[Tondtar]

Originally Posted by Freakazoid

to a point, but the residual can fluctuate in either direction (the $4k number makes me want to definitely agree with you). A good example is the 135i vs the 335i. The 135i residual ended up dropping more than they anticipated....thus there's no way in hell you would get a check.
I'm not sure how the 335i held up, but if it depreciated in the market slower than anticipated by the residual, then you would get a check.

Yeah, residual value is just a number. Dealers/ finance companies always claim that it's mandated by certain national or "industry expert" guidelines they have to abide by but the fact is that they can put any number on the lease contract. It all depends on how badly they want you to sign the deal. BMW's historically have High Residual values compared to other cars because their resale value is always among the best. This has become even more so in the past few years since their base prices have gone up drastically and there are a long line of consumers who can not afford buying a new BMW but would love to snatch a good, more affordable deal on one as soon it comes off lease or is traded in by the original buyer.

Originally Posted by NYCGarbagePrince

Ton you are right. But this is the EXACT reason you get GAP insurance. Say he leases the car and goes and picks it up. As soon as he leaves the lot the car is instantly a used car and therefore worth less. Well during the next few months the owner/leasee is in a critical stage where the car's value has dropped the largest amount in the shortest amount of time that it will during the ownership of the vehicle. Before GAP coverage, if the car was totaled during this period, the owner/leasee was "effed in the A".

Agree 100% ...Gap insurance in any lease agreement is always a MUST. I can't believe anyone who may think it's an unnecessary extra expense. It takes only one incident like the one you mentioned above to get screwed over royally and learn a very big and expensive lesson.

[FStop7]

Cash the check, stuff the bills down your pants. If GEICO calls asking for the money, tell them they can have it but they have to reach in and grab it.

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by NYCGarbagePrince

This is why you get GAP insurance on a leased car. How do people lease cars and not know this? It is your protection when the car is leased, just in case the car is totaled and you owe more on the car than it is worth. What you were paid was the difference in what the GAP coverage owed you and the amount BMWFS required to fulfill the debt. Even if the car is leased you still financially obligated to BMWFS if the car is totaled. Your insurance covered majority of the nut, and what was left was covered by GAP insurance, which you obviously had. It is normally used to cover the deductible.

It's your money.

Ding Ding Ding....

I even got it on my purchased car cause the finance rate was so low, i went in with nothing down. GAP made lots of sense there.

[MoreCowbell]

OP here....

BMWFS always provides GAP insurance in their leases, that was my understanding.

As far as the thought that I had been "had" on the lease deal for that X5...just the opposite. It was a deal for 300 bucks over invoice + a 3000 incentive(applied as a cap-cost reduction) in December of 2008 when these cars weren't moving at all.

I was paying 808 with nothing out of pocket for a loaded 8 cylinder X5.

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by MoreCowbell

OP here....

BMWFS always provides GAP insurance in their leases, that was my understanding.

As far as the thought that I had been "had" on the lease deal for that X5...just the opposite. It was a deal for 300 bucks over invoice + a 3000 incentive(applied as a cap-cost reduction) in December of 2008 when these cars weren't moving at all.

I was paying 808 with nothing out of pocket for a loaded 8 cylinder X5.

you're right, I think ALL leases provide GAP.

I don't think anyone was implying that you were stupid or did anything incorrectly, more trying to offset the people that were saying it was in error, or that the money didn't belong to you directly .
Doing some quick math, if you got it loaded at roughly invoice, that means you got it at probably ~63k. If you got a 3k cap cost reduction, plus 800 a month for say 24 months....means you've put 'into' it a total of roughly 22.5k.
Used 2009s with lease miles seem to be selling for about 45k or. so 63k-22.5k= 40.5k. 45k-40.5k = 4.5k difference or 'equity'...ie what would be given to you.

These are all rough numbers, not including interest, and all the other fun stuff.... but just to give you an idea of where that 4k came from. You definitely made out in the deal either way though if you truly paid nothing down and didn't trade anything in.

No matter either way, in the end all ended well, and you were safe from the accident. All this other shit doesn't really matter

[1speedbike]

When I damaged my car, Geico paid for my repairs. I purchased my own CF hood to replace my OEM hood with and then I was awarded the money Geico supplied the body shop with (a BMW owned shop, so they would order all the OEM parts) so that they could replace my original hood. So that 500 some odd bucks that the body shop didn't need was awarded to me because I supplied my own hood.. Likewise, since I didn't paint my hood (yet) I was awarded the money set aside for painting parts and labor. Too bad I used that money to pay for my upgrades. Maybe something similar is going on where the money you were "awarded" (bad word to use but whatever) somehow wound up at BMW and then it got sent to you?