Found this link from another site:
www.chapmanbmw.com/weeklyad.htm
So that's £130 for the 3 Series (and note it's a 325, not a 318) and £180 for the X3.
OK, there's no VAT over there, and the prices are without tax, which I *think* you have to pay in one lump up front, around $5K?, but still stunning prices.
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Oh dear. An American in a BMW? Are there worse combinations? Smugness overload maybe?
A good question though. I suppose it has something to do with competition. Brands such as Lexus as well as the US car manufacturers are bigger competition to BMW over there then here. They therefore charge a huge premium to us Brits to subsidise the Americans - or am I being too cynical!?
Also, as you say tax (and probably loads of other things) are extra.
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Nice lease prices but have you checked out the price of their used cars?
2000 528i for $27k? Are they having a laugh? Thats £15k! We just paid that for an 02 530d...
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I counted out my £130 plus $5K for tax before I opened the link ~ then I found out that it was lease not sale! Doh! :-(
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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I was over in Houston last week and was checking out the car prices.
New cars are cheap but the real bargains are used as everybody buys new.
You can get something really tasty for $10,000 on an 03/04 plate and the same car for $5,000 on a 01/02 plate.
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On first glance it looks very cheap but the price soon stacks up when you read the small print $2999 down plus tax, title, license, registration, bank fees, doc fees and security deposit.
You must have 700+ credit score to qualify. - sorry sir your credit score is only 699, the price for you is $999 per month.
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A colleague from the US was over here recently and was amazed how expensive our cars are - he mentioned that kids leaving college get extra discounts (I've seen these advertised too) and a lot of them get either 3 Series (again 325 - that's the entry level in the US) or (perhaps bizzarely to us) C Class Merc for $249/mth. He said the up front fees/taxes etc would be $4-5K.
Interesting that there's a couple of opposing views about used prices - my impression from the US is that used prices of 'premium' cars are high, which doesn't make sense based on the new deals.
However, maybe these low cost new leases are available based on very high residual values - whether they're really achieveable or not?
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Unfortunately I left my copy of the Houston Chronicle on the plane or I would quote some examples.
I was talking about 'prestige' cars as they were the ones that caught my eye. Lexuses were particularly cheap and don't seem to have the status they have in UK.
There's a Cadillac model that looks like a scaled down Bentley that I really like, they were around $10,000 on an 03/04 plate.
Run of the mill stuff like Oldsmobile Cutlasses were cheap as chips. Toyota Camry V6's seem to fall in to this category as well and I've always liked that car. Its a 'compact' over there by the way.
All in all the cost of living in Houston seemed very low, which surprised me somewhat as its the US oil capital. A nice house around $150,000. Getting off subject now...
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I noted the cost of cars in the States but you have to balance this out with other living costs. I am told the living expenses over there are very high. The health insurance bills make your eyes water and Uncle Sam makes our Gordon look like like Santa Claus. I think car prices are linked to percieved disposable income.. the car companies will charge what they know people will pay.
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I don't think the list price of cars in the US is that cheap - look at the BMW's in the ad. A 'basic' 325 is around $30,000 but that's without tax, so if you convert to Sterling and add VAT it ends up being pretty similar to UK price.
What I don't get is why the lease costs are so low?
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>>> Uncle Sam makes our Gordon look like like Santa Claus<<<
Not true. Personal tax is a lot lower and you can deduct all sorts of things from your taxable income. Even the value of clothes given to goodwill.
Plus I can buy a 4,000 sq ft detached house with double garage for $400,000
Health insurance is OK provided you have a decent employer
ATB
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I based my higher living costs comment on a conversation I had on the subject with a couple--one American, the other English who lived for a few years over there. On balance they think this country is cheaper to live in than the States. Apparently if you are in the low income group than life if difficult...but there again being broke was never any fun anywhere.
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>>I am told the living expenses over there are very high
I don't think so ! and my health insurance is cheaper in the US than it is in the UK, yet in the UK it is supposedly backed up by the NHS.
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Lease prices are low as the suppliers know there is a healthy demand for clean, low mileage used cars. They will make a nice profit on used car sales so can afford to "lose" a bit on the new. Company cars are relatively rare over there so you don't have Company car fleets dumping cars on the market to depress used values. The rental fleets are of course massive, but those don't include prestige brands (not in any significant number).
As for cost of living...just like the UK, it depends where you live, some NY city housing prices would make London look like a bargain. I used to live in Ft. Lauderdale FL and I paid more than double for third party only car insurance in the US than I do here in Lancashire for TPFT. As for health insurance, my NHS contributions are lower here than I used to pay for my Employer subsidised private insurance in the US and what I used to pay in the US was cheap in comparison to other US employees as I worked for a massive company that employed thousands of people and enjoyed significant volume discount rates.
And now for the bit that absolutely no-one will believe. My experience here of my NHS doctor is superior to that of my US private insurance doctor. How does a three week wait to see a doctor grab you?. If you complained about feeling ill now, they would tell you to go to a hospital, no chance of a sooner appointment.
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>>>And now for the bit that absolutely no-one will believe. My experience here of my NHS doctor is superior to that of my US private insurance doctor. How does a three week wait to see a doctor grab you?<<<
I am surprised. My experiences of the US health system have been that going to hospital is like checking in to a five-star hotel, and you can see a doctor as soon as you like.
When my wife gave birth she was attended by a crowd of about ten nurses. The place was spotlessly clean; people kept coming in offering her stuff and checking she was OK.
Of course I stress that this is the treatment you get if you have health insurance. There's a large number of people here who aren't in that position.
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I spent ages typing disagreeing with all of your experiences, and then I realised that this really isn't motoring.
So can we go back to automotive stuff please people.
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Yup. The Cadillac I was referring to is the CTS. Base model lists at $30,000 new.
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The man said automotive stuff:
When I was shopping for my current car, a 1995 BMW 520, I was shocked at how cheap they were here in the UK. I can't do a direct comparison to the US as the 520 is not sold there, but the 525 is and the used prices for a 1995 US model 525, range from $5,000/£2600 to $16,000/£8400 (taken from US autotrader).
In the UK, the 1995 BMW 525 goes for £2100/$3800 to £4000/$7500. The US market cars are more than double the price at the higher end and those US prices don't include sales tax (VAT) which can range from 6-8+% depending on which state you live in. UK used cars, as you all know, are not subject to VAT.
I certainly know why I don't want a used car at US prices.
Oh, I also checked insurance quotes for the above car using the last insurer I had in the US and Third Party coverage (they don't offer TPFT)was £730 per year, compared to the £320 I currently pay for TPFT. Again more than double the cost, for less coverage.
Granted my current insurance is for a 520, but I don't recall a 525 being in a significantly higher insurance group anyway.
I imagine that the difference in petrol prices will go along way in reducing the discrepancy in actual running costs though 8-(
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Ok so if insurance is so expensive in the US then how come on American programs and films the kids all have such nice cars. Such as on Desperate Housewives last week this bloke gave his son (who looked about 18 - went out drinking with a fake ID) a new Mustang that looked and sounded the dogs danglies?
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The dollar is particularly weak at the moment and looks set to get weaker over the coming year. This will distort the figures making the offers you describe look like bargains.
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Er just a thought Richy but could it be because Desperate Housewives is a TV show and not reality?
Love that Teri Hatcher.
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True, but it does happen in reality and you will usually find that a kid with parents wealthy enough to buy them a flash car, usually have enough money to also pay the insurance on it also.
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It's not all that far from reality. I know one woman whose 18 year old daughter has a brand new V8 Jeep Cherokee.
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I know plenty of people in the UK who've bought (or helped to buy) their kid a new car - difference in the UK is it's usually a Fiesta, Clio etc. In the US a Mustang probably doesn't cost much more, and it'll come with a huge (to our minds) engine as standard.
Also, the average US skilled/professional family has a higher standard of living than in the UK, and much more disposable income, so these purchases are easier for them.
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