Leased car hand back stories
Discussion
I'm thinking about leasing a car for the first time but getting cold feet due to number of horror stories on internet forums about people being hit big repair bills for damage they claim wasn't there when the car was handed back. MB finance in particular keep cropping up in these posts. MB is the marquee I am considering leasing.
A lot of these stories are from a few years ago and was wondering if it has got any better , really looking to hear about peoples experiences they have had at hand back time, good or bad ,as is the case with this sort of thing people tend to post about a bad experience but not when things went well.
A lot of these stories are from a few years ago and was wondering if it has got any better , really looking to hear about peoples experiences they have had at hand back time, good or bad ,as is the case with this sort of thing people tend to post about a bad experience but not when things went well.
swerni said:
Handed my mercedes back a couple of weeks ago.
Man came out, inspected at my house, confirmed I had nothing to pay, took it away
Job done
Pretty much our experience with MB when we handed our Smart back. No issues at all despite a couple of things that I thought we might get pulled up about.Man came out, inspected at my house, confirmed I had nothing to pay, took it away
Job done
rudebhoy said:
I'm thinking about leasing a car for the first time but getting cold feet due to number of horror stories on internet forums about people being hit big repair bills for damage they claim wasn't there when the car was handed back. MB finance in particular keep cropping up in these posts. MB is the marquee I am considering leasing.
A lot of these stories are from a few years ago and was wondering if it has got any better , really looking to hear about peoples experiences they have had at hand back time, good or bad ,as is the case with this sort of thing people tend to post about a bad experience but not when things went well.
A lot of these stories are from a few years ago and was wondering if it has got any better , really looking to hear about peoples experiences they have had at hand back time, good or bad ,as is the case with this sort of thing people tend to post about a bad experience but not when things went well.
Had a Mini & a Golf collected last year.
Mini was an absolute wreck for a 4yr old car, damage to several panels wheels very badly scuffed & also some damage to a plastic tray under car that was visible from pavement only 1 key, no tyre pump or gloop & MOT expiry 2 days after collection!
Chap came from auction company, Mannheim I think, made a list of all damage & shortage, hoisted it up onto a low loader & took it away. Approx 3 weeks later our company was invoiced for about £1000 iirc. I did notice there was no mention of the plastic tray damage or 1 of the damaged panels on the invoice.
Seems we were charged on a trade basis for the key, pump & gloop, think bodywork must have been at reduced rates too.
Wish we had known before as Golf cost us a lot for retail bodywork 2 months prior!
The Golf was collected by BCA, who first sent a man to inspect & print a damage report & invoice then he arranged a collection 2 or 3 days later. We kept car in our carpark BCA driver came to our office to collect & didnt reinspect.
I seem to remember the inspector he told me BCA were just about to take on Mercedes business so I would say beware as he was very thorough. There is an industry standard for acceptable damage so If I were you I would try to obtain a copy of that before you commit to a deal.
Mini was an absolute wreck for a 4yr old car, damage to several panels wheels very badly scuffed & also some damage to a plastic tray under car that was visible from pavement only 1 key, no tyre pump or gloop & MOT expiry 2 days after collection!
Chap came from auction company, Mannheim I think, made a list of all damage & shortage, hoisted it up onto a low loader & took it away. Approx 3 weeks later our company was invoiced for about £1000 iirc. I did notice there was no mention of the plastic tray damage or 1 of the damaged panels on the invoice.
Seems we were charged on a trade basis for the key, pump & gloop, think bodywork must have been at reduced rates too.
Wish we had known before as Golf cost us a lot for retail bodywork 2 months prior!
The Golf was collected by BCA, who first sent a man to inspect & print a damage report & invoice then he arranged a collection 2 or 3 days later. We kept car in our carpark BCA driver came to our office to collect & didnt reinspect.
I seem to remember the inspector he told me BCA were just about to take on Mercedes business so I would say beware as he was very thorough. There is an industry standard for acceptable damage so If I were you I would try to obtain a copy of that before you commit to a deal.
I handed back "my" Merc SLK250 three weeks ago and the process was painless. Inspection bloke was only here for about 20 minutes; pronounced the car up to standard (it was, bar a small scuff on one alloy). I signed to confirm this, and the collection driver arrived later that day, having 'phoned in advance. I got a letter shortly afterwards from MB Finance confirming that there was nothing to pay.
I think they must have changed their procedures because the internet is full of scare stories - from my perspective, MB (or their agents) were very professional. Apparently the de-fleeting centre is in Kent........if anyone is thinking of buying KR13 CEF it has been well looked after. But still sounds like a tractor.
Mike.
I think they must have changed their procedures because the internet is full of scare stories - from my perspective, MB (or their agents) were very professional. Apparently the de-fleeting centre is in Kent........if anyone is thinking of buying KR13 CEF it has been well looked after. But still sounds like a tractor.
Mike.
Brave Fart said:
I think they must have changed their procedures because the internet is full of scare stories -
That does sound very different - I have a Merc and the Merc forums are full of tales from people who say they'll never lease a Merc again. Producing the invoice there and then sounds different too - people used to complain that they'd get a bill weeks later. It does seem that if you challenged the bill strongly enough, they'd back down - my brother did that when he was billed a month after returning his utterly immaculate 2yr old Golf. I believe Merc and VW both used to use Jet Logistics.I had an SLK CDI go back a year ago, it had previously been stuck in a hedge doing £8k's damage and a kind soul reversed into it shortly after adjusting the front bumper slightly. After the two lots of damage it was far from mint but on its return it was cleaner than a clean thing and they made no further charges, probably because they didn't really look at it.
Not the best 18 months ownership!
Not the best 18 months ownership!
Martin_M said:
I had a corsa version. I had a diamond cut alloy wheel repaired and the bonnet repainted due to lots of chip. Inspector didn't notice a crease on one of the panels and I had nothing more to pay. That was with ALD Automotive and I leased from Pentagon.
You leased a corsa? Abarth EsseEsse handed back in November.
My wife's inability to park next to stationery objects, coupled with diamond cut alloys, meant I could not for love nor money* get them refurbished prior to the handback, and all 4 were scuffed. I feared the worst but the chap that came out said that, apart from the wheels there were a few stone chips and a single scratch and off he went. About a week later, a bill for the wheels and the scratch came through - £35 a corner and £20 for a polish. The stone chips were deemed fair wear and tear.
I wouldn't lease/PCP again, for other reasons, but I had a really good experience with FGA capital (the Fiat group).
My wife's inability to park next to stationery objects, coupled with diamond cut alloys, meant I could not for love nor money* get them refurbished prior to the handback, and all 4 were scuffed. I feared the worst but the chap that came out said that, apart from the wheels there were a few stone chips and a single scratch and off he went. About a week later, a bill for the wheels and the scratch came through - £35 a corner and £20 for a polish. The stone chips were deemed fair wear and tear.
I wouldn't lease/PCP again, for other reasons, but I had a really good experience with FGA capital (the Fiat group).
- Well I could at some place in liverpool if I could do without the car for a week, and it would cost £600 to get all 4 done..
Personally I think a lot of people who cry murder about lease return charges haven't actually read the wear and tear guidelines. Some people I know have an idea of wear and tear that is very different to the BVRLA standard - "Oh it's three years old, of course the wheels are kerbed and the bumpers are scuffed".....
The other way it can go wrong is sheer stupidity from the admin department.....
The only problem I had with handing mine back was that they couldn't find a stamp in the service book so tried to charge me for missing a service.
It was in the book, but it was a whole page stuck in by the dealer not a little stamp. I explained this to three separate people, but they wouldn't let me talk to the person actually checking the book and every time it came back that they couldn't find it. In the end I sent them a copy of the invoice from the service and that satisfied them, so I'd always advise keeping copies of everything.
The kicker was that the "fine" for missing a service was less than the cost of having had the service done. Duh.
The other way it can go wrong is sheer stupidity from the admin department.....
The only problem I had with handing mine back was that they couldn't find a stamp in the service book so tried to charge me for missing a service.
It was in the book, but it was a whole page stuck in by the dealer not a little stamp. I explained this to three separate people, but they wouldn't let me talk to the person actually checking the book and every time it came back that they couldn't find it. In the end I sent them a copy of the invoice from the service and that satisfied them, so I'd always advise keeping copies of everything.
The kicker was that the "fine" for missing a service was less than the cost of having had the service done. Duh.
Stories over the years.
We had a fleet of flat red Volvos which got logo'd up for a sakes team and as promo vehicles.
Well you've seen ex-Post Office vans.... Red paint fades very quickly and after 3 years just before hand back the graphics were removed to reveal 'ghost' writing logos and swirls.
It cost a lot to get the paint corrected.
We had a pool car, a little Lupo. The agent said he'd never seen a car so bad. Damage to every panel including a dent in the roof.
We'd made this bloke redundant. He'd handed back his newish Golf GTi which sat for months in the corner of a car park occasionally used. It was being inspected by the agent who declared that the car had been badly repaired after a decent front end shunt. It was a mystery to us as the bloke who owned was long gone.
Years later I met him at an airport and got chatting. He'd crashed it when new into his gate or wall and had a dodgy pal sort out a cheap repair. He had been on a warning at work or something and was really worried about the hand back but got the push before. There was of course nothing the firm could do. No way of proving it was him.
Then there was the lost Hinda CRV. It was a big firm with offices from the south coast to Scotland.
Emails were sent out asking the user to cone forward. The car had become a pool car in Birmingham then the trail went dead. Eventually reported missing presumed stolen to the police. Our guess was that a disgruntled ex emotes probably took it out of the UK and either flogged it or just left it somewhere.
We had a fleet of flat red Volvos which got logo'd up for a sakes team and as promo vehicles.
Well you've seen ex-Post Office vans.... Red paint fades very quickly and after 3 years just before hand back the graphics were removed to reveal 'ghost' writing logos and swirls.
It cost a lot to get the paint corrected.
We had a pool car, a little Lupo. The agent said he'd never seen a car so bad. Damage to every panel including a dent in the roof.
We'd made this bloke redundant. He'd handed back his newish Golf GTi which sat for months in the corner of a car park occasionally used. It was being inspected by the agent who declared that the car had been badly repaired after a decent front end shunt. It was a mystery to us as the bloke who owned was long gone.
Years later I met him at an airport and got chatting. He'd crashed it when new into his gate or wall and had a dodgy pal sort out a cheap repair. He had been on a warning at work or something and was really worried about the hand back but got the push before. There was of course nothing the firm could do. No way of proving it was him.
Then there was the lost Hinda CRV. It was a big firm with offices from the south coast to Scotland.
Emails were sent out asking the user to cone forward. The car had become a pool car in Birmingham then the trail went dead. Eventually reported missing presumed stolen to the police. Our guess was that a disgruntled ex emotes probably took it out of the UK and either flogged it or just left it somewhere.
Merc were caught with their pants down. With values and the economy plummeting they decided to play hardball on all damage and ignored BVRLA guidelines. With an inefficient booking in process they tried to charge for damage caused post rental. Now with so many scare stories about them they've had to pull their socks up and be reasonable.
Returned a leased Note last summer, the chap who collected it (and delivered its replacement) seemed surprised that it had been washed, valeted inside and that the only damage was a small stonechip on the bonnet which was considered acceptable under BVRLA guidance.
The new one, well, that's another story... despite it having the Nissan Around View camera setup, the other half has managed to scuff 3 out of 4 corners and one of the wing mirrors. Fortunately she's got 2 and a half years before it goes back to save up for some smart repairs, damned if I'm getting stung by the lease company for her careless parking!
The new one, well, that's another story... despite it having the Nissan Around View camera setup, the other half has managed to scuff 3 out of 4 corners and one of the wing mirrors. Fortunately she's got 2 and a half years before it goes back to save up for some smart repairs, damned if I'm getting stung by the lease company for her careless parking!
charltjr said:
The kicker was that the "fine" for missing a service was less than the cost of having had the service done. Duh.
Interesting point about the service. I'm still not sure if the 2nd service will be due on a 24 month contract if i only do 15k miles on a 10k per year contract . It will save quite a bit if I don't need to do it as 2nd service is expensive. Conflicting info on this. I guess it will all be clear in the contract.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff