As of Thursday I no longer have a leased car. Whew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I’m not planning on driving all over Hell’s half acre, (especially with the price of gas,) I’m happy to not have to worry about the mileage on the vehicle anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That means that if I have to take a trip I won’t be worried about the miles, and I can just freakin enjoy myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I still have a car! I was tuning my bicycle up just in case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other news, I lucked out because the buyout of the lease versus the blue book value of the car left me about 18K Above Water<\/span><\/strong>. How often does that happen? At the credit union I was like, “The car is worth 18K more than the lease buyout? Are you sure about that? Whoo Hooo!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’d looked at other vehicles and when I compared their prices and MPG it became obvious that the math worked out best for me to keep what I’ve got and drive it for another 10 years. I’m very happy with this car, and its got most everything I want. It’s comfortable and well, BMW isn’t making them like this anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ll also put my 31.5 MPG average against most all of the new vehicles too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So that’s a load off my mind and has improved my outlook on life in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I gotta figure out a way to make money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m going to Scarlett O’Hara that for the time being… “I’ll think about it tomorrow.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now it makes perfect sense why 4 different BMW dealers and BMW Financial have been lighting up my phone since January. They were looking at sliding me into another lease and making a hell of a profit on my lease return. Trouble with that, is that most of the current line of BMW products I don’t like. Those that I did like were fabulously expensive and didn’t have all the options I wanted, apparently due to the chip shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m sure that the telemetry my car was sending to BMW was a factor too. They could see that I was way, way, under the milage for the lease and that of course increases the resale value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sorry guys! <\/p>\n\n\n\n BTW you really should get some people on your phones that don’t require a universal translator to understand. Of the 4 dealers, the only one that was clearly comprehensible was a guy from Orange County. Not only that, his message was direct, to the point, and he wasn’t hemming and hawing with a bunch of chatter in the background. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As it happens, that is the dealer I’ll be working with from here on out. The local dealerships have all kinda gone to shit since they’ve been purchased by larger multi-dealership conglomerates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s a pity too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of them used to be family owned and while they were family owned, they were freaking fantastic. Sales, & Service were both top notch and the job was done right the first time. Sigh… 10 years of doing business together flushed down the tubes over a 1 year span. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I won’t darken their door if I can help it, not even to purchase windshield washer fluid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I guess I’ll have to make an appointment for two new rear tires in the coming months… I was putting it off in case I had to turn the car in. Hey! I’m not gonna plunk down a chunk of change for tires I’m not going to use!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next routine service, I’m going to get a new 4 series keyring… Just to celebrate!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of Thursday I no longer have a leased car. Whew! While I’m not planning on driving all over Hell’s half acre, (especially with the price of gas,) I’m happy to not have to worry about the mileage on the vehicle anymore. That means that if I have to take a trip I won’t be … <\/p>\n