Car Finance / Dissecting the Deal - How To Spot a Good Lease
Every month, car lease specials are advertised with eye-popping low payments to entice the buying public to put that brand's car keys in their pockets. Sometimes these advertised specials represent a genuinely good deal. In other cases, as we shall see, they are just designed to get the customer into the showroom so the sales staff can practice their up-selling skills.
We will use the BMW 3 SerThe BMW 328i is a vehicle lauded by both the editors at Edmunds.com and consumers alike. Year in and year out, it is heralded as the benchmark for entry-level luxury sport sedans, and it is consistently among the top sellers in the segment.
The 3 Series is also known as being pricey, especially when compared to many of its competitors. While a 328i may start out in the low $30K range, adding in a few desirable options can cause the price to rise considerably. A typical 60-month loan can see a monthly payment soar above $600 per month.
Recently, BMW Financial Services offered what appears to be a fantastic lease deal: a 36-month lease on a 328i for $399 per month, or a little more than half that $600 per month. Wow! For the monthly payment that you might make when financing a Toyota Camry, you could be driving a BMW.
We don't mean to single out BMW as creating misleading advertisements — nearly all carmakers have similar come-ons. But the question remains: Is this lease really the deal it appears to be? Let's find out.
The Lease Details
BMW advertises a monthly payment of $399 per month for 36 months for a BMW 328i sedan with automatic transmission, heated leather seats with memory and Bluetooth. Not loaded, but not a stripper, either. You have to cough up a down payment of $2,500, your first month's payment of $399 and a security deposit of $400 for a total out-of-pocket of $3,299 due at signing (plus the small print items, but we will get to that later).
So, is there a catch? And if so, what is it? Well, there is a catch. In fact, there are four catches. Let's examine each one and see how they change the scope of this car lease deal.
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Inexpensive portable navigation systems and even cheaper smartphone nav applications are making the pricey in-dash systems offered by automakers less attractive to many consumers. But some people prefer in-dash systems because of their larger screens and because they offer more features. Plus, you never have to worry about forgetting an in-dash system at home. Finally, prices for in-dash systems are starting to drop.
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