Right. It's no big deal and I am more than willing to complete the terms of
the lease.
I wanted to trade up to an X5. I will do that, when my lease is up. But it
will not be from that dealership.

I can only speak of BMWFS, but they did indeed short a lease for me when I
wanted to pickup a 2001 E39. They lopped of the last 4 months without charge
or penalty on the 1997 528 I was currently leasing. I am not suggesting this
is standard and I knew from the beginning that my original lease was for the
entire 36 months, but at our request they did make an exception. I just
bought a 545 and they have also agreed to return my last lease payment from
the extension lease on the 2001 E39, because the E60 was delivered to us in
the middle of the month term for which we had already paid (might have been
because this was a lease extension while waiting for the E60 to arrive in
the US, the original 36 month term was paid in full). Again, this isn't
standard or expected but we made the request and it was granted.

It has been my experience that you lease according to the contract you sign,
but given certain circumstances and timing it does seem like BMWFS will work
with people on a selective basis. And that basis may be nothing more than
the luck of the draw with regard to who at BMWFS you end up speaking with. I
think that is the point to consider though, speak with BMWFS directly,
rather than through the dealership.

Obviously there are no guarantees but they have been decent to me on two
separate occasions.