Did you lease, finance, or?
 

rumors have it 95% of new bmws in socal are being leased
just curious what the choices are these days for the e70
:popcorn:

company cars are certainly leased for the legal benefits.

but private owned? i think leasing is still quite expensive.

Company - Leased.

I've done both.

my current one is leased and the new one comming is personal,

i think that it really does depend on the spec which you choose, leasing is a good option if you dont want to stump up the huge deposit for the vehicle or your looking at loosing it within a business but in doing that the personal tax implications are quite high in the uk.

most lease companies in the UK are offering the X5 at very resionable rates as long as the vehical is relitivly standard, ie leather media pack and metalic, once you start adding the extras over and above that the price snowballs as they just add the option to the lease price and divide it down by the term.. in most cases the deals are currently on the 6+23 option ie 6 payments down and 23 payments over 2 years

i have found the x5 for as little as £510 a month (in a standard form) once i added my spec to this that figure rose to £920 per month over 2 years so doing the math that would work out to a total value of nearly £26,680 (including the 6 payments) over the 2 year term..

after looking at that i seen there was no way the car would depreciate that amount over the 2 years! i think the depreciation will be somewhere in the reagion of 14k ...so in purchasing the vehicle i saw i could have quite a good spec for less money than the leasing company wanted for a basic model.

this is the reason i chose personal this time around ...if it was a 5 year old design the leasing would be a much better option...

Im not sure of the business tax implications in the US and other countires but here it becomming silly !

Totally agree, in the UK anyway. You give enough to the car manufacturer and tax man without giving some finance company your hard earned cash.

This press release from 11/07/07 may be of interest to you:

Land Rover Range Rover Sport Tops October LeaseTrader.Com Index
2007-11-07 10:32 (New York)

Index Monitors Most Popular Lease Vehicles in America

MIAMI, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- LeaseTrader.com, the company that helps
consumers facilitate car lease transfers, announces its monthly Index for
October, with the Land Rover Range Rover Sport topping the list of America's
most preferred leased vehicle.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/...05/CLTU058LOGO )
The Land Rover Range Rover Sport is built on a similar platform based on
the Land Rover 3, but with a revised suspension and a fresh body design. The
Range Rover Sport is best known for its combination of ruggedness, agility and
luxury. The Range Rover Sport is moderately priced, and is also known for
being more comfortable on the road, than off.
"Heading into the colder months of the year, most leasing customers are
starting to make that shift in preference for vehicles that perform better in
the elements," said Sergio Stiberman, CEO and founder of LeaseTrader.com.
"With a stylish look, comfortable interior and powerful handling, the Land
Rover Range Rover Sport became October's most preferred lease vehicle."
LeaseTrader.com publishes a monthly Index of America's most preferred
vehicles for lease transfer. The Index is based off user activity on the Web
site, which includes thousands of today's vehicles in almost every brand, make
and model.
Following are the top-ten most popular transferred lease vehicles in
America during October, according to user activity on LeaseTrader.com:

1. Land Rover Range Rover Sport
2. BMW 3 Series Coupe
3. Mercedes C230 Sports Sedan
4. Infiniti G35 Coupe
5. BMW 5 Series
6. BMW X Series SUV
7. Mercedes R350 Sports Tourer
8. Lexus is 250 Sedan
9. Mercedes E350 Sedan
10. Hummer H3 SUV

About LeaseTrader.com
LeaseTrader.com is an innovative provider of auto lease transfers that
easily and affordably matches people looking to transfer car leases. Available
to users nationwide, the service helps to match individuals looking to get out
of their car lease early, with people looking for short-term leases. Privately
held and founded in 1998, LeaseTrader.com is headquartered in Miami. For more
information visit www.leasetrader.com, or call 800-770-0207.

SOURCE LeaseTrader.com

CONTACT:
John Sternal, Vice President of Marketing Communications, LeaseTrader.com, +1-
786-264-5457 - O, +1-954-592-1201 - C, [email protected]
-0- Nov/07/2007 15:32 GMT

I've paid cash for all three of my X5s - don't see the point in giving money to finance companies for no reason. The only downside is the depreciation but - as said up above - it normally works out cheaper that way in the UK.

off topic mode

you are quite an x5 buyer :) ( looking at your signature)

/end off topic mode

I financed mine, but just got the title a couple of weeks ago...

I paid cash as well. No sense paying finance fees!!!

It's all about personal preference. I'm on my 2nd X5 lease and I love it. New car, new warranty and new car smell every 3 years. I don't consider finance fees a waste of money. It's part of life.

Paying cash for a 70K car does not make sense. Why? As soon as you drive the car off the lot, you start loosing your 70K.

I could take the 70K and invest it aggresively and still make a lot more profit in 3 years than what I would paid for finance fees.

Pay for 70K cash. Then after 3 or 5 years, you start having problems, expensive maintenance, old leather smell and by the time you decide to sell, you're not going to have much to show for your 70K.

So if you think you're actually saving money by paying cash, think again.

But....what works for me might not work for everybody.

The bottom line, it's about loving what you drive everyday, weather a brand new or a 10 year old X5.

Well , I guess it is really a personal preference but I truly doubt that you can earn $13K on a $70K investment in 3 years time (approximately 6% interest) in the current market and I dont care how aggressive the investment is. I know this because I work in Wall Street for 22 yrs now.

For me, I still prefer buying things with cash. I own it and I can use it anyway I want to without any regards to mileage. Besides, I always have the options to keep the X5 past the 3 years without worrying about the payments.
Just my two cents!!!!

I can make 5k PER DAY on 70K, Day trading. If I do margin calls, I make a lot more. Just like what I said, it's not for everybody.

Well even if you finance, you're not going to be borrowing all $70k. I think it came out to less than $2k of interest in an actual ~$20k loan for 36 months or something similar. So you can invest that $20k you didn't use and make up for that $2k interest easily. I'm not a finance guy, but that makes sense to me.

Hell, my money is sitting in an online savings account making 4.89% right now so it wouldn't be a big loss (if at all considering other things) if I had to borrow.

I think most people lease when a car gets to a certain price point or they put a bunch down. I don't think there are too many who only put $10K down on a $70K car and finance the rest for 60 months. I don't like having to think about how many miles I have to drive. And circumstances change and maybe you take a new job that is much further away and there go your miles. I have an '01 X5 with 75K mile on it + 150K mile extended warranty on it---I'd rather pay myself back now for the next 3-4 years compared to someone who always has a lease payment. Everybody has their own reasons lease vs. buy.

paid cash

Financing, when it comes in January.

$20-somethingK down, thanks to the RX330 (if we're lucky)... the rest is for me to wade through.

my savings account earns over 5% and my investments have been earning 30+% over the last 4 years.

it's your money and you do what you want to, but paying 70k cash for a bimmer is simply dumb. money should be making money. even a monkey should be doing better than 6%

In the uk you pay tax on bank interest and capital gains at 40% (if you are an upper rate tax payer), making the whole investing thing a lot more marginal. I did a full cost analysis including the depreciation and what I would be likely to gain through investing and it still worked out cheaper to pay cash.

I don't have the time to actively manage my investments to make 5k a day. Wish I had!

I will be financing, I will be putting half the amount down, with my X5 and 330 they were used so I paid cash for both.

Well, economically, having a $70k vehicle itself is dumb, via whatever means.

If you have well enough cash to cover the vehicle cost, why go through finances, bank liens, etc?

Like you want to drive the "Ultimate Driving Machine", don't you want to just have the good feelinig of

"I own this BMW, It's MINE!!!"

To earn 30+% per year for your cash, I don't know about you, but I would need to watch them every minutes, and that's not without risk of losing everything...

That's a skill and labor too... Like a second job....

Your money do not make money by itself.

Yes, It is simply dumb if you do not have the money to pay cash for it!!! Yes, 6% earnings is a very conservative earnings on an investment that will not turn your principal to naught!

Savings account with over 5% interest? That is way over too good to be true!!! Maybe you can share a bank now who can pay me over 5% on my savings and I move my money right away.

Investment earnings 30% over 4 years? C'mon now, You must be doing insider trading or trading in Options and Commodities to have such an earning. C'mon do you really think your number is realistic? Look at your investment now and tell me with the current market if you made money this week.