Leases and negotiating discounts

[rihallix]

I live in the Bay Area. I want to understand if there's a need / benefit to negotiating when leasing a 2017 i3 Rex. They're doing amazing lease rates on 2 year leases of $329 / month (sometimes lower). Normally I negotiate hard, but maybe negotiation is redundant/meaningless with these lease deals?

However when I go to the BMW USA estimate a payment on an i3 Rex if you build a similar lease there I come out with a monthly payment of $650 (downpayment $6k which is a lot for a lease, 12k miles /year).

(1) How do you negotiate on these leases? Normally I would negotiate down the MSRP then the lease rate should naturally descend.

(2) How are these lease rates so absurdly low? Is there a catch? Is it only on certain vehicles? (I'm really after getting the premium sound, do these vehicles still qualify for the absurdly low promotional lease rates)

(3) What discounts have others been able to obtain on i3 Rex's in the Bay Area?

Thanks.

 

[theothertom]

BMW offers the details of their lease in the fine print. Look at that and run your lease calculations. You should get #329/mo (I did).

A good salesperson to talk to in CA is Greg Poland at Pacific BMW. Not in the bay area, but hey, road trips can be a fun adventure in an i3 .

I asked a similar question in the buying an i3 section. See response here:
http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4430

 

[rihallix]

Thanks @theothertom - great insight.

 

[spinball]

In the Bay Area you should easily be able to get an i3 in the $200/mo range. That default offer from BMW is way high, especially when you consider the CVRP you may qualify for. Check out leasehackr.com where some have lucky Californians have even gotten deals in the $100/mo range.

 

[brastic]

When it comes to a lease, you need to look at both the down and the monthly payments. Right now, I am seeing 3 year i3 leases in the Bay Area for between $10,000 and $15,000. Lets just use the cost of the lease to be $12,500. The monthly payments are the cost minus the down payment divided by the term. So if you want a $100 monthly payment. That would be $100 x 36 months or 3,600. The down payment would be $12,500 minus $3,600 or $8,900 down.

I usually call all car leasing a terrible financial deal, but BMW is pretty much giving away the i3s with really low priced leases.