Lease on 3.0si? Is BMWUSA accurate?

[ravenheart]

This thread is spiraling down the drain quickly - so to the OP - the times I've leased BMW's the rate on the site has been a little over the deals I typically get. Biggest difference was when we leased the E53 that will be gone in a few weeks time. The site estimated ~$850 and our payment ended up being $710

As for the whole putting money down thing going on - I think the point has been missed entirely - putting money down is the only way to reduce your payment beyond the lease numbers. Simple fact that.

Lets say that I have a budget of $500 pr month for a lease, but the car I want is $600 pr month. I could put a few grand down and get the monthly payment I want or I could put those money aside and pay the $600 - in one of those cases I would be comfortable spending $100 pr month on beer and chips - guess which? Wrong ... with my car budget busted I would be afraid to touch the rest of the money and I would feel poor. What if my income goes away? Then I have to rely on my parachute which wont be enough to cover the payments - where as if they are small enough, or indeed paid off entirely - I would be all set.

The point here is that if putting money down on a lease makes you more comfortable than making $2.50 more by investing the money - then those money have been well spent. There is more to life than squeezing every penny ... like beer and chips. And don't even get me started on the new car itch which is what leasing is all about for me

[Thunder22]

do this math:

monthly budget is $500, calculated payment is $600 with no money down.
for arguments sake, let's say that the down payment amount to lower the payment to $500 is $5000 up front.

Instead of giving BMWFS the $5000 up front, put the money in a savings account, and draw $100 a month out of it to make up the $100 and pay $600 a month.

The money is always better in your pocket than BMWFS.

1 other thing, any money put down as a down payment is *usually* lost if the car is totaled or stolen etc.

It's just that simple.

[ravenheart]

I understand the mentality behind that - I don't agree with it though. It comes down to what one prefers personally. You don't agree with my point of view and that is perfectly ok - just means that there is still some individuality in the world

[alewifebp]

While it is true that it does come down to what someone personally prefers, doing a large down payment on a leased vehicle extremely rarely makes sense since the risk of losing that capital is high. When leasing, paying more than the absolute minimum amount necessary is putting your money at risk with virtually no benefit.

A very small case can be made for times such as these when interest rates are low and investment opportunities are generating low returns, that the money saved by putting more money down can beat the amount that you would earn by spreading the payments over time and paying the additional interest on those payments. This is a risky endeavor because of the aforementioned risk of losing the car, and your down payment. True, GAP will pay off the rest of the lease payments, but you will still be stuck with the loss of a large wad of cash which you will have no recourse of getting it back. True, a car that gets totaled or declared a loss at the last few payments of a lease will have made yourself some money, but the risk is just too high. And any dealer that will sell you a lease without GAP is certainly a dealer to stay far away from.

If you want to spend some money, put down multiple security deposits. This is money that will earn you no interest, but will lower your payments at a decent clip, and will be refunded to you in the event of a complete loss.

To answer the OP, most car manufacturer web site lease calculators notoriously calculate high payments. This is done so that they don't undermine any dealers that may be applying a "stupid tax" to the lease.