Ordered my first MINI a week ago (dealer recommended this forum to me). Initially, I was given a money factor of .0035 (8.4%) on a 36 month lease. When I told them that sounded high, they ran my credit and because I have good credit (tier I), I ended up at .0032.

Anyone lease recently and have any idea if that rate is competitive or still on the high end?

Thanks.

 

I don't know about the money factor, but tell me the MSRP of the car, the down payment and the monthly payment and I'll tell you whether it is similar to what I was just quoted.

 

Leased about 3 weeks ago, the money factor was 0.0030.

 

Leased mine....

33k msrp
36m/36k
0 down
500/month

 

go to www.minifsoffers.com they have a $0 down lease rate for a cooper S that is about 23500. I think it is $350/month, so since your car is like 10K more, I would expect it to be around 500.

 

MSRP is 25,600

Going to put about $6k down (bonus coming in and would rather put that down now and reduce monthly payments as much as possible)

36m/36k miles

Monthly payment seems about right now at $269 but just checking if that jives with what other people are hearing.

 

Do yourself a favor and do not put money down on a lease. If you happen to get into an accident and your Mini is totalled, your insurance will only cover what the car is worth + what you owe on the car. Your $6000 down payment is not refunded.

You'd be far better off to keep that $6000 in a saving account.

 

If you are considering leasing, consider buying instead. Financially speaking you will come out way ahead in the end every time, unless you have to drive a new car all the time. Check Suze Orman's Lease vs. Buy article in her "Young Broke and Fabulous" book. She does a great job of explaining it there.

 

In terms of lease vs. buy, I'm figuring about $2000 sunk by doing the lease. I get that point. But the $100 a month difference is bigger to me (i.e., with a 2nd kid on the way, I could use the day to day cash flow) and paying over 3 years instead of 5-6 and then moving on to the next new shiny car is more my m.o.

Interesting point on the downpayment. I never thought of that point. The way I see it though, why pay 7-8% interest when I have the cash now and it'll earn 4% max in the bank? I guess the downside in a wreck is the answer.

 

I haven't spoken to a MINI dealer recently, but here are the base rates posted over at roadfly:

2007 Mini Cooper Coupe S
24 Month – Residual 72% of MSRP – .00255 Base Rate
36 Month – Residual 64% of MSRP – .00255 Base Rate
48 Month – Residual 52% of MSRP – .00255 Base Rate

 

I put in an order today and the money factor they gave me blew, it was very similar to yours...0.003xx.

Those base rates posted above seem really low compared to what we can get through MINI and might be a better way to go.

Avoid putting much money down on a lease as it does not reduce your residual, it only reduces your monthly payment, so I think you end up paying more.