puzzled

I just turned in a 2012 E class. I liked the car and was interested in buying it. However, the purchase amount in the contract was about 5K more than the car was worth. I say this because I found a comparable car Carmax was selling for 5K than the amount I could have purchased my leased car for. I spoke to MBF and they would not budge.

I have heard from a number of sources including my MB salesman that the buyout on MB leases is almost always more than the car is worth.

I'm curious about whether this is true. And if MBF sells the car to its dealers for a market price how do they make money? The whole things doesn't add up to me.

This time I bought a C300, which I like. I just don't understand leasing.