Lease friendly mods

[Goodspeed]

Hey all,

Thinking of leasing a MCS I was just wondering what kind of mods- if any I could get away with. Feel free to chime in on the miniusa leasing program for those with experience.

Cheers,

Stan

[chiph]

Unless you can deduct the payments through your business, leasing doesn't make financial sense.

At the end of 2 or 3 years, you've been paying for a car through it's period of highest depreciation, and will have nothing to show for it.

OK, if you still want to lease, I'd talk to your dealer about the leasing company's post-lease inspection. Some are more lenient than others. Honda, Toyota, etc. are very strict - they're almost eager to find something wrong so they can charge you. Mercedes and Lexus are very easy - in Mercedes' case, if you can cover up the damage with a credit-card, they'll waive it.

Chip H.

[paulmon]

Quote:

Originally posted by Goodspeed
Hey all,

Thinking of leasing a MCS I was just wondering what kind of mods- if any I could get away with. Feel free to chime in on the miniusa leasing program for those with experience.

Cheers,

Stan

MINI will allow you to add any official MINI accesories. However several of the mods are simple bolt on. I lease my MINI and so far have added a new head unit (Alpine 7894), new antenna, legal tints and I'm adding black aero grills and an air intake. I've kept the stock head unit and didn't cut any wires so I will swap it out when the lease is up same goes for the air intake and the antenna. The aero grills are MINI accesories so technically I can leave them on the car. As for the tints, the dealer didn't care as he would send it out for tints had I wanted them. Besides I had it professionally done by one of the best tint shops in Canada.

All this being said, if I am as happy with my MCS in 2.5 years as I am now this will be the first leased vehicle I've ever bought out. The only ***** with that is the really high residuals for the MINI leases.

As for the financial aspects of leasing, yup it sucks and not a single accountant would recommend it. However up until the MINI I would get bored with my cars within 18-24 months; therefore, for me the lease makes more sense. Not to mention is less on a monthly basis to help pay for some mods. Oh and starting this year it is a tax write off as I will soon start working from a home office.

Paul

[ninjanick]

Quote: Originally Posted by paulmon

However up until the MINI I would get bored with my cars within 18-24 months; therefore, for me the lease makes more sense.

Paul

Man I thought I was the only one!