I have a CMS that's due to arrive within 2 weeks with MSRP of $34100 and agreed sale price of $32843. Originally I was gonna do a purchase but since Mini is running a special lease on countryman, so now I'm considering just lease it for 3 years. My salesman quoted me $490 a month with $2000 down and 12000 miles per year......I thought that price is very high on a 33k car, any advice?

 

I'm not a big fan on a lease, but to each his own. I believe there are differnt leasing policies from state to state. That $490 does seem like a lot but if you don't plan on keeping your CMS for more then 3 years then you may save money on a lease. But if you go over miles then you'll pay for it in the end. Your going to have to figure out what you want. Your payment is determend on the length of the lease and the value of the car over the three years. Truthfully i'd never lease a car. Good luck

 

while there are some advantages to leasing, thats a pretty terrible price considering the Minis hold their value so well

 

Well, my original plan was to buy the CM and drive it for 2 to 3 years then sell it since there was no lease special available but since Mini is offering one now I'm just gonna lease and avoid the hassle of trying to selling the car later.

 

Anyone leased their CM and willing to share your terms?

 

the flip side of it is you could buy the CM outright after the lease for cheap. But if you aren't planning on keeping it . . .

 

you could go for 72 months and buy the car for about 550 a month money. 33K plus sales tax it should work out with zero down...then you have no lease contract, get rid of it when you wish.

 

The important information you need to figure out a lease are: The money factor (right now it's .00190 through MINI financing - a pretty big drop from last month when it was .00215), the residual percentage, which varies by the mileage you choose (for the MCS it's 59% for 15K and 62%, I believe, for 12K but they will probably be different for the CM. This also tells you the price you'll pay for the car if you decide to keep at the end of the lease), the term, of course (in your case 36 mos.), the bank fee (loan origination fee, if you will - this should be $725, but dealers are allowed to mark this up by $200 and almost all of them do) which will be added to the adjusted cap cost (your negotiated price minus any rebates like the Motor-tober, for example). And, finally, the sales tax rate where you are. Your MA or the finance guy at your dealer can tell you the residual percentage and confirm the money factor. The rest you already have. BY the way, there is a $500 rebate the month of December for cars leased or financed through MINI credit, so be sure to ask for it. Here's a great website where you can play with the numbers to your heart's content. It walks you through all the questions:
http://www.leaseguide.com/calc.htm

 

ive never leased but thought about the idea. in massachusetts, you still are responsible for excise tax and sales tax. plus, what if you want to trade it in after two years...what would be the penalty? after 3 years, you will have paid out 19,640 (2k plus 36 months of payments), so deduct that amount from the price you would have paid (if the monthly payments included tax etc, you will need to add it to the price you would have paid to compare apples) anyway, after three years, you are essentially saying the car is only worth 13-15k, i think will be worth more than that...so i think you would be better off buying. anyone feel free to add to my analysis.

 

Thanks Chaswyck for the heads-up. I asked my MA and he confirmed the $500 rebate today. Funny that he didn't offer that up before I asked. Hmmmm...

 

Great post, thank you.

 

My MA told me that the $500 you-ification credit does NOT apply to Countryman model??

 

Yes, unfortunately, I think it excludes the CM and the Coupe.