i just ordered a mcs and i'm doing mini select financing. its basically like making a lease payment for 3 years and then i will probably pay off the balance at the end or refi it. from what ive been hearing the resale value is really good on the car and i do put alot of miles on my car. so a regular lease probably wont work out for me. since mini select you are actually buying the car the mileage wont matter plus i can mod it as i please.

the main benefit for using miniselce is, in NJ you have to pay sales tax on the car when you initially lease the vehicle, plus if you buy it at the end of the lease, you have to pay the tax again. i found that out the hard way from my last car which i leased and put an extra 30000 miles on. since its not a lease, at the end I just have to figure out how to pay off the balance, because the vehicle was a sale. The state of NJ is always looking for a way to scam their residents, and they found one because when you lease a car, the vehicle is registered to and titled to the leasing company. and then you are buying it from the leasing company and its considered another sale, and the sales tax has to be paid again and retitled, and reregistered.

The main disadvantage to mini select is that it is generally a higher finance rate then a traditional finance.

 

Please post any other lease deals that you've gotten.

 

I just ordered a Cooper S and plan on doing MINI Select and live in NJ. I'm choosing the Mini Select for the same reasons you listed above (mileage, modding, etc) When I signed the papers they did include the 7% sales tax...I'm confused...at what point are you paying the tax for the mini select?

Thanks,
Steve

 

Too late to worry, but I think I did OK. Local leasing company.

08 MCS $25,950 sticker. Free tint, wheel upgrade, stripes.

48 month- 48,000 miles- $433 month w/ $433 (1st month) out of pocket at signing.

If you have a better deal I am glad....but don't rub it in.

$90 something per month is what I think they are making. Sounds like a lot now .

I am logging off.

 

I still haven't heard anything about may lease rates. usually, by now, lease rates are all over the internet. does anyone know?

 

I saw my dealer a few days ago. The residual went up by 1% and the MF stayed the same.

In April, my terms were 75%, 0.00230 on a 2yr/10k lease.

EDIT: CooperS if you couldn't guess from the sig....

John.

 

thanks, John. Did your dealer use the base MF or did s/he mark it up?

 

You know, that I don't quite know - it's not as published as the BMW rates. It also seems that there are regional rates in use which complicates things further. I do know that I came out as excellent (top tier) credit.

I did do multiple security deposits. My final figures were $389 on a $26,150 vehicle, zero down apart from multiple securities, first month and licence.

John.

 

I wouldn't think a company whose net profit last year was $5 billion would be hurting. Even though the US is its largest export market, BMW is charging way higher prices in other foreign markets compared to the prices we pay for cars we buy here.

 

BMW Financial Services is hurting a little. On the BMW cars they have been hit by over-optimistic residual values. Having said that, I would imagine that they do make some of that back by CPOing some of the better cars.

To get a good lease on a BMW product, you have to know how to work the system (read: negotiation skills and using multiple security deposits). There are arguments both ways on which is better between leasing and buying. Ultimately if you keep your car beyond a 3 year period, you're probably better buying (or financing). If you like a new car every 2-3 years (or you have good intentions to keep a car for 10 years but get tempted after 3 years), leasing may be a better option.

Personally, I like leasing as long as I can find the right deal. I'm usually looking for a new car every 2-3 years and I like the fact that I don't have to worry about trade in values - and BMW is taking the risk on the depreciation front.

I think the Mini leases reasonably well compared to a VW Golf GTI for example. One thing that helps the Mini is strong residual values (supported by the fact that the residual went up this month!).

Cheers,

John.

 

Maybe I need to reconsider the lease option... I saw the $600 per month estimate for a 2yr/10k lease on the Mini website for a $27K car and freaked out. If I can get payments under $400 per month with little $ down, i'd really have to consider it. I tend to get the new car itch every 3 years or so but when I drove the mini (very fun test drive), I had a blast so leasing would have to be much cheaper per month than purchasing outright for me to consider it.

 

Ignore the configurator. Go and see a dealer. Tell him the following:

2yr, 10k lease
$27,000 MSRP (and selling price)

According to my dealer, the residual should be 76%. Ask what Money Factor (MF) you're being charged (they may quote a high figure until they run your credit). If you think you have excellent credit, ask the dealer what the best MF you'll get will be.

Ask what the Lease Aq fee is - can be as low as $625 or marked up to $825.

State that you want to do multiple security deposits if possible (this means you can give up to 7 security deposits to BMW to lower the rate by 0.0004 per deposit). The nice thing about this is that unlike cap cost reduction, MSDs are refunded if the car is declared a total loss while you're leasing. This makes it a much better option than doing cap cost reduction.

Ask what the dealer doc fees are.

Roll all fees/tax into the lease - out the door, you only want to be paying the first month and the security deposits and title. If you're not a current BMW FS lessee you'll need one more security deposit (total of 8).

Ask what title/licence fees are.

You also need to know how tax is treated in your state on leases.

On NJ tax rules using max MSDs , I have a $27k car at about $435/month with a $349 dealer doc fee and max lease aquisition fee using 76% residual and MF of 0.00230 before MSDs. Drop the dealer doc fees and lease aquisition to $50 and $625 and that number drops to $415ish.

Hope that helps.

John.

 

For a Mini Cooper
no packages, automatic transmission, rubber mats

i just signed for a 36 month lease, 12k miles a year
1100 down ( includes dmv, sec deposit and 1st months payment)
249 a month

 

Thanks for the help, John... I think I will swing by the dealer because if I can get a 2 or 3 year / 12K lease for <$400 per month. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until later this year since with only $1K down, our payments were going to be ~ $580 per month.

 

The lease tax in NJ is the proportion of the car that you use. If the residual value is 75% after two years, your tax would be the sales tax on 25% of the car's value, either paid up-front or split over the lease payments (effectively financed).

John.