Mini lease residuals

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Patrick drumm

Member
I’m looking at the lease deals on the mini website, specifically the residual value of the se and the hardtop s. The se is 14792 and the s is 21164. This is based on cars of almost the same msrp and trim level. Do you agree that the se will depreciate that much more than an s. I am thinking of leasing one as a fill in until the j01 hopefully becomes available, but I’m having trouble understanding bmw financials numbers for the se when you compare it to the s.
 
That is a bad deal unless you plan to buy the car at the end of the lease.
There is no way in this earth a $31k Mini electric is only worth just $14,800 in 3 years (you didn’t give the period, I assumed 3).
With no $7.5k rebate on the mini these days they are suggesting depreciation in excess of 50%.
2 year old SE’s are selling at $27k so I don’t see why they would plummet to $15k in just one more year, even with a new model maybe coming, with more range.
I don’t believe gas cars are going to hold their value better than EVs either.
 
If you go to mini USA the lease offer is right on the home page. They say 7500 incentive, but the reality is that you would have to buy the car at the end of the lease and resell it to see the 7500. The lease term is 3 years and is based on signature trim so over 35 k. Mini wants to make you think they are giving you the 7500 but you end up paying almost the same as leasing an ice s which both have about the same msrp. In a way it’s almost false advertising. Either bmw knows something I don’t know or they cooked the numbers so they get the tax benefit and they do just fine even if people buy the cars at the end of lease.
 
I had a deep discussion with one of the guys at my Mini store a few weeks ago. If you are planning on leasing the car compare the two monthly payments with the same down payment (I would put as little down as possible). Then decide which car you want to lease. The residual takes the credit into account.

Also look at what interest they are using on the two leases, and the deal they are giving if you buy and finance through BMW. There are a lot of variables. Just focusing on the residual wont give you the answer. Also, make sure you start with two cars that have close MSRPs.
 
There are lots of ways to look at it. If you use the Signature SE at $35,220 MSRP then the 36 month lease is about 28% APR (money factor x 2,400 without buyout). Buying out the lease base SE could end up costing $32,101 ($14,792 residual + $17,309 total payments/fees).

Alternatively you can finance the SE for 7 years at 3.99% APR, which would result in $40,055.56 ($35,220 MSRP + $4,835.56 interest).
 
I asked what the money factor /interest rate was and was quoted as .00272 or 6.5%. Most people do not buy out at the end of leases . My point in starting this thread was to point out that although bmw financial is claiming to give you the 7500 tax incentive you would only realize it at the back end of the lease and even then you d need a crystal ball to know what car values will be in three years. I don’t think they’re being very honest or up front when the actual lease payments are virtually the same on comparable se and ice s but they say they are giving you the 7500 on the se. It’s a case of “show me the money”.
 
Patrick drumm said:
I asked what the money factor /interest rate was and was quoted as .00272 or 6.5%. Most people do not buy out at the end of leases . My point in starting this thread was to point out that although bmw financial is claiming to give you the 7500 tax incentive you would only realize it at the back end of the lease and even then you d need a crystal ball to know what car values will be in three years. I don’t think they’re being very honest or up front when the actual lease payments are virtually the same on comparable se and ice s but they say they are giving you the 7500 on the se. It’s a case of “show me the money”.
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So they reduced the sales price and reduced the buy out. Instead of a 35,500 sale price it is 28,000 with a 50% residual instead of a 35,500 S with a 60% residual. Either way you are paying about 14,000 plus interest to use of the car for 3 years. If people don't take them up on the lease, they will lower the interest rate or throw in an incentive. Can you buy it out at the end of 3 years and sell it, or trade it in on something else?

I financed the 35,500 and took the tax credits. But that was a year ago. If it were to get stolen a month and a few days after I bought mine, it would have cost 7,500 more to buy it than I paid.
 
I know this is an older thread, but I just came across it. I think you are missing the point of this lease offer. For me, it's an opportunity to purchase a Mini SE with the $7500 tax rebate. It's not meant to be a competitive lease to the ICE Mini. So I guess I agree it's not a compelling lease offer, but it is a significant savings if you want to purchase. Also, I'm not sure the residual value is artificially low. I'm not confident it will be worth much more than $15k in three years. How compelling will a used 110 mile range EV be in 3 years?
 
tfran said:
How compelling will a used 110 mile range EV be in 3 years?
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The only company even hinting at a competitor for the small, sporty MINI Cooper SE is Volkswagen, and there's no guarantee they'll bring what they create to the US (see ID.3). Other than a used MINI Cooper SE, what choice will buyers have if they want a lightweight, electric hot-hatch?

I've really enjoyed driving my SE for the past 3 years. It's the best and most fun car I've ever owned. There's no other car I'd want more. OK, an electric Porsche Boxster might tempt me, but when it finally gets here it will cost 4 times as much as I paid for my SE and I expect it will be much heavier.
 
I don’t follow tfrans thinking . I still don’t see where you realize the 7500 unless you do the buyout and the car is worth 22000. I don’t get the reduced purchase price either , you can’t buy the car at those numbers. What the car will be worth in three years is a crap shoot . My point in this thread is still that bmw isn’t above board in saying they are giving you the 7500 tax credit and it’s blatantly apparent if you compare the lease numbers between se and ice s . Once again bmw show me the money.
 
insightman said:
The only company even hinting at a competitor for the small, sporty MINI Cooper SE is Volkswagen, and there's no guarantee they'll bring what they create to the US (see ID.3). Other than a used MINI Cooper SE, what choice will buyers have if they want a lightweight, electric hot-hatch?
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Hard to say. The concept prototype is just car panels, blacked out glass, and tires on a clay model without working out the engineering.
 
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tfran said:
I know this is an older thread, but I just came across it. I think you are missing the point of this lease offer. For me, it's an opportunity to purchase a Mini SE with the $7500 tax rebate. It's not meant to be a competitive lease to the ICE Mini. So I guess I agree it's not a compelling lease offer, but it is a significant savings if you want to purchase. Also, I'm not sure the residual value is artificially low. I'm not confident it will be worth much more than $15k in three years. How compelling will a used 110 mile range EV be in 3 years?
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Exactly. In three years, nobody is gonna purchase an EV with so little range. Even if it's a MINI SE.
 
AutoTempest shows six 2020 model year SE’s for sale at various dealers with asking prices of:
22k (1 accident:damage report),
23.6k (clean carfax),
23.5k (clean carfax),
25k (1 accident/damage report),
25.5k (clean carfax),
27k (clean carfax)

Listings are all from September I think, with 2 being older than 6 months, at least one of which is the cheapest one with the accident damage.
Trim isn’t identified in the listings and this is is a very small sample with the cars spread out but from looking at base model vs iconic wheels and other listed features, there’s no difference in price for trim level which surprises me, I thought an iconic might be say $2k over a signature but of course nothing like the $7k it cost to buy new, however it doesn’t seem to factor at all given the scarcity of the cars maybe…
Location does seems to matter with regards to asking price as they’re all naturally low miles, 3-11k, except one has 24k and one has 30k.

If we go with the average price after removing the cheapest and most expensive, and an optimistic 10% for haggling that’s $22k for a 4 year old car so it seems like $15k after 3 years is extremely pessimistic in reality.
I personally think the fact they’re no longer eligible for the new $7.5k federal tax credit but are eligible for $4k used federal tax credit helps the used values….

Given we paid $20k after all the incentives for our 22, if I got $20k for it after 4 years I’d be feeling smug… As we’ll likely keep it longer if I only get $10k after say 7 years I’d still be happy as that’s only $10k in depreciation or less than $120 per month…
 
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insightman said:
What, all our SEs are just going straight to the dump? No one will pay a penny for a lightweight, well-built, sporty EV that can go a week between charging sessions if it's used solely for urban hooning?
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My response was a bit tongue-in-cheek. This is my fourth MINI, first EV. I'll take a look at the 5th gen (and the lease residual) in a few years and make my decision then. My 2024 MINI hatch is perfect for 99% of our driving requirements for now, but I'm afraid that battery technology between now and then will make it obsolete. Will the new one be as much fun?
 
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