Leasi3 said:
alohart said:
For those of us in that situation, especially if we don't want to make monthly payments, there's good reason to buy and not lease.
There really isn't.
Sure there is. I bought a new Porsche 914-6 in 1971 and sold it in 1989. I bought a used VW bus in 1980 and sold it in 1997. Our other current car is a Honda Insight that we've owned for 13 years despite much more capable hybrids being available since. So we tend to keep cars for much longer than average. Depreciation has little importance to us because of this.
Our Insight depreciated rapidly when it was new, but that is a pure paper loss until one sells. By now, our Insight isn't depreciating noticeably, and it remains reliable, so we have no reason to sell it. Had we leased it and turned it in after the lease because the residual was much higher than its used car value, we would have had a very difficult time finding a replacement in as good a condition as ours. I'm guessing that the same will be true for our i3 because we live in a relatively small, very isolated market, Honolulu. There will likely not be as many used i3's available here as in most markets. Buying one in a neighboring state and shipping it here would be expensive and a PITA. Frankly, I'd rather keep a car whose past I know rather than buying a used one whose past I don't know. That has value to me.
If a car performs well, I don't sell it just because there's something out there that might be "better". So if our i3 continues performing well and satisfying our needs, we won't sell it for many years.
Leasi3 said:
The numbers are totally on the side of leasing then making the decision to buy or not in the future.
At the end of the lease if you still want to own a 2014/15 i3, go right ahead and buy one on the open market for a price $10,000 to $15,000 below the residual. Exploiting the wildly misplaced option built into the residual gives you a far lower cost of transportation now and a chance to bail when the car doesn't hold its value.
For some of us, pure numbers aren't the only consideration. If I was purely driven by numbers, I wouldn't buy or lease a BMW but would stick with much less expensive Japanese cars whose reliability and total cost of ownership are much less. But when I believe in supporting a new technology in hopes of helping to make it popular, I don't mind paying the price even though the numbers might not make sense to those for whom the numbers are paramount. In the case of the i3 and the Insight, I am supporting the light-weighting of cars and the reduction in the dependence on ICE's via novel drivetrain technologies.
Leasi3 said:
Don't like payments? Do a single-pay lease and cover all the payments up front. You're still better off not owning something that will depreciate to a price far below the artificially inflated residuals that BMWFS is offering on i3s. Cars are fungible, go ahead and buy a replacement after the lease.
Apparently, cars aren't as fungible to me as to you.
Also, I want to own our car. I don't want to ask for permission to make modifications or worry about whether I'll have to reverse the modifications or pay a penalty when I turn in the car at the end of the lease. I don't want to have to repair minor cosmetic damage for fear that I will be charged exorbitantly for it when I return the car. We don't drive much, so I don't want to be insulted by the paltry credit usually given for miles not driven at the end of the lease. I just want to be as free of BMW and its leasing company as possible.
So, for some of us, there are compelling reasons for buying versus leasing.
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