the math!!!!

comments appreciated.

No sport package - you'll be sorry.

this is a stupid question... what is MSD?

Sorry if this was mentioned above, if not: BMW has a 3-series lease that ends 4/30/08 $369.00 per month. You'll need to check with BMW for the terms, down & fees.

Far less than your calculated payment.

Sorry if this was mentioned above, if not: BMW has a 3-series lease that ends 4/30/08 $369.00 per month. You'll need to check with BMW for the terms, down & fees.

Far less than your calculated payment.


Where do I see that offer on the internet? Thanks.

Where do I see that offer on the internet? Thanks.

Here's the lease info on a 3-series coupe:

$429*/month for 36 months


Vehicle Registered outside N.Y.
• $429 First months payment
• $2,500 Down payment
• $450 Security Deposit
• $3,379 Cash due at signing
Vehicle Registered in N.Y.
• $429 First months payment
• $2,500 Down payment
• $450 Security deposit
• $3,379 Cash due at signing