End of lease inspection

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

What kind of experiences have you had when your auto lease ends? We are in the last month of a 3 yr Ford Escape lease. We had our inspection of the vehicle today. This car looks like you could drive it on to the show room floor and sell it as new. The 'Excess Wear' total on the inspection report is about $580. A two inch scratch on the back bumper, a tiny chip in the windshield that took me 4 minutes to find and a tire with low tread.

I am having a big problem with those items being called excess wear. I bought the $500 extra damage warranty when I leased it so this is not going to cost me anything. Did they just pump up the numbers because they knew I wouldn't have to pay anything or do they all try to get more money or force needless cosmetic repairs at the end of a lease?

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

When I turned in my Lincoln Truck this past July Ford wanted to charge me $125 for an 8 inch by 6 inch scuff mark on the back side rear bumper. I was very happy with that figure cause the best price I could find to fix that was $300. I took the paper to the Lincoln dealer where I was getting the new Lincoln MKS and the dealer ate the $125 bill. If I was not buying a new Lincoln I would have paid the $125. I am sure they loved to get my old truck it was in mint condition with only 26,000 miles. At the time with Gas as it was at about $4 a gallon I was happy to give it back , Now with Gas at $2. I want Betsy back I miss not having a truck in the house.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I'm nervous about my lease coming due in a few months, because the car has some definite [STRIKE]damage[/STRIKE]excess wear...

Our last two lease inspections resulted in charges far less than it'd have cost me to get the repairs done myself, based on pre-inspection estimates I got locally (our cars get pretty beat up in NYC garages, not that I don't sometimes help a little). I'm going to schedule the inspection ahead of time enough that I can try to get the work done for less before lease end.

[abc31 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close abc31]

My husband's lease on his Toyota Highlander just ended. They are charging us over $1,000.00 for damages for everything. It included a little crack in the windshield and other very small scratches & chips.

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

I have found, at least with Nissan, that the excess wear fees seem to 'go away" if you are going to lease again with the same car manufacturer. Although, I just turned in one of my leases and we did not lease from them and we owed zero dollars. We did however put on new tires all the way around before the company came out to inspect.

[jackio Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close jackio]

I have never had to pay any excess charges with my Chevy leases, but then again I always leased or purchased another one. We get a packet a couple of months before lease end detailing what "damages" would incur charges. They did not list the charges but their list of chargeable damages seemed reasonable. I had a big dent in the fender of my Monte Carlo before I turned it in but I had it fixed privately before I turned it in.

[BILL_B Member Find all posts View Profile Close BILL_B]

Are you leasing through Ford Motor Credit? The reason I asked is that we recently turned in our 500 and about two months before we did we received a kit from them fully explaining what was considered excess wear. It included a plastic template about the size of a credit card that could be used to measure thread wear, scratch lengths and dent sizes.

I distinctly remember that several windshield chips were allowed and that several scratches (per body panel) under appx 2" length and dents about the size of a quarter were acceptable.

Sounds to me as if the dealer is trying to make some extra $ here.

Bill

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Are you leasing through Ford Motor Credit? The reason I asked is that we recently turned in our 500 and about two months before we did we received a kit from them fully explaining what was considered excess wear. It included a plastic template about the size of a credit card that could be used to measure thread wear, scratch lengths and dent sizes.

I distinctly remember that several windshield chips were allowed and that several scratches (per body panel) under appx 2" length and dents about the size of a quarter were acceptable.

Sounds to me as if the dealer is trying to make some extra $ here.

Bill

I did get that info and stuck it in a drawer and forgot about it. That would have come in handy when the inspector was here....