# Lease question



## in_d_haus (Jan 2, 2002)

Reposted from our local board...any ideas for the guy?

_The poor state of my current job situation has been led me to the decision
of planning to go back to college and study for a new career. However, I
simply cannot afford to carry my Z3's monthly payment of $773 for the last
12 months of the lease. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do?

I've already been to the Web site www.swapalease.com and learned that
BMWFS does allow lease transfers (up until the last 6 months, anyway), but
the original lessee is still held liable for the car in case payments are not
made. I spoke to Scot Hall, the Director of Lease Operations at Swapalease,
and he said that in the two years that they have been conducting this
service, no one has defaulted on a transferred lease. This is, apparently,
because companies like BMWFS have to approve the new lessee with the
same thorough credit check I went through in the first place.

This leaves me in a quandary. I need to get out of the lease to go back to school but the risk in doing so seems substantial.

Given all of this, do any of you fellow BMW CCA members have any suggestions for me? 
If you have any ideas for me, I'm all ears. I desperately need help! Thank
you.

Rick _


----------



## Emission (Dec 19, 2001)

Simple, sell the car.

You see, from day one on a lease you have a payoff (in case you want to purchase the vehicle outright). That payoff will be high initially but will go down until it eventually equals the residual value (on the last month of the lease).

Call BMWFS and find out your payoff. Sell the car for $1 more than your payoff (or take a loss) and give BMWFS their money. 

Voila! You are out of your lease. 

E-mail me if you have questions... I have done this many times (and am in the process of selling my leased Volvo early right now).


----------



## ucbsupafly (Jul 29, 2002)

Wow... $773 a month for a lease? What do you have in that Z3? You could've gotten a boxterS for that much..


----------



## Chipster (Dec 23, 2001)

Emission said:


> *
> Call BMWFS and find out your payoff. Sell the car for $1 more than your payoff (or take a loss) and give BMWFS their money.
> 
> Voila! You are out of your lease.
> ...


What about the taxes when you buy out the lease. I was under the impression that if you buy out the lease you have to pay the taxes on the residual. If so, don't you also have to build that cost in to the selling price so you don't get shorted?

Also, how negociable is the residual at the end of the lease? Obviously if BMW takes the car back they will have some expense in preparing the car for sale or they may take a loss at an auction.

What have your experiences been?


----------



## Jon Shafer (Dec 15, 2001)

You don't have to pay the sales tax as long as the car
is paid off and resold (and taxes paid by the new owner)
within a week...


BMWFS does not negotiate off of the contractual
residual value, but the originating dealer might,
assuming they buy the car at maturity...


Is this question referring to a premature buyout
(payoff), or one at lease end??


----------



## Chipster (Dec 23, 2001)

Jon Shafer said:


> *You don't have to pay the sales tax as long as the car
> is paid off and resold (and taxes paid by the new owner)
> within a week...
> 
> ...


Hi Jon,

Thanks for the response. I was asking on my behalf which would be for me to purchase the car at the end of my lease. However, I was also considering selling the car at the end of the lease as it is in very good condition and it may be a way for me to obtain some additional funds to put down on a new car. I'm just thinking about what to do when the time comes.


----------



## in_d_haus (Jan 2, 2002)

Thanks everyone, I'll pass the info off to him. :thumbup:


----------



## Emission (Dec 19, 2001)

BMWFS doesn't do inspections on cars they are not getting back.

Let BMWFS know you are selling to a third party. They are actually very helpful throught the entire process...


----------

