RayM

I seem to remember reading on here that if you lease a BMW or Mercedes they will take into account your UK credit record. Has anyone got any experience of leasing a BMW or Mercedes without a US credit record. Are the costs reasonable? or do you get ripped off with a huge interest rate?

Bob

Not a immigration question this...plus it's come up loads in the US forums and yes, people have mentioned BMW as well as VW and some of their global leasing programs.

By it's nature though, leasing is a rip off to all but a small majority anyway.

RayM

Well, buying any new car ends up being a rip off. The figures I've see from BMW for the car I want are very competitive with out right purchase. I've leased cars in the UK and always found it a great way of having a new car every 3 cars. You know all the figures in advance and no nasty surprises and the end of the lease.
Anyway I found the info I was looking for so this thread can be closed.

Awesome Welles

This is a joke, right?

RayM

Unless I've missed something there aren't. The lease states how much it costs to buy the vehicle, if you want to. It also outlines costs for extra mileage, if you do any. Plus you know the car has to be returned in good condition or you get charged for repairs.
I guess if you hand back a lease car that has excess miles, body work damage or interior damage then you'll pay for it!

Wibblypig

Hi Ray,

As you are in the US company's such as International Autosource aren't going to be able to help, but you could try going directly to the car manufacturers, I know when we were looking a few months back there were a lot who offered expat programmes such as VW, Ford and BMW, we enquired and they just said go into your local dealer once over and they should be able to sort it out. In the end we decided to get a car through International Autosource before we came over as we wanted it asap and also went for a Ford as it was so cheap, $300 a month for a top spec Escape.

What happened to your Ford F150? I remember you saying you had bought one and it was sitting waiting in your garage.... made my hubby jealous as he wants a truck

Vicki

RayM

Looks like I'm sorted with BMW, they've been very helpful. The truck is great (an F150 FX4) and really useful but not much fun to drive on road. It's great for moving stuff and off-road fishing trips. I guess it will also be useful once the snow starts.
I always intended to get a car as well once I was settled.
BTW - The F150 looks big and tough but we discovered it isn't. My partner was driving and hit a deer! Repair bill was $9000 of which her insurance paid all but $500.

Karen68

Don't underestimate a deer impact - I have a friend whose Land Cruiser was written off by one and another who had the front of her Yukon severely mangled by an unexpected encounter. There's loads of them around here but some of them definitely have road sense! I was driving back from school a couple of weeks ago and a buck sauntered up to the side of the road, had a look around and trotted away back from whence he came.

Bob

What's the mileage limit? Usually on the standard unless you ask for more is a pittance at 12K if you're lucky.

BIL, who only has a 10 mile round trip for work thought he'd be set with that...adding in things like grocery shop, the odd trip away for the weekend etc...he's basically had to use his girlfriends car for the last 2 months so he doesn't go over as the overages are horrid.

Also and I guess this depends if you live in a city or not, or in a cold place...but the car will get dinged. Scuffed bumper or the rail of the door from someone else. It is inevitable and a respray job won't be cheap....oh and in a cold place, those logo's wear down and lose their colour and you'll have to replace them, which ain't cheap, unless you knick one from someone elses car

Doesn't do anything for your credit history either, which is the big one in favour of buying a car with a small loan. Lease will only show on your history if you have late payments, but won't if you pay on time.

Karen68

Ray,

Does it snow much where you live? I ask only as most BMWs are rear wheel drive aren't they, and I have seen them really struggle for traction on the snow. One of the highlights of our drive up from Heathrow in the snow last Christmas was watching some BMW driver going absolutely nowhere despite his best efforts. Can you get 4 wd?

Bob, yes, cars do get dinged - some b*****d opened their car door so hard into mine last week that it got two good little dents and had some of the paintwork taken off. Aaargh. And it is leased, but I am going to buy the lease out so not as ticked off as I would have been if I was going to turn it back in and have to pay to get it fixed.

RayM

Mileage limit is 12k which will be fine. I work at home and business trips are plane and hire car. I already have a 4WD truck to split the mileage and to get around in winter.
I live about 25 miles outside the city and there's plenty of parking at the mall and as long as I walk a few yards I can avoid parking near other cars. Even if I bought the car I'd still risk dings and so on and have to get them repaired.
I'm not too worried about a credit record, I've already got a couple of credit cards to start building it.

Bob

If you owned it, you wouldn't bother get it taken care of though, it's just the cost of owning a car, but you don't have the choice with a lease.

I know what you mean about parking aways away from other people...but they'll still find a way because you can't always park in the ozarks

Good luck with it though

dakota44

Leasing has positives and negatives. A normal misconception is that if you drive high mileage, don't lease. Wrong advice usually. Most leases do not depreciate the car enough for high mileage. But that does not mean that you take a standard mileage lease and drive all you want. It means be realistic and buy the extra mileage you need and make the higher payment.

On a two year lease, which is all you should do with high mileage, you come out ahead over the depreciation if you had bought the car and financed it for 5 years. If you are a cash buyer, you can still come out ahead with a lease. The people who get into trouble are the ones who go for the low mileage lease to get a low payment and then end up in the shit at the end. Buying a car on a 5 year loan and then putting 40 or 50 thousand a year on it depreciates it like a stone. Forget trading it in without the value being far less than the payout. I cannot count the number of people who tried to trade a three year old vehicle with high mileage only to discover that it was worth half what they owed on it. Keep it for 5 years to get it payed off and deal with the repair bills and additional maintenance that goes hand in hand with high mileage vehicles out of warranty.

As for wear and tear and damage, reasonable wear and tear is expected and not punishable. When I was with Ford we had a little card that allowed us to measure the size of dings and dents (the parking lot kind) and if they were in tolerance and within the number permitted per body panel, no charge. Tires had to have a certain amount of tread remaining. Toyota was similar. Ford also had a plan that you could buy that covered any excess damage. It was a reasonable price and well worth it to a high mileage hard use driver. Certainly worth it if you have kids that tend to cause damage.

I have seen vehicles returned that were an absolute shambles. No attempt to keep them even clean, filthy seats and carpets, stains, rips etc, bald tires, broken windshield and then the fool has the nerve to be offended because he has to pay for it. No sympathy for them. We used to go out and look at the car the client was driving to get an idea how they took care of it. If it was a wreck, no way we lease to them because we did not want the fight at the end.

End of lease surprises are only nasty if you fail to consider your responsibilities.

semonbutler

sorry i have no experience of leasing a BMW or Mercedes without a US credit record.

lj2

YMMV but I returned my car to Ford, with a smashed in front wing, and had no repair bill at all.

So, it's not like they are all out to try and make a quick buck from any bump or ding....