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When you lease a car, the contract states the residual value of the car at the end of the term. One of the reasons why leases on luxury vehicles are so popular is due to their historical tendency to depreciate like rocks.
The market ultimately determines the value of the car. You may not want to pay 35% over what the dealership took the car in for, but if the market commands it, then you either wait it out, or, pay the market rate.
In a normal market, the residual would be close to the market value after, say, 3 years and 36,000 miles.
Due to COVID, the whole market became skewed. Hence, if you were used to turning in your $580/mo. lease after 3 years for a new one, that new lease is probably closer to $1,000/mo. As a result, a lot of people simply bought out the car for the residual value rather than pay the now market price for a similar vehicle.
You also can trade the car in or sell it, just like any other, and benefit that way: Residual is $39,000 but the market value is $49,000. $10,000 profit (or, equity toward new car).
That said, BMW and a lot of other manufacturers changed the lease rules during COVID, requiring that you *turn in* the lease to an authorized dealership versus *trading in* the car. Under those circumstances, there's no benefit to the customer.
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