About to return my lease car...

[wikkid_bigshot]

Just wondering if people who had experience can help me out.

Im returning my Nissan Sentra in 6 months, there are a few things I need to fix

a) small dent on car door
b) pretty deep scratch on rear bumper
c) scratch on right rear of car, some paint came off, paint on other car is on, and the right rear bumper is loose.

Can I just go to any body shop to fix the above? I have 4 winter tires and pretty low mileage (about 70k now, probably going to put another 6k on it, contract says I can have up to 98k free), can I use it to my advantage to negotiate myself out of some smaller fix (i.e. small dent on car door)?

Thanks!

[Tomy]

if you are leasing another vehicle, i am certain they won't charge you money for this.

however, if you aren't.. u will probably have to fix it.


Just wondering if people who had experience can help me out.

Im returning my Nissan Sentra in 6 months, there are a few things I need to fix

a) small dent on car door
b) pretty deep scratch on rear bumper
c) scratch on right rear of car, some paint came off, paint on other car is on, and the right rear bumper is loose.

Can I just go to any body shop to fix the above? I have 4 winter tires and pretty low mileage (about 70k now, probably going to put another 6k on it, contract says I can have up to 98k free), can I use it to my advantage to negotiate myself out of some smaller fix (i.e. small dent on car door)?

Thanks!

[bluetroll]

they will give u a kit to tell u what is and isn't allowable...

i know for honda it's a card, that shows depth of tires, sizes of dings, length of scratches, etc.

[AGR-1]

They will send you a letter usually 90 days prior to the termination date and explain to you what is allowed as normal wear and tear. In most cases they will send an independent inspector to inspect the car and make note of what is beyond wear and tear, the inspector will also enter in their system what you will owe for the non wear and tear issues on the car.

There is very little to negotiate with the inspecor, he is not there to negotiate.

Where you can negotiate is when the time comes to visit your dealer to replace this lease car with another. At that point you mention that your car has xxx of repairs from the inspection and you expect them to help you out with this expense to assist you out of your present lease.

[JonnyS]

There is no pre-inspection prior to return with Nissan. You drop the car at the dealership and within 72 hrs someone from Nissan Finance will come to the dealer to inspect. Since you no longer have ownership you have no choice but to accept what they find.

I thought my 2003 3.5L fully loaded Altima was mint and I was also 20K under the 96K limit, plus I was leasing another Altima. When I picked up my new car the sales manager did a once over and commented on how nice the car looked and there would be no issues with the return (in hindsight I wish I exercised the buyout option, I loved this car).

Four weeks go by and I'm expecting my security deposit refund when I receive a bill from Nissan Finance for $182 (I was expecting $500 refund). They nailed me for 2 tires saying they were 1/3 of a mm under the allowed limit. They also claimed I had a broken/cracked fog lamp.

1/3 of a mm. Come on. Ok I know it's there is no grey area here, but please. When I requested my old tires to be returned since I had paid for new ones, they refused saying that they didn't replace the tires as they were still within safety spec and my car was now on its way to Quebec for auction.

As for the fog light, my augment was the car sat on the lot for 4 days, it was a long weekend, anything could have happened to it. Nissan Finance said sorry this is how we operate! So basically anything that happens on the dealer lot before the inspection is your responsibility. I know for a fact there was nothing cracked with regards to the fog lamp.

I tried my dealership, but they blew me off.

I contacted the APA for help. The only suggestion they had was in the future, 24-48 hrs before the return take the car to an independent mechanic with Nissan's checklist and have them go over everything and put in writing that your car meets all the necessary return criteria.

Good luck!

[Tomy]

There is no pre-inspection prior to return with Nissan. You drop the car at the dealership and within 72 hrs someone from Nissan Finance will come to the dealer to inspect. Since you no longer have ownership you have no choice but to accept what they find.

I thought my 2003 3.5L fully loaded Altima was mint and I was also 20K under the 96K limit, plus I was leasing another Altima. When I picked up my new car the sales manager did a once over and commented on how nice the car looked and there would be no issues with the return (in hindsight I wish I exercised the buyout option, I loved this car).

Four weeks go by and I'm expecting my security deposit refund when I receive a bill from Nissan Finance for $182 (I was expecting $500 refund). They nailed me for 2 tires saying they were 1/3 of a mm under the allowed limit. They also claimed I had a broken/cracked fog lamp.

1/3 of a mm. Come on. Ok I know it's there is no grey area here, but please. When I requested my old tires to be returned since I had paid for new ones, they refused saying that they didn't replace the tires as they were still within safety spec and my car was now on its way to Quebec for auction.

As for the fog light, my augment was the car sat on the lot for 4 days, it was a long weekend, anything could have happened to it. Nissan Finance said sorry this is how we operate! So basically anything that happens on the dealer lot before the inspection is your responsibility. I know for a fact there was nothing cracked with regards to the fog lamp.

I tried my dealership, but they blew me off.

I contacted the APA for help. The only suggestion they had was in the future, 24-48 hrs before the return take the car to an independent mechanic with Nissan's checklist and have them go over everything and put in writing that your car meets all the necessary return criteria.

Good luck!

wow..taht's tough..
when i returned my last lease.. i took pictures of EVERY part of the car. tires/bumper/foglights/doors etc etc took detailed pic of those b/c those are what stealership usually charge.... pictures are free anyway.. so they can't pull those "o there's a scratch on the bumper" and charge me 500$ retail...

in addition, before i start another lease, i usually talk to them and make sure that if they come back with fees, i aint leasing another vehicle from you guys again..

lastly, one time, my foggie of my parents' car cracked.. and we were too lazy to replace it.. we just told the leasing manager about it and they didn't charge us... i guess they didn't want to lose a sale..

[Jeff-TheBiz]

if you are leasing another vehicle, i am certain they won't charge you money for this.


False.

They will send you a letter usually 90 days prior to the termination date and explain to you what is allowed as normal wear and tear. In most cases they will send an independent inspector to inspect the car and make note of what is beyond wear and tear, the inspector will also enter in their system what you will owe for the non wear and tear issues on the car.

There is very little to negotiate with the inspecor, he is not there to negotiate.

True.


in addition, before i start another lease, i usually talk to them and make sure that if they come back with fees, i aint leasing another vehicle from you guys again..

The old lease has nothing to do with the new one.

It would be the same a writing up a deal at Nissan saying that if your Toyota has damage you don't want the Nissan.

lastly, one time, my foggie of my parents' car cracked.. and we were too lazy to replace it.. we just told the leasing manager about it and they didn't charge us... i guess they didn't want to lose a sale..

They did charge you, it was tacked on to the sale of the new one. Nothing is free.

[Tomy]

False.



True.



The old lease has nothing to do with the new one.

It would be the same a writing up a deal at Nissan saying that if your Toyota has damage you don't want the Nissan.



They did charge you, it was tacked on to the sale of the new one. Nothing is free.

yea i agree.. nothing is free..but since the payment was the same regardless.. i consider getting it as a discount =)

[wikkid_bigshot]

Thank you all for your advice.

So, I should look to get these things fixed before I return the car back at the end of lease. Im sure they will charge an arm and a leg for their repairs. Can anybody recommend a good auto repair shop?

Thanks,
Wikkid

[ghostryder]

wow..taht's tough..
when i returned my last lease.. i took pictures of EVERY part of the car. tires/bumper/foglights/doors etc etc took detailed pic of those b/c those are what stealership usually charge.... pictures are free anyway.. so they can't pull those "o there's a scratch on the bumper" and charge me 500$ retail...

in addition, before i start another lease, i usually talk to them and make sure that if they come back with fees, i aint leasing another vehicle from you guys again..

lastly, one time, my foggie of my parents' car cracked.. and we were too lazy to replace it.. we just told the leasing manager about it and they didn't charge us... i guess they didn't want to lose a sale..

When you return a lease you are not returning it to the dealer, you are returning it to the leasing company. They have standards. If you vehicle does not meet those standards the inspector will not accept the vehicle and the dealer is on the hook for the repairs. They are supposed to make sure the vehicle meets those standards and if it doesn't they are supposed to refuse the vehicle until you fix it or you can pay them to fix it. Some dealers will absorb those costs to get the next sale/lease out the door. But you can be sure they built that cost into the price of your next vehicle.

I used to be a vehicle inspector, one of the jobs I really liked.

[jkyc]

I went back to my dealership last week, and told that person when i am going to return my car. He just told me to call him before it. But I have some small dents on my car, but he said it's acceptable. He didn't give me any paper or anything is this normal?or I should give them back my car a bit earlier so in case they make me to fix those dents I can have time to get it done?