Pull Ahead Lease Program

[Snave01]

I'm closing in on 2.5 years into my 3 year lease and wondering if they still do the pull ahead program and if so, is it dealer dependent? I don't know if that is something I want to do but if it's offered, I'd like it do some homework on what I want next before that time comes. Otherwise, I'll wait until a few months before the lease it up because I'm very under miles and I might benefit from buying out the lease and reselling it.

[Oldgixxer]

Another option would be selling it back to BMW now,instead of doing the pull-ahead;and getting some equity out of it(cash in your pocket) if possible.
Did exactly that with my '22 X3MC in February (lease was ending this September)
and BMW offered me a significant amount over my pay-off so it was a no brainer for me.

You can easily see what the market is for your vehicle by using KBB,Carmax,Carvana,etc value estimators then take that number to your BMW dealer. You can't sell a BMW lease to any of those mentioned above but you will get a ballpark figure to see if you have any equity.

[snowbimmer]

I've done several over the years. Some close to lease end, one a year out and 2 that were 19 months out. Go into your account on the BMW site to get your lease buy out value. This will just be a number on a line that starts at your initial purchase price and meanders on down to your residual value at lease end. Then, like others have said, research the approximate value of your car. Miles are going to be the biggest factor. If you are driving at your lease allowance, the car value and the buyout might be fairly close. But many other factors come in to play, depending on supply, interest rates, demand and for awhile, covid.

You may be in a position to squeeze out some equity because your car is worth more (due to low miles) than the value of where it would be on the depreciation line. If you buy it, you still have to deal with how you will dispose of it. If it's just going to go back to the dealer when you get the new car, they will offer you trade-in value. You might as well just negotiate that value at the time you are negotiating on the new price and skip the buy out. It's all the same. The difference will just be a credit or debit off the new car MSRP. I got a Carmax offer once that was about $4,000 below my lease buy-out - I was at nearly three years worth of miles at 26 months. I got the dealer to buy it out at a higher price. I took a loss there, but got $14,000 off MSRP at the other end on the new car. I had to fly out of state to get it - oh, darn - road trip. A couple of local dealers were only offering between $5,000 and $8,500 off MSRP. My airfare was six bucks using miles. No brainer.

Another time I was offered more than the car should be valued based on the depreciation curve - and I was way over miles at 17 months. The used market was tight at the time. The extra amount I got was about equal to the cost of the Competition option on an M5 and I was able to trade from a Base to an LCI Comp, wipe out 22,000 miles and keep my payment just about the same.

You win some and you lose some. Know your options, know your numbers, know their numbers. If you win great. Savor it. If you're going to lose, how much is it worth it to you? In other words, how bad do you want the car? We've all been there. In the end, if you really really want it and you over pay a few thousand - but it ends up in your garage, you won't care by the end of the week.

Good luck

[Snave01]

Thanks for the replies...I'm familiar with the lease buyout and re-sell the car myself activities as I've done it a few times. My real question was, do they still even do the pull ahead program?

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by Snave01

Thanks for the replies...I'm familiar with the lease buyout and re-sell the car myself activities as I've done it a few times. My real question was, do they still even do the pull ahead program?

I can’t answer your question, but I can tell you I haven’t seen folks posting about doing pull-aheads lately. You would think they would be doing them, since it would give dealers the opportunity to sell the cars for quite a bit more than the residual values. I know used prices have been softening, but I think there is still room above most residual values.

[snowbimmer]

Originally Posted by Snave01

Thanks for the replies...I'm familiar with the lease buyout and re-sell the car myself activities as I've done it a few times. My real question was, do they still even do the pull ahead program?

Maybe it's just semantics, but I think the old Pull Ahead Program would waive up to 5 payments on your current lease and they'd put you into a new one. I believed they discontinued that several years ago. But I have only taken one car to lease end (and then bought it). I've always been able to work out a "Pull Ahead" - a couple in the 19 month range. It might not be as clean as a pure Pull Ahead, because now you're dealing with a car's current buyout value versus the trade in value that the dealer says it's worth. It's worked to my advantage a couple times because the trade in value was higher than the buyout value - a number worth several thousand dollars (put toward the purchase of the new car) that I never would have seen in a pure pull ahead. Of course, it can always go the other way, but then that just gives you a chance to hone your negotiating skills to get them to come down further off of MSRP on the new car.

Call me weird, but I love this shit. A career in finance doesn't hurt, either. I know they are going to win the game. I just want to keep the score close.

Know your numbers. Know THEIR numbers. Always have one foot out the door during negotiations.

[Snave01]

Thanks all. This my first BMW lease in roughly 10 years so wasn't sure if the program still existed or not but I agree, they would be smart to be doing it still as used cars are still fetching good prices. Mine is worth roughly $10k over residual (I barely have 18k mi on it and it's immaculate) so I will likely buy it out at the end and take some profits on it like I did my last lease (Volvo) which I sold for $12k over residual.

[Snave01]

Originally Posted by snowbimmer

Call me weird, but I love this shit. A career in finance doesn't hurt, either. I know they are going to win the game. I just want to keep the score close.

Lol, you sound like my ex who is a financial advisor. She LOVED negotiating so I let her run with it. Now it's on me. I'm not a big negotiator but I do my homework and know when I'm getting a fair deal vs getting bent over and not afraid to walk away.