I was wondering if anyone could shed a little light on this.


I will be leasing my MCS when it comes ashore. I plan on doing a decient amount of modifications since I will mostly likely be purchasing the vehicle after the lease is over with. Will they charge me for correcting the modifications if I purchase the car after the leas is up?

 

As far as I know, if you return the car after the lease is over, it needs to be in original condition minus normal wear and tear.

If you plan on keeping it, mod away.....

 

I would say no. I leased my first MINI via BMW financial and purchased prior to lease end and they never even saw the car. The entire deal was handled via mail and phone. I have an acquaintance that leased a MINI, modded it for the track, tracked it for two years and then put all the stock parts back on and turned it in at lease end. Low miles and no extra charges.

 

Why lease if you plan on buying anyway? Take out a 60 month loan instead if you are leasing to keep the payments down. You could get screwed if you end up needing to turn in a modified car to the leasing company.

 

I wouldn't be able to afford the car on a 60 month even, the fact is i am unable to put much money down about 4k which my payment will be at least 500...not to mention over 5000 bucks in intrest over those 60 months. Once the lease is up ill be in a much better monatary situation anyway so it will just be easier.

 

Keep in mind that you will be paying a lot more for the car by leasing it now and then purchasing it (and financing the balance I'm assuming) when the lease is up. And you are still paying interest now with lease payments just like you would if traditional financing. I would take out a 5 year loan - or even 6 if you MUST, and put some of that mod money towards the higher payments. Did you mean that you are putting $4,000 cap cost reduction on your lease? If so, I would highly recommend against that as well... keep that in the bank and dip into that each month to make the higher lease payments. If your Mini were misfortunately declared a total loss during the lease, you'd only be held accountable for the payments made up until that point. GAP insurance would cover the rest. Making that $4,000 payment upfront would be $4,000 lost, that the GAP insurance would have paid.

 

very good point. hadn't thought about that.

4k driveoff would drastically lower a lease payment though.

 

I recommend looking at this site if you are interested in leasing - lot of good info even if you don't purchase their lease guide.
www.leaseguide.com/index2.htm

 

Yes, it would, but in this scenerio, you wouldn't be any worse off financially by keeping the four grand in the bank and sucking up a higher lease payment. It's just a mental thing

 

damn this sucks :/... what sort of financing will i be facing at the end of lease?

also thatshot, should i put any money down upfront?

 

If I were you... I'd finance for 5 years and put the mod money towards those payments. I see that you've already ordered the vehicle so there's no way you could cut back on the options now. What's so bad about a stock MCS?

 

Im leasing but turning it in after 3 years then financing another MINI.. They will work out the kinks by then and I will mod away.

 

well i dont have any mod money just money i would get from my MR2 i will sell, thats what i was putting down on the lease. probably about 4k-4.5k

my car after tax is about $31,000

 

This will be the most unpopular suggestion. Wait until you can afford the payments. It's the "what if" varible that messes everything up. Make monthy "payments" to a special bank account, mine was called "New Car Fund or Fix the POS I Have" account. That way you will know what your budget can really handle. Most of the posters have, or at least seem to have, a lot more expendible income than I have. Being practial is not a bad thing.

Leases are generally not a good idea. I see it like the boat owners favorite saying, "There are two great days in boat owners life, the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it. Each day in between is a day of shovleing money into the water."

 

perhaps

well if i can come up with another grand or so hmmm a 60 month finance might work out just fine and dandy

 

The financing you will get at the end of the lease will depend on the current market at that point and your credit. That could vary drastically (for the better or the worse) from what you may be able to get right now. In your situation, I would advise against putting any money upfront, whether you lease or finance. Certainly not if you are leasing, and not particularly if you are financing. Depending on your interest rate, your payment will only lower by $20-25 (roughly) for every $1,000 put upfront.

I would pocket the $4,000-4,500.

Assuming your vehicle is exactly $31,000, before tax, title, and license fees, and with an optimistic APR of 6.9% for 60 months, your payment would be $612.37. That $4,000 will take care of the first six months.

Edit: I just realized that you said the $31,000 was AFTER taxes. That puts you in a better situation since based on my calculations, you would have had to come up with that sum and put that much upfront or roll that into the payments making them even higher.

 

sixblade, what payment are you comfortable with? Putting $4,000 upfront will lower your payment by roughly $100, but almost definitely still be over the $500 mark.

 

Twisting the topic off a bit.. I am only putting my current car trade in down and paying the monthly payments for lease for the 3 years I'm going for.. I actually have cash saved up but I am doing this only due to the model year. I can easily do financing now but prefer the lease for 3 years (maitenance warranty length) just because of that..

 

Leasing works for some. But I still strongly advise against putting any substantial amount upfront on a lease for the aforementioned reason.

 

Noone mentioned the MINI Select (or simuliar ballon payment loan) as a viable option of keeping payments low for the first few years and then deal with a larger payment later (refinancing) or sell the car and keep the difference in the residual. It isn't like MINi has a bad resale value. This seems like the best of both worlds.

 

exactly.. Thats why I refuse to put cash down.. I calculated it and if I put $2500 cash down and had a $2500 trade ontop of that.. I would lose $800 over the next 3 years compared to just making the higher payments wtih a $2500 trade in with 0 cash down..



designerMINI: We have Owners Choice in Texas as another leasing option.. The configurator actually has it cheaper then traditional leasing for my car but the dealer then added in TT&L and Gap insurance.. and Owners Choice skyrocketed 150$+ each month more then regular leasing..

 

how could you possibly lose money? You'd save money vs the interest rate. the only real downside to putting money down would be in the case of a total loss.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that Mini Select was only available in... select states. I read a little into it before, and I thought that MD was not a participating state.

 

It appears that you want to finance 27K. If you shop around, you might be able to get the loan @ 6% which amounts to a monthly payment of about $447 over 6 years. My credit union is offering me 5.25% for a 4yr loan for my new MCS which is reaching the NY port tomorrow.

Also, you will probably save on gas money as the R56 has better gas mileage than the MR2.

 

I actually recalculated it and its only a $200.00 savings or so.. Its just because the interest for 3 years doesnt actually equal up to or more then $2500.00 so I save a few hundred.. But nothing drastic..

Total loss is another thing as well ...