[DrewM5]

You have to try to predict what level of "damage payment" you might have and what the likelihood of that is and then compare that to the cost of the coverage. At the end of the day, they are running a (hopefully) profitable business, which means the amount of premiums collected have to exceed the amount of claims paid plus all other costs of running their business. So, they have also done the math and calcualted a rate that will, on a macro level, at least cover the damages the expect to have to pay for. Of course, if you are risk averse, you may want to pay that premium to avoid a potentially larger expense. But that really is the same with all forms of insurance, the only question is how much that comfort costs you.

I own my cars, but have leased in the past and do lease my wife's MBs (or should I say her business does) and combining all 8-10 leases over my life, I have paid exactly $0 in lease-end damages. A couple of times I had some smaller things fixed by a local shop pretty cheaply right before turn in. Also, I don't know about BMWFS, but MB Financial waives the first $500 in charges as a loyalty gesture provided you are getting into a new MB.