Quote:
Originally Posted by wtwo3
Quote:
Originally Posted by hans007
That said, generally the math works out that leasing and finance tend to break be about equal 3-3.5 years in.
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It's more like 6-8 years for break-even, depending on the car and numbers. Especially for most BMW's it's closer to the 7-8 year mark because the residuals are so inflated in their leases as opposed to the actual residual value of the car if you purchase. |
You're being way too general. You have to crunch the numbers for each deal individually.
In May, the M340i had a $3750 finance credit but only a $2000 lease credit. In my state, you pay taxes on the full price of the car whether you lease or purchase. After accounting for the $925 lease acquisition fee, the final price was $2675 cheaper if I financed instead of leasing. At that time, the special finance APR was actually lower than the equivalent APR of the lease money factor.
When using more realistic residual values (~80% of BMW's inflated residual numbers), I break even a little after 4 years. After 5 years I'm ahead by about $7,000 before subtracting any maintenance costs incurred between year 4 and 5. The longest I expect to keep the car is 5-6 years. I also like to customize the car and not have to worry about any end-of-lease fees.