rodjonathan

iTrader: (6)

no we didnt pay the fees we were gonna turn it in until we saw the fee list and cost at that point we bought it out ... you dont pay if you buy out ... sorry for the confusion

Pico

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like your going to be faced with a bunch of head aches. You might be forced into buying the car out because of everything you were faced with during your time in the car. sucky situation

I have leased 2 vehicles in my day and there was always a problem with returning them. I took care of them and maintained them. But , the dealer always looks to add $ somewhere. Whether its mileage or something so minor that you the driver would only know about the dealer will find some way to put it back on you.

Example: About 7 years ago during a lease I was driving and had a small piece of truck rubber hit 1 of the 5 fins in the lower front bumper where the radiator is located. When the inspector came to my home to do his evaluation, he saw the missing fin at the very last second before giving me a copy of the report. The the dealer wanted to charge me 1200.00 for a new bumper. Long story short, I didn't pay a dime.

Moral of story: Stand up for yourself, don't let them try to push anything on you. If you show them your weak they will try even harder to push a problem / cost onto you. Be cool and all should be well. Good Luck

chrism

good luck cliff.....

DarkLord7854

Ah ok.. was about to have a panic session.

longpath

iTrader: (1)

I must confess that I'm surprised by all the horror stories about leasing. I've leased twice. The first time, I turned the car back in with no fuss whatsoever about normal wear and tear.

The second time was with my 8, and that was because the normal financing terms the dealer was able to offer me were flatly unacceptable (higher monthly payments and a gigantic balloon payment at the end of the financing term relative to the same term with the lease with the only benefit being whose name was on the title). I waited to start any mods until after I bought the car at the end of the lease (although my mod list is very short right now).

Machiavelli

I always have one leased car at any given time, because I get a monthly allowance at work that is "use or lose." In other words, if I lease a car, I hand the bill in at work and it gets paid. Buy the car and you're on your own. So I've leased a string of six cars over the last 16 years or so.

I've found that how you get treated at lease turn in varies widely according to who is doing the leasing. BMW was a breeze. Fifth Third was a nightmare. Dodge was worse than Fifth Third. I've always bought my Mazda's so I don't know what they're corporate philosophy is, but as a general rule I've found that if you lease directly from the car manufacturer's finance arm (provided they don't turn around and sell your paper) rather than a third party you will generally breeze through the turn in process if you buy/lease another car from the same dealer. In fact, I've found that if you cruise into ANY dealer and want to have them take the leased car off your hands in return for buying/leasing a new one from them, they will be happy to work with you. They're not going to take a beating on the car, but you are far less likely to get nit-picked.

I think buying a car off of lease can be a great deal if you're turning in a car that's in demand, but it's more commonly an absolutely horrible move since the buyout price often greatly exceeds the market value of the car. I still kick myself for not buying out my '97 M3 sedan for $22K. A week after I turned it in I got a call from an optometrist who wanted to know about the service history. He had just bought it for $31K. On the other hand I stupidly bought out my Durango because I was way over on the miles, and ended up being saddled with a truck that was worth a fraction of what I bought it out for.

s13lover

Were you angry simply because of the $1200 or was it because they wanted to charge you for a damage that was not easily noticable?

Pico

iTrader: (2)

I was mostly pissed because I was returning that leased vehicle (accord) for another one of their vehicles (Ridgeline RTL) . no rebate or discounts cuz I leased the ridgeline within the first 2 months it came out in 05, so I was already paying what they wanted without a fight on price.

However, I was a returning customer and they still gave me a rough time. i told the manager I'd walk and get it at another dealer. they didn't want to here that. Haha The dealer even paid for the window etching 300.00.


They would have taken the 1200 for themselves and sold it to the next guy. You couldn't tell without getting up into the grill of the car. the next buyer would not have realized it was missing without thinking he/she did it them self.

s13lover

That's one of the main reasons manufacturers have switched to 3rd party inspectors like myself. It's a good way to keep the dealers from over/undercharging customers based on where their next purchase will be made. I inspect some high-end vehicles and I've never seen a four figure charge for a bumper replacement. Glad to hear that everything worked out for you.

Fortunate Few

iTrader: (2)

sell me your hood! lol.

alz0rz

iTrader: (41)

window etching.. costs $20 for a kit, you can do it yourself.

Pico

iTrader: (2)

^ Yes, i could have done myself. However, being that I leased the truck I didn't want to do that because of the fact it had to be returned. $300 is pretty steep for etching but that's dealers for ya