Consumer complaint received 2022-08-26
Company: BMW Financial Services NA, LLC
State: CO
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem when attempting to purchase vehicle at the end of the lease

Complaint:
I leased a vehicle through BMW Financial Services NA , LLC ( " BMWFS '' ) on XX/XX/XXXX. My contract end date is XX/XX/XXXX. Per the contract, the Residual Value with my Purchase Option is {$24000.00}, with no additional fees ( besides taxes and registration fees ). 

We want to purchase the vehicle per the terms of the contract. According to BMWFS, new legislation in the past ~6 months now prohibits them from selling a leased vehicle directly to the consumer in Colorado XXXX and ~11 other states ). I live in XXXX XXXXXXXX and went to the only local dealer, and while they were willing to handle the transaction, they indicated that BMW Financial Services would be charging me the {$350.00} Disposition Fee since the dealer would be purchasing the vehicle then selling it back to me. Per my contract, I should not be charged this fee if I purchase the vehicle, but since they can no longer sell me the vehicle directly, the dealer has to purchase it, then sell it back to me, so BMWFS will charge this to me since I am not purchasing it from them. Additionally, the Dealer indicated they would have to charge me a {$290.00} Dealer Processing Fee on top of the {$350.00} that BMW Financial Services would be charging me to process the sale back to me. 

Per my contract with BMWFS, I should not have to pay any additional fees. While I recognize the new legislation now prohibits them from selling vehicles directly to the consumer in Colorado, this feels like it is a problem for BMWFS, not for me the consumer ( or the dealer ) since I am still within my terms of the contract. If they are not able to honor the terms of the contract due to the legislation, then they should be paying the dealer handling fees, not me. 

I spoke with BMWFS on XX/XX/XXXX, and while they indicated I should not be responsible for the {$350.00} Disposition Fee, they could not provide documentation indicating as such ( besides my original contract ). I had 2 separate BMW dealers indicate that BMWFS would charge me this {$350.00} disposition fee. Additionally, they said they are unable to do anything about the {$290.00} dealer processing fees, since the dealer is charging this, not them. 

So I am now stuck either having to drive an hour away to another dealer that might not have dealer processing fees, or, paying the {$290.00} processing fee locally. They offer no option to purchase the vehicle locally at the purchase price per the contract. The person at BMWFS said this is a very common problem since this new legislation was rolled out, but offer no solution besides paying the fees to the dealer. 

Before talking to lawyers about a class action lawsuit, I figured I would make sure BMWFS is aware of the severity of not honoring the contracts they have with their consumers and see if they are willing to do anything about it. This should be fixed for everyone in this situation, not just me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation