How close to lease end to order a car?

[DS_BMW]

Typically how close from lease end is a good time to start talking to dealers and negotiating about ordering a car?

[firedown31]

2-3 months out, but that's if they have an allocation available that will go into production 30 days out from your lease end (approximate time to build and ship to east coast). If you're looking for an M3 you might want to start a month or 2 earlier than that since allocations are low.

[BavarianFanatic]

I'd start sooner rather than later. Like at 6 months out...

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by DS_BMW

Typically how close from lease end is a good time to start talking to dealers and negotiating about ordering a car?

A couple of things to keep in mind:
- you can always extend the current lease on the existing terms, up to 6 months I think, as long as you have a new car on order that is financed or leased through BMW FS.
- it will take your car ~6-8 weeks to get the car back to the East coast (+2 weeks longer for the West coast), assuming no shipping damage is incurred and needs to be repaired at the VPC. Add extra shipping time of +1-2 weeks if not dropping the car off in Munich.
- the exact timing of your ED will depend on the ordering dealer's allocation week, which neither you nor the dealer will know until 2-3 months before build week (which is when BMW NA distributes allocations). Therefore, prepare to be flexible!

Therefore, if your least ends on (for example) August 10th and you plan on around 7-10 ED vacation, you will want to request a pickup date of June 1st. BTW, there is no guarantee that you will get that date (you submit 3 dates, may not get your 1st).

The car needs to be physically finished by early/mid June at the latest (say May 10th). Therefore, you need a dealer that has a production allocation for sometime between April 10th and May 10th. That means, you need to have the order negotiated and placed sometime 2-3 months earlier (when the dealer gets the allocation), or between January 10th - March 10th.

That adds up to a 5-7 months lead time.

There is no guarantee that your preferred dealer will get an production allocation for the target window, so you need to either:
- shop around across multiple dealers
- be willing to compromise on your ED pickup date
- be willing to extend your current lease to match post-ED vehicle delivery date

Hope this helps,
a

[BavarianFanatic]

Originally Posted by afadeev

A couple of things to keep in mind:
- you can always extend the current lease on the existing terms, up to 6 months I think, as long as you have a new car on order that is financed or leased through BMW FS.
- it will take your car ~6-8 weeks to get the car back to the East coast (+2 weeks longer for the West coast), assuming no shipping damage is incurred and needs to be repaired at the VPC. Add extra shipping time of +1-2 weeks if not dropping the car off in Munich.
- the exact timing of your ED will depend on the ordering dealer's allocation week, which neither you nor the dealer will know until 2-3 months before build week (which is when BMW NA distributes allocations). Therefore, prepare to be flexible!

Therefore, if your least ends on (for example) August 10th and you plan on around 7-10 ED vacation, you will want to request a pickup date of June 1st. BTW, there is no guarantee that you will get that date (you submit 3 dates, may not get your 1st).

The car needs to be physically finished by early/mid June at the latest (say May 10th). Therefore, you need a dealer that has a production allocation for sometime between April 10th and May 10th. That means, you need to have the order negotiated and placed sometime 2-3 months earlier (when the dealer gets the allocation), or between January 10th - March 10th.

That adds up to a 5-7 months lead time.

There is no guarantee that your preferred dealer will get an production allocation for the target window, so you need to either:
- shop around across multiple dealers
- be willing to compromise on your ED pickup date
- be willing to extend your current lease to match post-ED vehicle delivery date

Hope this helps,
a

The OP didn't mention ED...

[DS_BMW]

Well my lease is up in May unless I can get a pull ahead. I'm hoping for. So I guess I should start looking soon. Yes no ED.

[///M4ster Yoda]

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

The OP didn't mention ED...

He should have. It's the only way to pick up a new BMW

[F30plus80]

My F30 lease will end in January. Started the process in August for F80. Car will be here in December. It all depends on what allocation is available. The earlier you start the process, the more flexible your options.

[DS_BMW]

Do residuals usually get better for November, December? They don't seem the best right now.

[MRCUR]

Originally Posted by DS_BMW

Do residuals usually get better for November, December? They don't seem the best right now.

They'll be best in the spring as it's the end of the model year. There may be a holiday incentive in December but unlikely that the residuals will change much, if at all.