$2K back from BMW at end of lease

[B-Line]

Let me be clear on this, BMW Financial Services did not give me any money back. I sold my leased vehicle back to a BMW dealership.

I was at the end of my three year lease on my X5M. My buyout was $51k. I noticed that BMW X5M's all over the country were selling for a lot more than than with a lot more miles than I had (approximately $23k miles.)

My car also needed new front tires.

Had I not done a little leg work, even though I was well under miles, had I just turned in my X5M to a BMW dealership, they would have charged me for new tires.

But I knew I had equity in the vehicle so I decided to sell the car to BMW rather than trade it in. I actually sold it cheaper than I should have but I had two private sales fall through and I didn't want to pay registration and possibly even get hit with sales tax during the transition.

But regardless, on I got $2k for giving my leased car back to BMW.

Moral of the story: If your buyout is considerably less than the fair market value of your car, don't just hand it over, sell it back to them.

But don't also get clouded about what you think your car is worth... It's probably worth a lot less than Autotrader would have you believe.