My lease ends in June and I have driven approx. 35K kms less than what I pay for.
BMW Financial Services has already reached out to me asking what my plans are i.e. buy, hand back, or extend contract.
Isn't the customer the first one who contractually gets to decide whether or not he/she wants to buy the car at the end of the lease (rather than the garage)?
Depends on the contract. That's the whole point of this thread!
BMW/Mercedes/AMAG are going to play fair as they don't need the hassle/bad publicity/lack of repeat business. Uli's back street motors selling 2nd hand cars can have a different view. I know a guy who had exactly this issue on a second hand Nissan GT-R.
I think that's a shitty garage that doesn't care for long term business.
I am in the process of buying out one of my leases, the car is worth 40+ worst case, residual is something like 20. The garage is a reputable seller and is looking for repeat customers, had no issue with me buying out.
I don't think this is unique to Cembra, BMW Financial Services is the same as said from others, and also from my personal experience.
Definitely something to consider in case of small-time garages, but for established vendors it should not be an issue.
Leasing is a financing tool, a great one for new cars and a not so great one for second hand purchases. The fact that this stipulation exists by default in the contracts just shows how Swiss businesses are used to eating their cake and eating too.
You are missing the point, Switzerland has for many what seems to be strange approach they assume you read the contracts you sign and that you will act in your own best interests. Therefore they are light on consumer protection in these areas.
So as we keep telling people here, read the contact through and make sure you understand the terms before you sign up because trying to roll it back later is often very difficult.
I'm not trying to get to the discussion of "read the contract and don't assume".
I don't think we disagree there.
My main issue is the fact that this is a standard clause in swiss leasing contracts, where in other places first refusal is always with the buyer. That means that while a "normal" leasing contract (i.e. a contract anywhere else) would protect you and give a max loss at the agreed residual, in this beautiful country that protection is not the same. Here if all garages were exercising their right whenever it suited them, you would had a fixed loss, and it would always be a loss even if the car for some magical reason appreciated. Hence my comment.
I leased my car from BMW and when the lease expired paid the residual value no questions asked. The car is mine, and yes maybe worth a little more than 10K I paid for it.
Maybe talk to some franchise dealers next time...I am guessing this was a local garage.
We also leased through the Ford dealer, and it was no problem to keep the car.
Tom
My previous lease was with Cembra and near the end of the lease, I got a letter from Cembra asking me what I would like to do (give the car back or pay the residual).
Since the contract is between me and Cembra, my expectation is that Cembra contacts me first. If I decide to return the car, only then will the garage be involved no?
Looking at the post that I quoted, BMW isn’t always playing fair (although this is not my personal experience).
Exactly. I guess it’s a no brainer for 99% of the people to read before you sign. No need to discuss or challenge that here.