Fikse

Can anyone who has leased a 2003+ E55 post what residual amount or % they got and for what lease term it was for?

thanks!

Dr Chill

48 months-50%. purchased 8/03 at MSRP $81,500

zero dollars at delivery (sign and drive)

monthly payment $1091 plus tax with US Bank.

I spent 1 month researching this before delivery and this was the best deal I came across by far. Thanks to Mike Latham of North Texas Auto Leasing.

Signal

I tried leasing with Mike, because of Chill's reccomendation..

I was strongly dissapointed. He was unable to get me into a lease , even though MB itself could. He told me a lease is the hardest thing to get approved for credit wise, which was widely laughed at by everyone I told.

I make $160,000 , own a home, have no debts, and have a FICO of 744.. Mike couldnt get me a lease.. and he wouldnt call me back to let me know how things were going.. I had to chase him.

MB Leasing approved me in 20 mins, but the deal wasnt great (residual too high), so I ended up just buying it, (new 04 tectite)

Maybe you will have better results.

Fikse

Dr. Chill, thanks for the info....

Signal, if you don't want to buy the car at the end of the lease, a higher residual is better since it will lower your payment....

TMC M5

Signal:

The residual was too high? I thought you would want a higher residual so you wouldn't pay up front for the depreciation. My 2002 M5 has a 60% residual after 48 months. I am most likely going to give the car back as the actual FMV of the car will be much lower. Are you planning on keeping your car?

Tom

Signal

yes, I wanted a low residual.. I would write off the lease payments against my business.. and then be able to buy the car personally at the lease end. The business would at that time in essence gotten me a 30% discount on the car by the time I bought it personally.. not to mention, I would know where it had been the whole time..

btw.. the MB lease payments were not low, IMHO , even though the high residual...

I just wanted to throw my experience in about Texas Auto Leasing, because I really didnt have a good experience with them at all.. I would have taken the deal chill got in a heartbeat. But oh well...

now i own an E55... life is cruel....
:o

Vic55

Damn 60% on a 4 year lease is shockingly high- I feel sorry for the bank who gets that lease back on a car that will be already replaced with a more powerful model. I say this because I had an M5 too but with US Bank- a notoriously low residual bank but with super low money factors too. My residual was so low that I was able to get out of my lease after 18 months with a minimal loss. Of course my payments were more than say Chase or Wells Fargo but not that much more.

Tiberius

Residual quotes from MB:

39 month lease: 12000 mi/yr = 57%
39 month lease: 15000 mi/yr = 55%

That was a couple of months ago when I ordered (and decided to buy instead), they may have dropped a point since then as we have moved deeper into the model year (think MB refreshes residuals in April).

TMC M5

Vic:

I was surprised (and delighted) by such a high residual. My lease is with Chase. Somebody must have screwed up in calculating the residual, even I knew that was way too optimistic. However, leasing companies actually benefit from the tax attributes of the vehicles. They get to depreciate the vehicle and create non-cash losses. This lowers the tax basis of the vehicle and when they get the cars off of lease they have the ability to swap them for the newly leased vehicles in a like-kind-exchange (tax free). This carries over the lower tax basis but avoids recognition of the gain. Where they make the real hard cash is on the application fees, processing fees and disposition fees.

Apparently, they do not want to lease anymore in NY because of the ridiculous litigation verdicts holding the leasing company partially responsible in some accidents. I guess I lucked out.

I am most likely going to go the AMG E55 route when the lease is up in 2006. Although, I hear rumors of a E63 version stewing. My wife drives an X5 4.6is. We joke around that we have the last two good looking BMW models (M3 is also nice). I hate the new design direction of BMW.

Tom

Dr Chill

MB Credit scams you by saying they have the highest residual in the business but then without divulging to you unless pressed, charge you the highest money factor in the business. This brings you back to your dealership at lease end to turn in your car since the buyback is so high. This gives them another opportunity to sell you a new car.

Tiberius

Totally agree. If you are neg lease with them you can PV their resid and lease payments at the implicit money factor and tell them that's what their one pay ought to be. That proved to give me a bit of negotiating leverage - but in the end their lease terms are set up to favor them - If MB is your lease choice, I'd look elsewhere or just buy.