BMW lease return as is or replace?

[cerbfan]

My iX is due back in a few weeks and have some damage to the lower black trim of the front bumper from stupidly sliding down our steep drive on ice.

Question is how much am I likely to get charged for this and should I look to replace it? I can get a secondhand one for around £200 and then the hassle of changing it out. I've had many lease cars but never returned anything with damage as severe as this before.

[Dog Star]

I’d get a hairdryer on that and you should be able to pop that back out to the correct shape.

Personally I never fix anything before handing back a lease - they either don’t bother or charge a lot less than getting it fixed yourself (also without the ballache). Tgis is especially true of wheels.

I actually had very similar damage to a body colored bumper (it was scraped and cracked) done two days before return on my prior E class estate. The BCA inspector logged it as a one inch scratch and I got charged £68 or something. I thought they would charge for a new bumper!




Obviously your inspection experience may differ!!!

[cerbfan]

Good call to try and reshape it with a bit of heat.

I called BMW and turns out that lower valance only costs £165+VAT direct from them. Much cheaper than I thought. Think I'll just go ahead and get it at that cost and not take the risk on getting an inspector whose had a bad day and tries to charge me the earth.

[scot_aln]

Do Cotswold BMW still offer a discount if you say your a member of one of the many BMW forums? I think they used to offer 10-15% plus free carriage.

Think your risk in not repairing it might be that they flag potential hidden damage and a much bigger bill whereas replaced they wouldn't even be looking extensively at that area.

[Matt_T]

If you can repair it yourself for £200 I'd do that. As the person above mentioned, it mitigates the risk of them deciding it is a £2000 repair.

[raspy]

cerbfan said:

Good call to try and reshape it with a bit of heat.

I called BMW and turns out that lower valance only costs £165+VAT direct from them. Much cheaper than I thought. Think I'll just go ahead and get it at that cost and not take the risk on getting an inspector whose had a bad day and tries to charge me the earth.

Why would they charge you the earth? I've also got an iX on lease with Alphabet, and they have transparent fixed charges for any damage that falls outside of fair wear and tear. See below for an example. Surely your lease company has a similar document.

I've got a couple of scuffs on the alloys from kerbs, which would fall under fair wear and tear.

[Dog Star]

You also need to remember that they won’t actually fix the damage or do some mythical “check for underlying damage”; the BCA bloke will give it the once over, tell you what it costs and log it on his tablet. He doesn’t care. The car will almost always just be punted through auction. Damage isn’t repaired. It’ll be repaired by whoever subsequently retails it. Every car I’ve leased has done this.