Lease car collection - bit of a p*ss take

[paulfoel]

I knew about 2 dents both of which in my opinion were smaller than allowed by the guidelines.
Guy turned up with brush to brush the water off and managed to find 5 dents. Trying it on methinks.
Also, noted alloy wheel damage. Lease company had previously told me they dont charge for alloy wheel damage.

£400 quoted. Is this normal where they try it on like this? Never handed back a lease car before.

[Krikkit]

Sounds normal to me, I'd just pay it and take the easy way. Maybe you could argue them down, but is it worth the effort?

[DailyHack]

End of the day, its not your car, it is borrowed, so imo they have every right to be as precise as possible, even if it is a little anal and hard to hear - that is why I do not lease, the fear I may damage a car just doing day to day things, isn't really worth it to me.

[rsbmw]

You've left 5 dents in the car and damaged at least one wheel, but think you shouldn't have to pay for it? It's you who is trying it on, not them.

I don't believe any lease company has told you they don't charge for alloy wheel damage, they all follow BVRLA guidelines.

[akirk]

presumably he showed you the dents and both you and he photographed them beside a ruler?
were they above or below the guidelines?

allow wheel - would definitely expect to pay for that - someone has to...

[anonymous-user]

It's cheaper to get a dent guy in, depends if you can be bothered. Whenever we sent a car back we usually ended up with 4-500 quid for something. That's just the way it goes.

[SWoll]

DailyHack said:

End of the day, its not your car, it is borrowed, so imo they have every right to be as precise as possible, even if it is a little anal and hard to hear - that is why I do not lease, the fear I may damage a car just doing day to day things, isn't really worth it to me.

I struggle with this logic. So if you buy a new car and damage it doing day to day things what happens when you come to sell? I assume you'd either get it repaired or accept a lower price for the vehicle due to the damage?

We've had 4 lease cars now and only 1 of them had any charges on return due to a decent size chunk having been taken out of a diamond cut alloy. Got a quote from a repairer of £100 plus all of the hassle so didn't bother having it done. On return MB only charged £50..

Edited by SWoll on Monday 8th April 11:44

[DailyHack]

SWoll said:

I struggle with this logic. So if you buy a new car and damage it doing day to day things what happens when you come to sell? I assume you'd either get it repaired or accept a lower price for the vehicle due to the damage?

I keep my cars for quite a long time, so usually dings or knocks (minor ones at least) stay with the car, as the car wont be worth much anyway come to sell, not enough to really affect sale price, I treat my cars well, so don't go out with the purpose of damaging my car, but life happens, car park scrapes are my bug bear, got left with a nice scrape on my rear bumper of my 3 series, it will stay on there now

Edited by DailyHack on Monday 8th April 11:51

[Dog Star]

My technique.....

- make sure that any direct debits are stopped immediately after your final payment is made. This is just in case they try and take any alleged damage monies by DD.
- when you get a letter off them asking for £xxx send one back and dispute it. This will stop the clock.
- when they write back to you wait a month before replying
- always wait a month before making any reply BY POST
- ask for some better photos. By this time the car is long gone so they can't

I got a 500 quid bill down to 50 using this technique. Just spin it out.

[RB Will]

paulfoel said:

I knew about 2 dents both of which in my opinion were smaller than allowed by the guidelines.
Guy turned up with brush to brush the water off and managed to find 5 dents. Trying it on methinks.
Also, noted alloy wheel damage. Lease company had previously told me they dont charge for alloy wheel damage.

£400 quoted. Is this normal where they try it on like this? Never handed back a lease car before.

Would be useful to see pics of all the "damage" as others have said they judge damage according to BVRLA guidelines which are quite fair and specific about what constitutes an acceptable dent/scratch/chip so not sure your opinion counts against a ruler. You should have had one of these guides if not see here.

https://issuu.com/bfwsn67/docs/bvrla_fair_wear_and...

[paulfoel]

DailyHack said:

End of the day, its not your car, it is borrowed, so imo they have every right to be as precise as possible, even if it is a little anal and hard to hear - that is why I do not lease, the fear I may damage a car just doing day to day things, isn't really worth it to me.

Ummm which is why there are BVRLA guidelines.... They do NOT have have the right to be as precise as they want.

They are lending you the car for 3 years to USE. The rules are they can expect it back in decent condition after being USED normally for this time. Not to expect the car back in same condition.

Edited by paulfoel on Monday 8th April 12:28

[paulfoel]

rsbmw said:

You've left 5 dents in the car and damaged at least one wheel, but think you shouldn't have to pay for it? It's you who is trying it on, not them.

I don't believe any lease company has told you they don't charge for alloy wheel damage, they all follow BVRLA guidelines.

5 dents which I believe are smaller than the minimum in BVRLA guidelines..

I have an email advisng me that I do not need to get alloys repaired because they have a policy of not charging for alloy wheel damage.

[paulfoel]

SWoll said:

I struggle with this logic. So if you buy a new car and damage it doing day to day things what happens when you come to sell? I assume you'd either get it repaired or accept a lower price for the vehicle due to the damage?

We've had 4 lease cars now and only 1 of them had any charges on return due to a decent size chunk having been taken out of a diamond cut alloy. Got a quote from a repairer of £100 plus all of the hassle so didn't bother having it done. On return MB only charged £50..

Edited by SWoll on Monday 8th April 11:44

To be fair, I was quoted £95 for the alloy repair which is why I asked the leasing company (and they said dont bother). Now they are quoting £60.

[Mo28]

Which leasing company is it?

[anonymous-user]

Not all companies use the BVRLA guidelines, some manufacturer schemes are much more strict.

I'd challenge it. Ask them for a copy of the guidelines that they use when determining if damage is fair wear and tear and picture evidence of why the dents aren't covered by that. They should be able to show you shots with a ruler or similar in shot to confirm the damage.

[paulfoel]

RB Will said:

Would be useful to see pics of all the "damage" as others have said they judge damage according to BVRLA guidelines which are quite fair and specific about what constitutes an acceptable dent/scratch/chip so not sure your opinion counts against a ruler. You should have had one of these guides if not see here.

https://issuu.com/bfwsn67/docs/bvrla_fair_wear_and...

Yes and checked myself against these guidelines. Yeh I want to see these pics now as well.

[paulfoel]

Mo28 said:

Which leasing company is it?

LEASYS (Fiat)

[paulfoel]

Dog Star said:

My technique.....

- make sure that any direct debits are stopped immediately after your final payment is made. This is just in case they try and take any alleged damage monies by DD.
- when you get a letter off them asking for £xxx send one back and dispute it. This will stop the clock.
- when they write back to you wait a month before replying
- always wait a month before making any reply BY POST
- ask for some better photos. By this time the car is long gone so they can't

I got a 500 quid bill down to 50 using this technique. Just spin it out.

Yes Im wondering if there is an element of "try it on and see if anyone is dull enough to stump up" here.

They took the last payment today (for next month) sadly so I can't stop it. I have stopped for further DDs.
Then again, I do owe then about £350 for excess mileage charges so the £240 they took for next months lease will pay towards that.

[akirk]

paulfoel said:

Yes and checked myself against these guidelines. Yeh I want to see these pics now as well.

the few lease cars I have owned I have gone over microscopically before the return date and photographed it - any possible dent or scratched is photographed by a ruler for accuracy - then when the chap comes to pick it up I casually highlight any issue - mention that I have taken photos etc. and then offer them coffee and chocolate biscuits

the fact that I do this I am sure has contributed to £0 cost collections each time...

[RB Will]

paulfoel said:

RB Will said:

Would be useful to see pics of all the "damage" as others have said they judge damage according to BVRLA guidelines which are quite fair and specific about what constitutes an acceptable dent/scratch/chip so not sure your opinion counts against a ruler. You should have had one of these guides if not see here.

https://issuu.com/bfwsn67/docs/bvrla_fair_wear_and...

Yes and checked myself against these guidelines. Yeh I want to see these pics now as well.

Were you not there for the inspection? I thought you were as you said he brushed water off. Did he not show you the damage? When my last one went back the guy came to my house to inspect it and we both went round the car. He took pics of every panel, inside, boot, engine. I didn't have any damage that needed repair work but I would have been shown at the time anything that was a problem. this was with VWFS on a Skoda Octavia VRS.

I had to sign the report he made so was presuming you would too? I guess this would have been the point where you said what other dents I only know of 2! And he would have shown them to you?


I'm starting to think I have completely misinterpreted the situation and its more like. You hand car back and leave before they have inspected it and they have subsequently "found" a load of damage?