I am thinking about trading in my MINI its an 04 with 43K miles. Im getting high up on the miles and I am thinking about an 06 MCS. My car is on a 2 year lease. And I have one year letf on the lease. My car is pretty modded. Would they accept my car in its modded form? Or do i have to return it to stock before I trade it? Does anyone know how leases work?

Thanks.

 

Go to MINIUSA.com, click on Owners Lounge, log in, click Your Money. In the bottom R Corner is a section concerning the end of your lease. This section covers all the things you need to check before returning your MINI. In the "Exterior" section I found this:

Quoting the website:

This is no problem:
Genuine MINI Accessories, purchased from an authorized MINI Dealer.

These could cost you:
Non-MINI aftermarket items that were not removed. Such as fluorescent lights under the car.
Holes left from removal of items.
Any original MINI function or features that were disengaged and then not turned back on.

These will cost you:
Attempts to mimic the Discovery Channel's Monster Garage creations.

Hope this helps answer your question.

Good luck!

 

i'd return it to stock and sell the parts separately

 

well, i kinda dont have my stock suspension and i dont have stock pullie and injectors and airbox and such. also i hacked up my dash in an earlier carputer project.. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=52162
as u can see in that thread... will the dealer really care if this is in there or will i have to replace everything..

 

Uh... generally a bad idea to make any mods to a leased car. After all, a leased cars is really not owned by u but by the leasing agent. You basically are renting. I'd do my best to get it back to stock else expect some pretty major fees on return of the lease. If you are into modding your MINI leasing is a really bad idea!

 

I have to agree, that wasnt the best thing to do, modding your car liek that on a lease.

i think your gonna be stuck to either buying the car out or selling it to a private seller, the dealer might not even take the car!

 

NEVER mod a leased car!!!!! you could be looking at some major $$$$$$$ when you return the car. and with 43,000 miles on it in two years. you are looking at even more $$$$$$. im sorry to say but in this situation you are pretty much at your dealers mercy. def not a place you want to be.

 

Seriously?

 

wow... you were brave to do all that work to someone else's car. I think you may have to buy it and then sell it to a private party with all mods in place.

 

The way I read it, he has put on 43,000 miles in 1 year! As he said he had a 2 year lease and has 1 year left on it.

If you were going to drive it that much, why did you lease? With all the miles and mods you've done, I think you're going to have to buy it and sell it to someone else. Otherwise, you're going to be paying alot in mileage fees and penalties from the mods. Sorry dude, I think you're SOL

 

I would probably see about selling it rather than turning it in. Or keep it, as you would be bent over and violated twice over by the dealer with the car in that condition .

 

Hey ya gotta buy it before changing it. It's not your car, dude. Modding probably wasn't the way to go, as the real owners leased you a stock vehicle and expect that in return. Live and learn.

 

<jumps on pig pile>

You're definitely a candidate for buying out the lease and selling it yourself. They *might* not notice the suspension, but they will notice the airbox and all the visible mods and hit you with ungodly charges. Alternatively spend a bit of time and money getting it back to stock. At that point you'll spend thousands just on mileage charges. (leases generally charge 15-25 cents/mile over 15K/year)

<jumps off pig pile>

 

Dunno what you can do about this situation.

If you can afford to buy the car at the end of the lease it basically doesn't matter how many miles you've clocked or what mods it has since you will then be the legal owner (for the lease duration the car isn't legally yours, you're simply "renting" it from the owner which is the lease company). That way you can sell it ASAP to a private party and pay off some (all) of the loan you used to buy the lease out.

How many miles per annum is your lease (usaully 12 or 15k per year)? I bet you've already exceeded the 2 year allowed mileage and every mile you're now adding is costing you a bundle....the lease company charge exhorbitant amounts for every mile over the agreed term mileage. You will also get raped with charges if you return the car at the end of the lease in a modded state (provided that the lease inspector notices any mods).

 

Talk about kicking a dead horse..... Geez!


OK.. I gotta know... Didn't you understand what a lease meant when u signed the papers? Didn't you understand the terms of a lease?

 

Another classical example as to why people jump into the leasing bandwagon without having a clear understanding on what type of obligations they are getting themselves into.

Leasing, most of the time, only makes sense for business purposes. For the rest of us is mostly a bad idea. Car manufacturers and dealers alike push the idea of leasing new vehicles because they can increase their sales/profits and bring in customers that otherwise would not be able to afford the vehicle under their normal circumstances. Anything that car manufacturers and dealers "Love" you should be always totally and completely weary of

Leasing is the most profitable sales tool available to the auto industry today. A lot of folks are put behind the wheel of vehicles that they otherwise could not possibly afford. This creates a lot of problems, because the "Lease" customer is looking for:

a) An expensive, often fully loaded model that they would not be able to afford in the real world

b) Are "monthly payment" shoppers. If the monthly payment can be worked out into the monthly expenses that's all what is really important.

c) Important factors such as "Money factor", restrictions, penalties, early termination fees, lease end fees, modification clauses, etc, etc are not properly disclosed or worse yet, they are not fully understood by the consumer.

The bitter surprises of leasing usually take place at the end of the contract. Wear and tear charges, excess mileage fees, disposition fees, etc can bring out the grim reality about the true costs of leasing. If you are the type of person that doesn't take care of his/hers vehicles, likes to mod and/or puts out lots of mileage, leasing is not for you!

When you buy or finance a new vehicle, the acquisition costs are paid up up front with the exception of interest on the loan. When you lease a vehicle all costs are accrued AT THE END While lease may have cheaper inceptions and lower monthly payments than traditional financing, the true costs are tacked at the end of the lease term. If lease were favorable to consumers, the auto industry would not be practicing it, period! Auto dealers and financial institutions make tons of money on lease returns, that's where the profits are!

 

Here is another trap of leasing: If you decide to "Trade-in" your current leased vehicle for another new vehicle, we may be able to "waive" most if not all the costs associated with the return of the vehicle to the leasing agent or bank.


Bingo$$$$$!!!!!!

Another sale and guess what.... The poor consumer is back on the never ending payment threadmill!

 

Just take the car to a dealer and offer them a trade deal with your lease car, they like making deals is what makes them money. They'll make you an offer, it may or may not cover the total amount owed on your lease . You would have to come up with the difference or roll it into your new loan, or be a good negotiator . You've already made your financial mistake so you will just be faced with it's full reality . You play you pay, that's just how it is . No worries :impatient . Good luck .

 

[QUOTE=minibrute]Just take the car to a dealer and offer them a trade deal with your lease car, they like making deals is what makes them money. [QUOTE]

Actually it sounds like what he should do is finish out the lease and then buy the car at the end. On at least some of the leases I seen, it's easy to get financing to payout the lease at the end. This will sometimes avoid any mileage fees and certainly the condition fees (modding, damage etc).

Any idea what the residual payout at the end of the lease is? Probably something like $15K I bet (it should be spelled out in your paperwork). The leasing companies goal is to work out the deal so that the residual value is about what the car would be worth used. They factor in the depreciation etc. Obviously they want that number to be more in their favor then yours

 

I have to admit that I'm stunned here.

Did it even occur to you that you were going to have to pay for all this? I mean, the regular mods I can understand, but you hacked up the dash? Of a car you don't even own???

 

Wow, this is so sad. I hate to see someone make a mistake like this, especially a 19 year old kid (see profile). And he is only 10 months into a 24 month lease, not one year. Where the heck he has been driving?

I agree that the best way "out" of this is to buy the lease out at the end. The mileage charges will kill him otherwise. The worst thing he could do is to trade in the car - the dealer will just roll the substantial negative equity over into a new loan. He will be even more upside down than he is now.

This is why leasing is a bad deal for 99.99% of people.

 

People are still piling on this poor guy??? At least he makes for a good example for others on this site! Don't do what this guy did!

 

ehhh, i lease I mod i dont car. i like the cheap payemtns. Told the dealer ALL the Mods made a list for them and to be exact i got 18K$ for the car my payoff was 16,995.00 i put 7 K down and bought a new 2006 330i

 

Please tell me that you did actually buy the BMW, and didn't put $7k down on another lease ?

 

More than likely you will pay. They go over lease returns with a fine tooth comb. Another problem you have is the miles. Most leases are for 12k-15k per year. Unless you prepaid for more miles you will owe dearly.