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Recently I went to turn in my Jetta lease at the VW dealer. Now, the dealer is not the owner of the car nor are they owned by VW. The owner of the car was "VW credit leasing" and they send an inspector on a schedule to the dealers to inspect and take back the lease turns ins.
This is accurate. A lot of people think dealers or car maker own the leased vehicle. This is not true. It is the leasing company who owns the leased car. When you hands the car to the deal, they do a spot check and sign off on it. It's possible the dealer damaged your leased car.
In 2016, my Honda lease ended. About two weeks before the termination date, an independent inspection company sent a man to the house. He went over the car and looked at everything - inside and out. When he finished his inspection, he told me that he would be in his car and would be back to give me a copy of his report.
He did just that and the report indicated NO deficiencies.
I returned the car to the dealership and while they tried to interest me in another car, we couldn't come to an agreement on what I was willing to pay.
My neighbor had a couple of dings on his report but the inspector made it plain that if he wanted to handle the repairs they would come back and do another inspection. He did, they did, and it passed.
Finding some bogus problem could be avoided if there was an independent inspection. Sounds shady.
He just spent $2000 having all the door dings and a scratch professionally repaired so he would not get charged their inflated prices.
All this nonsense yet people still lease, you know the leasing co is in this to make money.
My next door neighbor drove a leased car for 1 1/2 years with a cracked windshield, 2 days before she turned it in she had the windshield replaced, I do not know if she had glass coverage but if she used it look for the rate increase, it's coming .
I buy used, cash, around a year or 2 old, the original owner takes the depreciation hit when they drove it off the lot. Then I drive it till it gets to ugly to be seen in and unload it usually around 10 years. I figure 10 years saving $200 to 400 a month in lease payments puts me way ahead.
Never could understand the draw to leasing other than not having the cash to purchase (but most leases have down payment and taxes upfront) I do not care if I have a new car every 2 or 3 years as long as what I have gets me from point a to point b reliably.
And don't get me started on how insurance company's have us conditioned not to make claims or they will raise our rates or cancel us, what suckers we are
Exactly how do you propose one do this with a car that doesn't belong to him?
By driving it to carmax and getting an appraisal...
Behind the scenes it’s really just a lease buyout then immediately sell to them. But they handle it all for you. If value is more than buyout you walk away with cash. Which is not uncommon in the current used market.
Good way to cash some ‘equity’ or avoid such lease turn in nickel and diming.
Our business leased. We demanded that an appointment be set up for the return inspection. They complied each time. BMW and Honda.
No keys were turned over til AFTER the inspector gave the paperwork. Either myself or my boss would sign off on it provided all notations were true.
You can and should be present. If they tell you Fred the inspector can only inspect it at the dealership..Then strongly advise you will drop it off on the set date and time Fred will be there.
Yes I've challenged some notations...As any good consumer should.
The inspector isn't going to check your oil or see if your battery is fully charged...So when they slap you with those fees...Good luck proving or disputing.
Contact your attorney general office for further tips on leasing returns. We were able to save some hassles by being informed and demand to be present during the formal inspection.
And yes..It's a nice business scam if your not going to advocate for your rights...
By driving it to carmax and getting an appraisal...
Behind the scenes it’s really just a lease buyout then immediately sell to them. But they handle it all for you. If value is more than buyout you walk away with cash. Which is not uncommon in the current used market.
Good way to cash some ‘equity’ or avoid such lease turn in nickel and diming.
I do not see how that is possible. Carmax offers about half the market price for the car. they exist for profit and vannot sell it for much more than market and they have massive overhead to cover. It seems like the lease buyout is more than the car is worth at market prices, but I only know the buyout price for two cars, so that is not a real good sample.
One of the repairs my dad had done are repairs that someone would pay to get done on their car anyway. One was a scratch from him backing into a mailbox. Personally I do not fix things like that, but some people do. .
I do not see how that is possible. Carmax offers about half the market price for the car. they exist for profit and vannot sell it for much more than market and they have massive overhead to cover. It seems like the lease buyout is more than the car is worth at market prices, but I only know the buyout price for two cars, so that is not a real good sample.
One of the repairs my dad had done are repairs that someone would pay to get done on their car anyway. One was a scratch from him backing into a mailbox. Personally I do not fix things like that, but some people do. .
Depends on the residual. BMW usually has aggressive lease options and so the residual is high - usually car is worth less than the buyout. Audi is the opposite, with higher lease prices but a lower residual. Often equity in the car after leasing.
My Dad and my sister/brother in law have been leasing card from GM for the last decade plus. Recently they discovered when they turn the lease car back in, they get a bill for some odd repair like "loose chrome piece" or "replace bumper" It is usually 4200 - $800. After a while they became suspicious and started asking to see the repaired car or the removed and replaced part and they are told the car has already been resold and/or the part is gone. The last time my Dad turned one in he went over the car carefully checking to make certain there were no flaws or damage. He got a bill for "repair loose passenger mirror" My sister went online and found hundreds of complaints about this - all form turning in GM leased cars.
Have other people encountered the same thing?
I cannot make sense of this. It seems odd a company as big as whomever handles GM financing would be pulling a scam to rip people off for $200 - $800, each, but that is low enough no one can afford to do anything about it and if it is applied to hundreds of thousands of cars, that is big money.
I would just snort at the concept if it happened once, but it happens every time. even after checking the car thoroughly, they still get a bill. Plus there are hundreds of identical complaints.
My dad is about to turn in another lease car. We are going to go over it with video inch by inch. But if they come back with a BS charge, what are we going to do. Dad is 87, he would rather just pay it than go through the stress of bringing a small claims action. If this is a scam, it is a pretty clever one but they are eventually going to get caught and go to jail.
Ask for a pre-return inspection to give you an opportunity to make any repairs.
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