Question on returning leased cars

My lease is up in a month. I have the opportunity to add 6 months due to the virus, which is an attractive proposition, but I am unsure what the market is going to be like then compared to now. Nonetheless, there are a few hit-and-run blemishes I need to take care of before I return the car.

Is it worth getting the fixes at a shop sanctioned by the dealership? Or should I shop around for what I feel is my best proposition?

I have a hunch that if I get it fixed by the former, there will be less of an chance of making an issue out of little things, while the latter may give me a better opportunity to find a better price for the same quality of work.....?

Thank you!

Leases allow for a certain amount of wear and tear...a few door dings, a few small scrapes, etc. What you are describing sounds worse. You can pick any shop you'd like to do the repairs. It's not up to the dealership. The dealer doesn't own the car, anyway, the bank does, and they don't care where you get it fixed.

Most lease inspectors don't look closely at the car to check the quality of repairs. They look for big/obvious stuff, they make sure the tires aren't bald, etc.

If they're done right, whose gonna know ?!?!?

Here is an interesting thread from Hellcats.org about the state of SOME lease returns.

"My lease ended on April 10 and I still have my car in my driveway.
All local dealers have refused to take my car back.
I let Chrysler Capital know about this and they were going to arrange pickup at my home.
Today I received a call from a rep and she had no idea that was happening but offered me a $7000 discount on my residual to buy out my car.
She said this was just released yesterday from ChryCap and good for 30 days.

I would be interested if they discounted further."


https://www.hellcat.org/threads/end-of-lease-discount-covid19.241209/

I would seek out a shop away from the dealer ship. Take a little time and seek out a paintshop that can do good blend work. Even if it costs more to get the best job done.
The reason for this is so that the dealership does not have a paper trail showing previous issues with the car.

^^^ The less the dealership knows, the less they'll grind you on the deal.
As for repairs, use PDR (paintless dent repair) if at all possible.
And I would think the cleaner it is when you return it, the better.

Thanks for the responses.

FWIW, as it's a lease, the car has been serviced by the dealership every time, so they know about the blemishes. I'll try to load up a pic tomorrow. They were parking dings made by people whose mommies didn't teach them good manners. One even happened within two weeks of ownership.

They also know a tire has a hole in it (but has sustained itself), so I'll prob just return it with a new tire in back.
I was just curious if having the service dept fix the blemishes is in my favor or not.

As I stated, the dealership has nothing to do with this. The lease turn-in inspection is done by someone who is hired by the leinholder, not the dealership. The dealership, if they have their own body shop, would no doubt like the work, but that's as far is it goes. If they only have a service department, and you had the dealership do it, they would just send it out to whichever shop they use for body/paint work.

I've returned lease cars with some heavy dings,(parking-lot type, not dents I inflicted) windshield chips. etc. Never been an issue. The dealer does not care, as N A Charger said, it's the leinholder, not the dealer. In the lease paperwork I had there was always a description of what is an acceptable degree of "wear & tear" and it was a lot more lenient than I expected

Read your lease contract. Most have a statement identifying wear and tear. In some contracts they state that if the damage is smaller than the size of a business card, no repair is needed.

Take photos of the vehicle prior to turning in the vehicle. My son had an issue when the transport company backed his truck up and damaged the tailgate. The lease company tried to get him to pay for the repair - his insurance to cover the damages. We showed our photos of the vehicle and the return sign-off sheet (Photo of the agent with the document in front of the truck).

It is good to have backup.

Make them a counter offer. All they can say is no.

Kevin

My lease worked exactly as above.

The third party came and inspected the vehicle and reported damage that would either need repaired before return or I would receive a bill from the lienholder upon the return.
I had hit a deer so I had a cracked bumper cover and a bunch of bent stuff behind it. The value of the damage was only $1500 so I chose to return it with the damage. I felt a body shop would charge me far more to fix it. Return to the dealer was smooth as silk. I don't even recall them looking at it. Just signed a few papers outlining the bill I would be receiving and we were out of there. A bill showed up a month later along with the other charges as noted in your lease.

Read you lease carefully. And follow the return process to the letter. You will probably be surprised to find is are a handling fee when you return and a few other things. I think it was around $500 bucks that I had not read the "fine print" about.

My wife just picked up her new leased Acura RDX two weeks ago, she turned in her previous RDX there was a small scratch on a chrome piece on the bumper she was worried about. She did everything online and on the phone as the dealer was closed due to the pandemic. We did pick up her new one and turn in the old one to the dealer the salesman took it and never even looked at it or inspected it. We have leased at least 10 cars now ( different brands and models ) and we have found that the buyout was always ridiculously high and not worth it. This is her third RDX. Other brands vary how lease returns go back and a few have independent companies do the inspections a few right at the house. I had to return one leased car right to the auction company luckily it was only a few miles away.

My advice is to make sure if your state has vehicle property taxes, that you have all of your records. The leasor will follow up on taxes. I won't name names "CC" and it was a major PIA with visit's to the assessor's office, phone calls, snail mail a year to two years after the lease ended and I even requested a hard copy letter stating all fees settled and "CC" wouldn't do it. Had to escalate more than once to substantiate my claim that was clearly documented within the paperwork only to find that I had to do it all over again 3 month's later because someone failed to comprehend and process properly.

They should have sent you a turn in guide weeks-months ago. In 2016 you could have one blemish no greater than the size of a credit card on every body panel. They sent a clear credit card. Make sure you have the third party inspect it. The guy told me 45 minutes max and two hours later he was done. He congratulated me and said it was the first time in in a couple of years he found no chargeable damage. The Jeep had been down 600 miles of logging road and had a ton of small blemishes from stones.
Theoretically you could ding every body panel with a ball peen hammer and be fine.

I wouldn’t fix a thing until you read the guide.
TY
K

Didn't receive a guide, but I did receive a phone number to call. With the virus and possible 6-month extension, I've been holding out while I dilly-dally figuring out whether it's better to get a new lease now, or at the end of the model year or in Dec. Certainly some new models will be out by then, but also some of those models have been pushed back even more because of the virus. I think it may be a good idea to schedule an inspection now and see what they say.

Here's the worst of the blemishes, which was a hit/run x2 over the first month, so it's a dent by the wheel arch, plus a scratch. Everything else not pictured is conventional stuff like a rock in the windshield, some scratches that can be handled with a compound, and scratched rims.

My lease turn ins get a professional detail within a week of inspection. I can’t tell the size of your damage but if you can cover it with a CC you should be fine. That’s normal wear.
The windshield may be a problem, log onto Moparts connect? You should find the turn in guide.
Ty
Kevin

Just called and it seems I have $1000 allowance. I may be alright. Gonna shop around and see what an estimate tells me. Thanks to all.

Wouldn't a hit and run be handled by your comprehensive insurance?

Kevin

No. Collision.

And with our deductible, it made more sense to not get insurance involved.

I would just spend the money and get it done quietly. If your getting estimates, don't look for the cheapest estimate and seek out a shop that will do the best job. That way when you turn in the car
no one is going to spot an issue or ask questions. I think you got a lot of good advice on this topic.