Returned lease car - damage report/payment
Discussion
When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was probably about MB.
See: http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t...
See: http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t...
OP, I've worked in the leasing industry for more than ten years. Unfortunately some companies, mostly manufacturer-backed and certainly including the two already mentioned are notorious for doing this. Your "cheap" deal was, in fact, too cheap.
I no longer deal very much with manufacturer-backed finance companies and it's cost a hell of a lot of business but I don't want the grief of customers blaming me three years down the line, "cheap" deals are usually crap.
Having said that there are strict guidelines which must be adhered to and if you PM me I'll send you a copy of the BVRLA guidelines on fair wear and tear for you to appeal.
Mods. As a general point is there any way of having a forum for leasing as I'm often on here having to defend my line of work because lots of people seem to not understand the process?
I no longer deal very much with manufacturer-backed finance companies and it's cost a hell of a lot of business but I don't want the grief of customers blaming me three years down the line, "cheap" deals are usually crap.
Having said that there are strict guidelines which must be adhered to and if you PM me I'll send you a copy of the BVRLA guidelines on fair wear and tear for you to appeal.
Mods. As a general point is there any way of having a forum for leasing as I'm often on here having to defend my line of work because lots of people seem to not understand the process?
mattviatura said:
Having said that there are strict guidelines which must be adhered to and if you PM me I'll send you a copy of the BVRLA guidelines on fair wear and tear for you to appeal.
Mods. As a general point is there any way of having a forum for leasing as I'm often on here having to defend my line of work because lots of people seem to not understand the process?
PM on it's way.Mods. As a general point is there any way of having a forum for leasing as I'm often on here having to defend my line of work because lots of people seem to not understand the process?
Mercedes do send letters stating what is acceptable and what isn't, hence me getting some 'tarting up' of the vehicle done, including bumpers and windscreen. As per these acceptable guidelines, the only thing I expected to get charged for was the wheels, and the dent on the ns front, which as stated above I could not see, but my dent master mate said he could. If this is how it transpires, then that will be fine.
As per the link to the mb forum, that is very interesting, I am in same boat as the others, as I only took photos of the wheels, as there was nothing else I was concerned about. I would have had to have taken photos of the entire car where it would have just appeared clean! I wish I had made morer of an effort though, although I do have high res photos of the day the car was collected of both sides of car, and front and back that I can zoom in on.
With regards to defending your line of work, I have no issues with the entire leasing process. Just this piece!
I leased a Citroen C-Crosser for 2 years a year ago and even though I crashed it within 2 months of owning it (don't ask 
) it was repaired through insurance and I feared the end of lease inspection by Citroen. But the guys that collected it (can't remember their company name now) where very friendly and did the inspection in front of my door, in my presence. They took lots of pictures and at the end told me that the vehicle was in 'satisfactory' condition and that was it. Signed a form to say no further amount was outstanding and off they went taking the car.
When you hire a car, you don't get the car before you sign a form that you accept it in that condition, so I don't see why they should not follow the same rules?
) it was repaired through insurance and I feared the end of lease inspection by Citroen. But the guys that collected it (can't remember their company name now) where very friendly and did the inspection in front of my door, in my presence. They took lots of pictures and at the end told me that the vehicle was in 'satisfactory' condition and that was it. Signed a form to say no further amount was outstanding and off they went taking the car.When you hire a car, you don't get the car before you sign a form that you accept it in that condition, so I don't see why they should not follow the same rules?
t out of any car up and down a farm track at 45 mph twice a day Quinten said:
When you hire a car, you don't get the car before you sign a form that you accept it in that condition, so I don't see why they should not follow the same rules?
Unless you've got full excess coverage you're letting yourself in for a world of hassle if you just jump in the car and drive off.Other than courtesy cars, I haven't hired in the UK for years, but I sat outside an airport hotel a couple of weeks ago waiting for a colleague and a guy was handing back a Galaxy to a rental company. Seriously, the rental guy must have spent 20 mins looking at the car, including a very hard look at each wheel and opening and looking around the inside edge of every door. He stood back and looked up and down both sides of the car from several angles.
A brief update - after a number of letters over the past three months, I have reached a resolution with Mercedes Benz Finance which I think is reasonable and am happy to pay.
1st letter - claimed £880.99
2nd letter - adjusted to £599.99
3rd letter - adjusted to £553.99
4th letter - adjusted to £416
5th letter - Settled on £161
I could have pushed it further, possibly getting the fees waived after the lack of response, and the way they have acted. However as stated in my initial letter I was prepared to pay £220 for damage, and stated this in my initial letter to them - so £161 is I believe a fair settlement.
Has really tarnished my respect for Mercedes though, and I am afraid that the whole episode has meant at this stage, I am not prepared to go down this lease/pcp route again. The risk of being "done over" is just too high on the return of the vehicle.
BTW - for anyone in this situation, I have not had to provide any evidence of what I have stated in my return letters. It was just common sense reasoning behind my objections to charges.
1st letter - claimed £880.99
2nd letter - adjusted to £599.99
3rd letter - adjusted to £553.99
4th letter - adjusted to £416
5th letter - Settled on £161
I could have pushed it further, possibly getting the fees waived after the lack of response, and the way they have acted. However as stated in my initial letter I was prepared to pay £220 for damage, and stated this in my initial letter to them - so £161 is I believe a fair settlement.
Has really tarnished my respect for Mercedes though, and I am afraid that the whole episode has meant at this stage, I am not prepared to go down this lease/pcp route again. The risk of being "done over" is just too high on the return of the vehicle.
BTW - for anyone in this situation, I have not had to provide any evidence of what I have stated in my return letters. It was just common sense reasoning behind my objections to charges.
mattviatura said:
It's understandable but a pity you've been put off, not all of the leasing companies have the same policies.
Very true. However the rest of the process I was very happy with. The ease and cost of leasing is very attractive, and is still very attractive to me at this point.Once I have cooled off from this entire Mercedes experience, I may change my mind.
Is there more support going through a company like yours on the returns process? Or are you just broking the deal? There could be some value if the returns process was managed through a third party with a vested interest in both the dealer, and the customer.
There are service providers who can complete a report on your behalf as to the chargeable condition of a lease vehicle going back - though they do need to have the qualifications to carry out FW&T inspections to the relevant standard. If you get a qualified person's report that the vehicle is not chargeable in the condition it was put back into the leasing company's hands, your negotiating position (or abject refusal) is much stronger in case of a speculative invoice.
There are valeters that offer this, body repairers, and we've had an end of lease inspection report prepared by a FW&T inspector who worked for the RAC in the past, and used to reject the leasing company's invoice for 'damage' as disputed.
There are valeters that offer this, body repairers, and we've had an end of lease inspection report prepared by a FW&T inspector who worked for the RAC in the past, and used to reject the leasing company's invoice for 'damage' as disputed.
mattviatura said:
OP, I've worked in the leasing industry for more than ten years. Unfortunately some companies, mostly manufacturer-backed and certainly including the two already mentioned are notorious for doing this. Your "cheap" deal was, in fact, too cheap.
I've seen "Dehire damage" and the profit on it priced into some deals where a lease company is struggling to get to a price point. The BRVLA guidleines are very fair though and the big lease companies won't try it on as a rule, particularly with big customers.
Manufacturer backed sounds very different.
Hi all.
About to hand back my captur to Manheim on Friday and dreading it. I've done 44k and had it 3 years. I have a large panel of scratches which I am getting repaired but there is the odd scratch here and there that I don't know what to do about.
Has anyone had any experience of Manheim, is it worth my time to get the scratches touched up or just leave it and hope for the best?
Thanks all!
Hi all.
About to hand back my captur to Manheim on Friday and dreading it. I've done 44k and had it 3 years. I have a large panel of scratches which I am getting repaired but there is the odd scratch here and there that I don't know what to do about.
Has anyone had any experience of Manheim, is it worth my time to get the scratches touched up or just leave it and hope for the best?
Thanks all!
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