Please HELP!!

[leafhell]

My lease for 2014 Nissan leaf SE is coming up by end of this month. This is my first lease and excuse my ignorance.
I have gently used it for these 2 years, as I was out of country for most of the first year interning and didn't get to use it. So instead of 24000 miles/2yrs, now my Leaf has just 15000 miles for 2 years. Also because of above, it looks brand new, and I never bothered with maintenance other than one time having my good friend help me with tire rotation once the first year (no official records or anything). Also unfortunately just when I was interning last year, I had a minor parking lot accident at airport where the tires had to be changed and dent removed and repainted at dealer that cost nearly 5 grand for insurance. Now my lease is about to be done, when I contacted for maintenance at 2 year term before turning int he car, one dealer is quoting me 230$ for a brake fluid and in-cabin micro-filter change, and scaring me that Nissan would add this fees when car is turned in, if I don't take care of it now. He is saying since there is no service record on the vehicle till now, even it is brand new, nissan will fine me at the lease-end. I couldn't believe it and shopped around only to find another dealer surprisingly saying that a tire rotation and simple fluid change at any service center costing around $35 is more than sufficient. My friend agrees with second dealer and he says all this tire rotation would have been taken care of during the service at accident time, so the first dealer is simply ripping me off.

All Lease leasing experts out there, can you please suggest what's the best course of action?
Is extending my lease for 1 more year any better option in my vehicle's situation even if I am not finding much use for it?

 

[RonDawg]

When I arranged for a lease inspection of my car near the end of the lease term, I was never asked to provide service records.

 

[TomT]

You needn't do anything. Ignore the dealer. It's typical dealer BS!

Now my lease is about to be done, when I contacted for maintenance at 2 year term before turning int he car, one dealer is quoting me 230$ for a brake fluid and in-cabin micro-filter change, and scaring me that Nissan would add this fees when car is turned in, if I don't take care of it now.

 

[RockyNv]

If it was repainted at the Nissan Dealer and an Insurance Company was involved then there will be at least a service record if not an accident showing up on the CarFax. $5,000 with loss of tires is not what one would really call minor, that would be for a broken light, scuffed bumper cover or $250 to $500 dent/scratch. You may take a bigger hit if there is an accident on the CarFax report than for the late maintenance since that can reduce resale value by 30% despite the low miles.

Get your free battery inspection and catch up on the maintenance with the reasonable dealer and then decide if its more worth your while to pay $2XX per month, registration, excise tax and insurance for another 12 months which for many will end up being over $5,000 or just turn it in.

 

[Firetruck41]

It's been about 15 years since I leased, but I did not have to show any maintenance history. I would not spend the money on it.

 

[leafhell]

Thanks RonDawg, TomT, Firetruck and Rockynv for your responses! really appreciate it!

Rockynv, no one else was involved in my parking accident and I didn't get ticketed or anything for it, but had to pay through insurance being a student. Even if it goes to carfax, can't I push back showing such low mileage making it practically a new car for Nissan? If I fail to convince, would owning this car somehow make a better decision for me in the long run?
Thanks in advance.

 

[RonDawg]

I suspect that many Leafers/ex-Leafers brought their cars to the dealer's service bay solely for the annual battery check with no other service work being done, so that the battery warranties would not be invalidated. Since you're about to give up your car, that won't be an issue for you.

AFAIK none of these people were hassled by NMAC for lack of service. Nissan dealers (for warranty repairs) yes, but not NMAC themselves.

 

[powersurge]

There is no real "required" maintenance that you are obligated to do just to give back the car... Brake fluid and a $20 paper filter is certainly not a needed maintenance that affects the value of the car. If YOU contacted them to do a 2 year maintenance, what they quoted you is correct. You told them that you wanted to spend money. I do not think that the NISSAN lease people demanded that that was condition of the lease return.

That "minor" $5000 collision and needing to change tires from the collision is the real issue for you. I sense there is a much bigger story here that you did not share.

When they do the final calculation on what you owe for the lease return you may want to keep the car for a third year for a $1-200 per month payment... Then you will have a lot of miles to use the car on the last year???

 

[RockyNv]

Thanks RonDawg, TomT, Firetruck and Rockynv for your responses! really appreciate it!

Rockynv, no one else was involved in my parking accident and I didn't get ticketed or anything for it, but had to pay through insurance being a student. Even if it goes to carfax, can't I push back showing such low mileage making it practically a new car for Nissan? If I fail to convince, would owning this car somehow make a better decision for me in the long run?
Thanks in advance.

It only matters for your insurance history whether you got a ticket or not or if another party was involved with you at fault. Body damage at $5,000 is still body damage and that impacts value at the auction where they send the vehicles when they come back from lease. I see a number of Leafs at substantially lower offering prices at the OffLease web site because they have been in accidents requiring body work. If you see a 1 or 2 year old low mileage car coming off lease offered for thousands less than the others of the same make/model, same options, same year and with similar mileage then when you read the fine print you will usually see declared "Accident Vehicle" and possibly a blurb about how nicely it was repaired. There is not much to push back on since the effects on value once a car has been in an accident and has been repaired are instantaneous. Dealers who knowingly present cars that have had accident repairs as accident free and are caught end up paying hefty fines and can also still loose their dealers license. Failing to declare an accident is a big deal when selling a car with strong penalties in many places.

 

[RonDawg]

Regarding the body damage, as long as the car was properly repaired by a shop licensed to do such repairs using new factory parts, there's no need to worry.

BTW if the OP has not yet done so, arrange for the pre-return inspection by calling NMAC for the phone number. The inspection is done by a third-party who will come to your home or office and look over the car. It takes about 20-30 minutes and the inspector will email you a report (in my case, from his connected laptop before he left) showing what needs to be corrected and how much you would be charged if you turn the car in as-is. This will give you the opportunity to seek out other repair bids if you think their penalty is too high.

Also, the OP should take a look at Nissan's Official Wear and Use Guide. This is the standard by which his car will be judged by the inspector: https://www.nissanusa.com/pdf/owning/Wear_and_Use_Guide.pdf