I've decided to document my experience here in hopes that others see this on the vast internets.
I've decided to assume a lease from someone else here in California in hopes to make the process smooth and easy.
BMW has a reputation for being the easiest to do a lease transfer - but I have had the opposite experience. They say to give up to 3 weeks for the process to be complete, so in essence I'm still within my allotted time frame - however everywhere that I've read online, peoples experiences are as quick as 3 days as long as you are fast, efficient and great at filling things out.
Day 1 - I looked at car. Decided I wanted it. Owner let BMW know he was releasing the car. I got an e-mail with a link to a credit app. Filled out app and was approved next business day in the AM. Paid $500 + CA Tax.
Day 2 - Both myself and owner had to fill out paperwork. We both decided to overnight the paperwork (to Ohio) to try and speed up the process. Also e-mailed the assumptions dept. with attached scans of the paperwork. Got responses that it was filled out correctly and they will notify us when hard copies were received.
Day 3 (Friday) - Hard copies received. E-mailed and let me know "sorry but we will not be able to process this today.
Day 4 (Monday) - Received e-mail - "Sorry, there is another huge delay. We have to now request a paper title from the DMV, which according to them is 7-10 business days, if not longer due to a back log".
We're up to Day 6 now with no word back. I called and the title isn't there yet.
Here is what sucks - they could have requested a "rush title" service, which the $500 should have covered (and if not, would have gladly paid for it if asked, but wasn't). I found this out after calling the DMV after a few hours on hold.
So - be warned. Uncertain if this is just a California thing, but BMW FS does not hold paper copies of titles, just have an electronic lien. This slows down the process quite a bit.
While we're still well within the allotted 3 weeks, I'm just bitching and moaning because I figured we'd get the same "3 day turnaround" that most others had online.
Will keep this thread up to date for those interested.