Returning a Lease - Pay for wear and tear items ?
- Thread starter goixiz
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xtremeflyer
Well-known member
You are supposed to get an inspection up to 2 months before turn in. They will print you out exactly what you'll be charged for. You can then determine if it's cheaper to have it fixed yourself or just turn it in and pay for it.
Having looked at Nissan's guidelines, I can tell you that they are much worse than Toyota about charging for minor damage. Example: Toyota allows dings up to the size of a credit card. Nissan charges for any *scratch* that 'catches the fingernail'. Nissan also doesn't allow touch-up paint, and will charge you for *any* hole, no matter how small, they find in the cheap, thin upholstery.
goixiz said:
We turned in a Prius that was less than perfect, and paid only the slight over-mileage, not the extra wear and tear. With Nissan, I'm comparing written policy, no actual experience yet. Nissan's guidelines apply to all cars leased, though, because the arm of the company that leases/finances the cars isn't the same one that builds/sells them. Now, if you are asking if the charges will *always* be applied, the answer is no - not if you are going to lease or buy another Nissan. In that case you can often get the charges paid (not waived, because they can't do that) by the dealership.
goixiz said:
In the case of NMAC leases, the dealership is not who does the original inspection. Shortly before your lease is up, you have to contact NMAC to arrange for an inspection of your car by a third-party company. On the day you turn the car in, the dealership does another inspection, but it's mostly to see if additional damage has been incurred since the previous inspection.
BTW this is Nissan's published guidelines for what they consider excessive wear and tear: https://www.nissanusa.com/pdf/owning/Wear_and_Use_Guide.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Epi117
Well-known member
Dreading the turn in for our leaf, multiple scatches and chips.
mxp
Well-known member
xtremeflyer said:
Can anyone share what would be a typical ball-park cost for a Leaf 3-yr lease return? Will the cost of new tires add to the cost? add some scratches, wear on the carpet, a couple of very minor stains on the seat upholstery etc.
Someone also mentioned Titan Guard? Hmm, I wonder how that works, and if the cost premium make Titan Guard worthwhile?
Thanks.
mxp said:
It greatly depends - just like buying health insurance - premium insurance or just standard or no insurance.
Depends on how you use the lease car
If you treat it like glassware or a hammer, and knowing there is cost incurred at the end of the lease if not carefull then the lease car will have value when someone picks it up next. I guess if you look at it like you will own it 2 years down the road then thats how it should be taken care of. Some may not care then maybe the premium insurance should be wise to purchase.
mynameisjim
Well-known member
I feel like I've treated my LEAF with care as if I would own it after. The paint has not held up well and I'd guess there are 5 or 6 scratches or marks that I'd bill me for. Sounds expensive.
xtremeflyer
Well-known member
I had scratches, dents, and the plastic on a side mirror that was busted off from the side of the garage. Didn't get charged for any of it.
Also, I had the 4 original tires on the Leaf, with 40k miles, still had 4/32 left so they didn't charge me anything for them.
Also, I had the 4 original tires on the Leaf, with 40k miles, still had 4/32 left so they didn't charge me anything for them.
LTLFTcomposite
Well-known member
We have taken very good care of ours and I'd venture to say the only way you'd have one in nicer condition is if you had parked it in a garage for three years and never touched it.
It will be interesting to see how we are treated at return time. Suffice to say that experience will heavily influence whether we ever consider leasing another Nissan, or any other vehicle for that matter.
It will be interesting to see how we are treated at return time. Suffice to say that experience will heavily influence whether we ever consider leasing another Nissan, or any other vehicle for that matter.
TomT
Well-known member
I think it is very dependent on the appraiser you get... If you don't like what he comes up with and you can't change his mind, I'd ask for another appraiser...
RVD
Active member
I have leased 3 cars so far and returned 2 of them. 1 car was a BMW and 1 minivan was a Chrysler Town & Country.
In general, this is my advice:
1) Return the car at the end of the day when the sun is set. If it's dark, it's harder to see imperfections with just the street lamps and dealership lamps. I typically return at twilight so the sun is just starting to set...it's not so obvious then.
2) Don't wash your car for a couple of weeks. If it's full on dirty with caked on mud, they'll be suspicious but if it's just regular dirty with dust and dirt, it will look pretty normal.
3) Do a pre-inspection 1-2 weeks before you return your car.
I do all of these for obvious reasons. The pre-inspection is so that if they call you out on something you can say "but they didn't say that at the pre-inspection that I did over here 2 weeks ago with <NAME>."
If they try to charge you after the fact (a few days later), you can say "it wasn't like that when I returned it...your guys must have scratched it and now they're trying to cover it up."
For my BMW, we weren't charged anything. For our minivan, we bought that car when we had our first baby and that little kid trashed the car over 3 years. There were stains, marker drawings on some of the leather, etc. It was an absolute mess and I did some work to try to clean most of it up before we returned it but it was still a mess. They signed off on it when I returned it but a week later they said that they have to charge me $100...I didn't argue and just paid it. But if they had tried to charge me $1k, I would have probably argued it.
I have another BMW right now that's going back in Jan 2015 so we'll see how that goes. The tires are fairly low on tread so I may need to replace that but there's also a pretty big door ding so I don't know what they'll do about that.
In general, this is my advice:
1) Return the car at the end of the day when the sun is set. If it's dark, it's harder to see imperfections with just the street lamps and dealership lamps. I typically return at twilight so the sun is just starting to set...it's not so obvious then.
2) Don't wash your car for a couple of weeks. If it's full on dirty with caked on mud, they'll be suspicious but if it's just regular dirty with dust and dirt, it will look pretty normal.
3) Do a pre-inspection 1-2 weeks before you return your car.
I do all of these for obvious reasons. The pre-inspection is so that if they call you out on something you can say "but they didn't say that at the pre-inspection that I did over here 2 weeks ago with <NAME>."
If they try to charge you after the fact (a few days later), you can say "it wasn't like that when I returned it...your guys must have scratched it and now they're trying to cover it up."
For my BMW, we weren't charged anything. For our minivan, we bought that car when we had our first baby and that little kid trashed the car over 3 years. There were stains, marker drawings on some of the leather, etc. It was an absolute mess and I did some work to try to clean most of it up before we returned it but it was still a mess. They signed off on it when I returned it but a week later they said that they have to charge me $100...I didn't argue and just paid it. But if they had tried to charge me $1k, I would have probably argued it.
I have another BMW right now that's going back in Jan 2015 so we'll see how that goes. The tires are fairly low on tread so I may need to replace that but there's also a pretty big door ding so I don't know what they'll do about that.
mxp
Well-known member
Thanks for the advice RVD. Really appreciate it.
Regarding the pre-inspection appointment with the dealer, how do you request that ? (Sorry, I never leased a car before)
Do you simply call up the Service Dept and schedule a "pre-inspection" service for a leased vehicle? Is this a common thing or do you have to say something specific that leads towards a pre-inspection from the dealer?
Thanks.
Regarding the pre-inspection appointment with the dealer, how do you request that ? (Sorry, I never leased a car before)
Do you simply call up the Service Dept and schedule a "pre-inspection" service for a leased vehicle? Is this a common thing or do you have to say something specific that leads towards a pre-inspection from the dealer?
Thanks.
RVD said: