Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)
  • Lease car handback stories….
  • jonny-m
    Free Member

    Interested to here anyone’s experience of having a lease car for 2 or 3 years and then handing it back.
    How was the whole process?
    Worse or better than you thought?
    Was it stressful, were you worried?
    How particular are they?
    Stone chips, scratches kerbed alloys, tyre wear, interior scuffs etc. Fair wear and tear…?
    Did you get charged for any of the above or did you sort it beforehand?

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    yup I’m also concerned about going over the agreed mileage, can you cut a deal?

    the-muffin-man
    Full Member

    yup I’m also concerned about going over the agreed mileage, can you cut a deal?

    The deal was cut when you signed the paperwork!

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    legend
    Free Member

    jekkyl – Member

    yup I’m also concerned about going over the agreed mileage, can you cut a deal?

    half the time upping your allowance costs more than the penalty at the end anyway

    johndoh
    Free Member

    For me I have three experiences:

    First car – handed back with no fees despite a few marks, scuffed alloys etc (Astra SRi on three year lease)

    Second car – handed back with no fees despite a few marks, scuffed alloys and a minor crash repair which to my eye hadn’t been done very well despite a couple of trips back to the garage and the insurance company eventually running out of interest in helping me (Audi TT on 3 year lease)

    Third car – the car had a few marks and dings but nothing worse than either of the first two cars (Audi A6 on 2 year lease) and got turned over on charges – they even found marks I had never noticed as they were so small.

    The fourth car goes back this autumn (Audi A6 on 4 year lease) so I am hoping they take a similarly lenient view as the other two cars on longer leases.

    The next car – buying a second hand family wagon and stopping the stresses of charges.

    Flaperon
    Full Member

    It’s worth checking the penalty for an incomplete service history. For my last car it was only £200, far less than three years worth of main dealer servicing.

    They use an industry-wide system for determining whether damage is acceptable which they’ll send you if you ask.

    Small dents / scratches etc are fine. It’s probably worth getting a touchup kit from eBay for bonnet chips. Windscreen chips fine provided they’ve been glued. I did very carefully touch in a couple of small scrapes which blended on pretty well.

    Get photos (and lots of them) of the car on the day of collection. Get the person who’s going to drive it away to stand next to it. In theory they can claim for damage discovered before it goes to auction even if you have a satisfactory report at time of collection (doubt this would stand up legally though…). Can’t help with mileage but if you signed the agreement that’s what you have to pay!

    All they want are the keys and logbook so even if you do keep a loving service history it’ll be binned due to the private data on it.

    Hicksy
    Free Member

    At work, we lease about 20 loan cars on a 12 month contract. We always fix any major damage and I go round with the touch up paint and cutting compound before they are picked up. I’ve over seen 6 or 7 batches of cars being handed over, and although the collection drivers note every tiny mark, I just write “all marks covered under fair wear and tear” on the form before signing it.

    You should have something telling you what constitutes “fair wear and tear” from your lease company. Even though the contract states that any wheel damage is chargeable we don’t bother unless they are really hanging, and have not been charged for any refurbs yet.

    We occasionally get the odd charge back on stuff that we though there was a good chance of getting away with/not being noticed, but the charges always seamed reasonable and not that much more than if we’d had it done ourselves.

    RobinL
    Full Member

    Had three lease cars with a previous employer, had all three cars ‘fixed’ by ChipsAway type companies before handing back and had no issues or comeback.

    The last two were ok, the first one however was an X-Trail which I had taken off-road for one day when it was 6 months old.

    That day caused lots of damage underneath … including one bent steering arm ( repaired ), flattened sump, numerous dents in the floor plan and rails and a broken front bumper which ChipsAway couldn’t or wouldn’t fix .. I fixed it with lots of filler & fibreglass and a fine coating of dirt on the day of collection. I had a very nervous day when it was collected from home ( I was at work ) – I can only assume they never looked underneath !

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    The last two were ok, the first one however was an X-Trail which I had taken off-road for one day when it was 6 months old.

    That day caused lots of damage underneath … including one bent steering arm ( repaired ), flattened sump, numerous dents in the floor plan and rails and a broken front bumper which

    where the hell did you take it .

    bails
    Full Member

    where the hell did you take it .

    The in laws have had lease cars for years. They always pay about £70 to a chipsaway person to go over the car fixing any chips and car park door damage and they’ve never had any extra charges.

    RobinL
    Full Member

    @Trail_rat – They’re not called ‘soft’ roaders for nothing !

    It was only on a 4×4 track in Langdale forest, it no longer exists … on their web-site it said it was suitable for that type of car …. it was rougher than I expected and once committed to the track it wasn’t easy to opt out !

    iainc
    Full Member

    is it better handing them over dirty or clean ? Mine goes back (Company Car) in 3 weeks. I usually wash it once a month, but haven’t planned on giving the local car wash a fiver in February…

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    Did you get charged for any of the above or did you sort it beforehand?

    Well you know what you signed up to dont you??

    Mine came with a pack saying what scratches/dents are ok.

    Handover was painless, he took photos I took photos, both agreed no damage, they drove it away.

    I did pay £120 for a local garage to repair damage to a bumper.

    but haven’t planned on giving the local car wash a fiver in February…

    Again read your lease agreement. However personaly I would hand it back clean, if you hand it back dirty then easy for them to say scratched to f@ck as scratches were covered by mud. Save yourself £5 but maybe open yourself up to more cost.

    Flaperon
    Full Member

    I always give mine back spotless. Though I did park the V60 on top of a rock the other day so may stick some tactical dirt under the bumper.

    prawny
    Full Member

    I handed one back last year, it was an ordeal. We were short of cash so really worried any extra charges.

    there was a decent scratch on the back bumper of unknown origin, and a deep gouge on the rear passenger window where my bike tried to escape on holiday and slammed into the side of the car. But fortunately came in under fair wear and tear as they weren’t very long.

    This should give you the info you need, a full valet is a good idea – we did ours as it was in the summer.
    https://driver.lexautolease.co.uk/pdf/End%20Of%20Contract/LEX_AUTOLEASE_DUAL_LICENCE_2014.pdf

    The milage charges should be in your original contract, we went for less than we needed as it was cheaper than paying up front for them.

    Edit – thinking about it, I think they charge you for a valet if it’s not spotless anyway so you’re probably better off paying it then waiting to see what they charge you

    ScottChegg
    Free Member

    For a PCP the finance company have an interest.

    These are the Black Horse guidelines.

    Cluck

    ghostlymachine
    Free Member

    Stories?
    Nice car, immaculate at return, about 18-20000 miles over the contract mileage (36000 over 3 years IIRC).

    Bloke from the auction company just looked at me, looked at the contract, looked at the car, muttered something about bloody paperwork being wrong, again, corrected both contracts, initialed the changes. We all signed everything. Then he drove off.
    Never heard another word about it.

    Did take them another three months to stop taking the payments for the bloody thing though (got that all back though, 3 times). That was the first new car i’d ever had. Think that was about 2001 though, i’m sure they are far less relaxed about it now.

    Current company lease cars you get a deal where repairs during service are covered under a small excess, about £200. The lease company pays for the insurance, so it’s a good deal. If you take the car back damaged, it’s a £600 excess. Not such a good deal.
    You order your new car about 2-4 weeks before the second service and there is always a 4-6 week wait.

    No one pays the £600, ever. Everyone gets their car serviced a week before it goes back.

Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)

The topic ‘Lease car handback stories….’ is closed to new replies.