[pronzie]

Hi All,

I've justed put a deposit down for a 335i, but was wondering if anyone had an Idiot's Guide To Leasing? Been reading some posts in this excellent forum, but am baffled by some of the terminology: paying over invoice, cap costs, residual, MF, downpayments, etc.

Does anyone have any advice for us newbies so we don't end up overpaying?

Cheers

[canucklion]

you'll find the "search" function of this forum to be very useful, there have been countless threads covering the pros/cons of leasing vs. financing. Have a read through them. Keywords to use "leasing", "lease", "residual"...etc...etc

[Carnage]

Go here....http://www.leaseguide.com/

[BrunoS]

This is a good website for the basics:

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/lease.htm

Currently BMW Finance offers leases that are not very good. They are about the same as you would get from a bank.

www.leasecompare.com is an alternative to BMW finance that may have better deals.

Consumer Reports, has really good info on both buying and leasing. For $10 bucks you get the dealer invoice on the base and all extras as well as detailed instructions on how to negotiate both a purchase and a lease.

I've used it for my last four vehicle purchases and I've never paid more $300 over invoice. The best I could do last September on my E90, however, was $1000 over invoice. I could have done better if I had spent more time, but was happy with the deal anyway.

One hard and fast rule of thumb, never negotiate down from the sticker price. Always negotiate up from dealer invoice.

Oh, and one other: Never discuss any trade-in you may have until you've finalized your deal. Don't bring it up, don't even acknowledge you have one until your deal is finalized, period.

[pronzie]

thanks everyone, great tips (as always)

[teodulog]

Try the "Ask A Dealer" section of bimmerfest.com