I'd like to hear from anyone who has used the MINI Select leasing program.

Also, I'd like to get opinions as to whether it's better to lease upfront & buy at the end or buy upfront.

All pros/cons welcomed because I'm sooooo confused!

 

Lease/buy is almost always going to be more expensive in the end than straight financing if you plan to keep the car. It essentially back loads the cost of the car while providing lower monthly payments.

 

+1 if you lease, dont buy it at the end. buy it upfront.

if you lease, don't do downpayments and aim for shortest term.

 

Hi Friend,
I can't tell you about financing through MINI. My local bank was able to cut me a better interest rate at the time of my purchase. BUT, when it comes to leasing versus buying, I m probably able to help with that.

Leasing advantages.
1) If you're going to lease a new car and you think you only want to keep it for a very short period of time (1-3 years) then you should probably lease it. MINI's maintain their value really well, so the short-term lease is a little less brilliant if you're buying a MINI as opposed to some american brand like a Ford.
2) Lease payments are typically significantly lower than purchase payments.
3) You can walk away from a lease at the end of the term and owe nothing.
4) Lease terms can be oftentimes be negotiated (many people don't know this).

Purchasing advantages
1) If you purchase, then the car is YOURS. You can mod it, you can put 50k miles on it a year or whatever you want. Payments are typically higher, but in turn for the larger payment, you also get equity in your car as you pay (the nature of a lease by contrast is that you NEVER get any equity).
2) If you want to keep the car for say 3-5 years then a purchase makes more sense. After you get through paying for it, it's yours and it's still worth a lot of money. Just look at residual values of 2002 and 2003 MINI's.
3) MINI's make good sense to purchase because they retain so much of their value. If you were to lease, you might pay for 3 years and then be basically forced to buy a new car because the residual of your old car is still too high.
4) Once you're in an equity position (with a MINI, probably after a year or two of paying). Then you can sell your car if you want to and still have enough equity for a decent downpayment on a new car.


Look at the math. I'm making these numbers up, but they're probably pretty close.
Buy a new MINI for $21k, pay for 5 years at $350/mo
After you buy the MINI for $350/mo 3 years you will have spent $12,600
Your MINI will still be worth approx $15-$17k and you'll be in a good equity position in the car. You will owe probably around $11k on the car now.

Lease a new MINI for 3 years and pay $225/mo
After you lease the MINI for $225/mo for 3 years you will have spent $8,100.
Your MINI will still be worth approx $15-17k and you'll have no ownership of it. If at this time you elect to buy the car, you'd be smarter to buy a new one at an initial cost of $21k than buy your old one at $17k.

I hope I didn't confuse you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
POWER to the MINI's!
JQ