NLC - End of car lease

[ed]

Never done this before. Any tips for returning a car after 3 years. Worth getting a paint correction for minor scratches etc. How thorough are the checks?

[graeme]

Get it up on axle stands and run it in reverse to remove any excess miles. Unless your lease car is a 250 GT California, in which case this won't work.

HTH

[ed]

[graeme]

Also, please change your avatar. It makes my heart all hurty.

[j2 lot]

We had a horror story after leasing a Merc for 2 years. Despite mileage being considerably lower than the contract and the car being in generally good condition
I took the car to the dealer for pre return assessment - they gave it a clean bill of health apart from a bit of broken trim on the door panel (which we knew about)
We had paint chip cover so got the paintwork done and I got the wheels refurbished at an independant as they were scuffed.

Collection driver did a cursory check and signed it off with the only fault being recorded as the trim that we told him about.
6 weeks later we got a bill for £1k+ of repairs - mainly paintwork, wheels & tyres.
Took 2 months of wrangling and then they simply stopped chasing for payment.
Our saving grace was the collection report hadnt picked up any of the apparent faults although it was marked as 'not fully inspected'.
The mileage on the report was also out although only by a handful of miles but was just enough for us to suggest it might not have been in the condition they said when it left us.
It was enough to put me of ever leasing again and we were surprised at how many similar stories we heard when we were fighting our case.
Hope you have a better experience than we did

[rossybee]

This is the very reason I doubt I'd ever lease.

Teenage kids/dog etc takes its toll on a motor, no matter how careful you are.

PCP FTW







PS - Volvo for sale - one careful owner......then me

[Jeremy]

Having a few motor trade contacts ( ) I know that there are a certain minority of operators out there who will 'try it on' to a certain extent. If you cave in immediately and hand over your money then it's a nice little earner for them, but if you stand your ground and pull out your BVRLA documentation they will run off with their tail between their legs.

What is acceptable and what isn't acceptable is fully documented by an independent body (BVRLA) and the lease company must operate within these rules. Certain things may be open to slight interpretation but they can't just make up their own rules on the spot to extort money from you. If you aren't happy then submit a complaint to the BVRLA.

http://www.vwfs.co.uk/content/sites/vwc ... WT2012.pdf

I have heard a lot more stories of people getting screwed over on PCP agreements. If you are trading the car in or buying it outright then no problem but if you plan to hand it back and rely on the 'guaranteed' final value then don't think you can hand back a semi destroyed shed with no financial penalty. Same fair wear and tear rules apply.

Regards,

Jeremy

[ed]

Thanks for the input folks.

It's a business lease on a Fiesta coming to an end. Going back to Arnold Shark.

Had to remove livery which was a paint in the arse. T-cut seems to be working ok.

Fingers crossed!

Cheers ed

[Andy G]

BMW sent a chap from BCA car auctions out who wen through the 7 series for 45 mins fault finding.

He did have a report suggesting several things needing done, but in reality they couldn't expect the car to be 100% retail prepped after 2 years.

Never heard anything else about it but did have wheels and paint done before it went back.

[hendeg]

I've been leasing for business for quite a while now and never had any real issues.

You should have had some form of documentation which details what is acceptable condition on return and generally minor scratches aren't an issue.

I've heard various stories of things not going so well but I think it depends on who you're dealing with and how willing you are just to cough up. I guess some of the bigger businesses might just pay the bill and not question it.

[GregR]

BMW sent a chap from BCA car auctions out who wen through the 7 series for 45 mins fault finding.

He did have a report suggesting several things needing done, but in reality they couldn't expect the car to be 100% retail prepped and driven by me after 2 years.

Never heard anything else about it but did have wheels and paint done before it went back.

Fixed that for you

[pete]

BMW sent a chap from BCA car auctions out who wen through the 7 series for 45 mins fault finding.

He did have a report suggesting several things needing done, but in reality they couldn't expect the car to be 100% retail prepped after 2 years.

Never heard anything else about it but did have wheels and paint done before it went back.

Did it still have a stereo in it?

I used to work for a popular auction company in the early 90s, back when car stereos were all teh same size, and a favoured scam was to not tick "stereo" on the form and then whip them out.
Along with carphones.

And in one case an engine and gearbox.

"This low mileage 2.0 Cavalier I've just bought is a bit sluggish."

That's because it's a high mileage 1.6 engine.