Hi, I'm new to these boards. I'm in the process of saving up money to put down a rather large down payment on a MINI, for a lease. What advice would you "adults" (I'm only 19) give me. I have to pay for everything myself, so I'm just going barebones, MC ChR/W w/auto and sun roof, thats all. I went down to Knuaz Mini and took a test drive and that just sealed the deal for me. By the way, I noticed that Knuaz Mini only had one review, has anyone else used them, or known someone who has, they are the closest to me, and they were pretty nice, but I just want to make sure i'm not ripped off. Thanks in advance.

MiniZee

 

Hi! Welcome to the site! You have made a wise car choice......
This is a great place to get information on anything you would ever want to know about a Mini!
As far as your dealership is concerned, there are only a few that I have heard actual bad things about and yours is not one of them. You have to think that they would all be generally helpful considering that it is a subsidiary of BMW and they have a reputation to uphold. If they are being nice to you, stick with them.....you just want to make sure that whatever questions you have for them they can answer for you or point you someplace where you can get that information.

Cheers!
L.Mini :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: (who is only a little older than you are at 24 )

_________________
<IMG SRC=https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/~sfiveten/L%20Mini%20Sig.jpg>
<a href="mailto:l.mini@northamericanmotoring.com ">l.mini@northamericanmotoring.com</a>

 

Hey minizee... i'm in the same boat as you . 19 years old and desperately saving up for a mini. but i'm 200 miles away from a mini dealer. i called the local bimmer dealership, and they say they aren't planning on selling minis this year. i've seen one about town...a liquid yellow mini with rally stripes and fog lamps...exactly how i want it... kinda depressing. but good luck to ya! :smile:

 

MiniZee:
Welcome to the world of smitten MINI enthusiasts! :smile: Actually, saving up a large down payment would defeat the 'usual' purpose of a lease, i.e., in your case, to put little down and have reasonably affordable payments. If you're able to save a sizable down payment, you should go either towards purchasing or perhaps towards the MINI Select program. You can visit with your dealer's finance person and he/she can give you various scenarios. It's all a balance of term limit, finance charge, and down payment in light of the entire cost. Good luck!!!!!!

 

If you are saving up to put a large down payment, you should try to purchase the Mini. At the end of a lease you have put in alot of money and have no equity. If you purchase the Mini, you should have a reasonable good resale value (unless Mini floods the market with vehicles) should you decide to sell it.

 

I agree about buying versus leasing. I'm not a fan of leasing. Although I've never leased, I know of friends and relatives who have horror stories with leasing and the leasing companies.
Yes, it's attractive and will get you into a car at a discount price, but after the lease period, you give the car back with nothing to show for you money. And turning the car in can become a nightmare because of condition, mileage, etc.

If you do lease, read and understand the contract so you are totally aware of what you are getting into.

 

Just to add a PS to my last post, MiniZee, you have made my day with your signature!. "If you choke a smurf, what color does it turn". I love it!!!

 

Wow... a young lad/lassie who's buying a MINI him/herself! Congrats!

(no really, you're the first under 20 that i've seen post here who's mom and dad are not paying for it... )

better yet, 2 in one thread!

I'm not a fan of leasing myself, as I drive WAY too much... seeing how you have some time, I'd sit down with the dealer when they were not too busy and run quite a few different sets of numbers... that way, you can get a better idea of what the different buying options will cost... and don't forget, you can save $500 bux for going with a non-metallic paint job...

Rocketboy_X

 

Thank you all so much for welcoming me into your family. I look forward to (hopefully) getting my MINI around may or so, that goes along with the whole saving up thing. RocketBoy, I get a lot of people who think that mom is paying for it, so it's nice to hear that someone appreciates me getting it on my own. Orfeu, good luck on your MINI quest. I'll keep you all updated as the year progresses.

MiniZee

 

Hey minizee! Welcome aboard! (sorry i'm late!) :smile:

Cheers!

p.s. just a little older than you at 22 (23 in about a month and 5 days) but not quite as old as L.Mini!! ROFLMAO!!! *ducks & hopes he doesn't get smacked for that* hehehehe you know i love ya L!!! hehehehehehe
_________________
my Samantha

 

I AM a fan of leasing BECAUSE I drive a lot. If I bought a car with cash - that's one thing. But if I financed for anything more than 3 yrs, I car wouldn't be worth anything. So I'd be making payments that were $500 or more instead of lease payments in the $300's. I got 18k miles on my lease but probably should have gotten 20k or more. The payments are still $200 less than buying yet in 3 yrs I'll get a brand new one. Had I donw a 4 or 5 yr financing, my payments would still be in the $400's and I'd have 100k miles by the time my payments were over with. Instead I could lease TWO MINIs and keep my payments in the mid-$300's and never drive a car over 54k miles and have it under warranty the whole time.

For a car like the MINI with a very high residual (I got 63% for 36 months), leasing is a GREAT deal. If you drive 15k miles or more, leasing is a GREAT deal. Buying is best when you put 12k miles or less on the car. B/c even if you take 4-5 yrs to pay it off, the car will still be worth something and in good condition when your payments are up.

Also, never lease for more than 36 months (no matter how good a 39 or 42 month lease looks) and never finance for more than 60 months (although 48 months should really be the limit). Otherwise due to warranty and interest rates, you'll be paying too much.

ANYWAY, the original point I wanted to make was to NOT put a whole lot of money down on the lease Minizee (also you DO realize that by spelling your name with lowercase letters you are referring yourself to the old Mini not the new MINI! )

If something should happen to your car, you default on the payments, your car gets totalled or stolen, etc...YOU WILL LOSE ALL OF YOUR DOWNPAYMENT!!!! Always put down as little as possible on a lease!!! If you want a lower monthly payment, save your downpayment money and every month use a little of your savings to make up the rest of the payment. If you were to put $5000 down on a lease for example and the car was stolen in 6 months, you'd be out 6 payments PLUS $5000!!!! Your insurance will pay the leasing company what the car is worth and gap insurance will take care of any difference. But on a lease, you won't get a dime!!! You'll be out about $7000 and have NO car! When you lease, insurance just pays the leasing company - they will not get you a new car! So save your money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

 

when i leased my mini two days ago they said i needed to put down at least $900. i said i had only planned to put down $500 (which included the first payment) and so they adjusted things on their computer and made it work. believe me, they want you to take one with you--no matter how much they say that they could just sell it to someone else. something about a bird in the hand...

this is a company car and so i am not paying. it sounds like i made a boo boo by leasing for 48 months and allowing only 12k miles per year, but at least the car will still be under warranty for the entire length of the lease. i don't want to have to pay for anything except gas.

when the lease is up i'll have no problem turning the car in. why would i want a 4 year old car with 48,000 miles on it when i can put down $500 again on a brand new one and do the same thing all over again. after all, are you paying for the car to "keep it" or to "drive it"? i got mine to drive.

 

I've never driven a car longer than 4 years (I'm 35 so I've had a few) so I'm a big
fan of leasing. I always get 15K miles on my cars because I drive about 13 to 14K
a year so when it comes time to turn it in I don't have a problem. Also, up front talk to the finance people about not having a termination fee! That way when you turn in your car, if your below milage, you say here it is and where's my new MINI? My MINI is my fourth lease and it's the way for me!!! Maybe they'll have the convertable when I turn this guy in???

 

Buy it!
keep it!
Then get another

 

greatgro-

thanks a lot for your post. hopefully I will go to the dealership next weekend and find out a good plan for me.

minimoterin-

thanks for the tips.

 

I have to add my $0.02 here.

First off, Greatgro has a really good piint about residual vallue. Your best leasing deals will be with high residual values, assuming you don't end up buying the car at the end of the lease.

I'll just use my example of a $25k car (96 Camaro SS) I bought. I financed for 5 years, although I'll admit I did pay it off in about 3 years. Since the car had a crappy residual value the lease and finance payments were identical, even if I had the lease go out to 5 years.

I ended up keeping it for 6.5 years. Assuming that I had taken the full 5 years to pay it off, I still would have had 1.5 years wihout car payments. $500/month x 18 = $9000 into savings. I ended up selling the car for $8500. I now have $17,500 cash. If I had leased the whole time I would have had ZERO equity.

My point is that sure it great to have a car every 3 years but you end up always living with a car payment. Keeping my Camaro SS for 6.5 years allowed up to have enough $$$ to pay cash on the car I have now ('03 Subaru WRX). And now I am saving up to either put a huge downpayemnt on an MCS or pay cash in the next year.

Just food for thought.

 

I also wanted to add that if you lease through BMW financing and you buy additional miles, you get a credit if you don't use all of the miles! So better to overbuy b/c 1) it's cheaper to buy more miles upfront instead of at the end of the lease and 2) you'll get your money back if you don't use all of them.

 

I also long for the days when a car is mine all mine... it's just a good feeling to know that the thing in your driveway is yours, all yours...

But GreatGro.. I could do 20k a year standing on my head... I'd end up trying to budget my miles... that why I buy... because I drive like a serial killer...


Rocketboy_X