10 Things To Do When Returning A Leased Vehicle..

[RickLee]

I recently experienced the return of my wife's leased 2004 Mazda 6 Wagon. Here are my lessons learned:

1. Ask the dealership for deals on your next vehicle. Start this about 3 months before you return your leased vehicle, because sometimes they can waive a few lease payments on the end of your existing lease. You are offering to be a Loyal Customer, demonstrating your Lifetime Value, and you want to be treated better than the average person walking in. Remember to ask to see the used cars as well as new cars. Negotiate hard if you find something you like. I failed to do this at my Mazda dealership, but I really wanted and got a used Subaru for my wife's next car, and she really likes it. So, I was already planning NOT to be a repeat customer.

2. Show the leased vehicle to a competing dealership of the same automaker. Ask a salesperson to check any damage for his opinion if it's worth fixing yourself to save money. If you are worried about this, do not let him see the VIN or tell him which dealership you will return the car to.

3. Repair major damage yourself. A week before I was to return the car, I paid $350 to repair a damaged rear bumper and tailpipe. Had I failed to do this, I estimate the dealership would have charged me $700+ which can be more than double what I paid to repair it.

4. Do not worry about minor damage. I left a few dings and scratches, after reading the wear and tear guidelines Mada sent me by mail a few months before the end of my lease. In the end, the dealership did not charge me for the minor damages.

5. Do not worry if you did not follow regular scheduled maintenance. I was never asked if I followed recommended maintenance services at every XX thousand kilometres. During my lease, I skipped several expensive services - but I did maintain regular oil changes, and replaced fluids and brake pads based on my own budget and judgment. I had a lightbulb that needed replacing. I lost one set of keys. If the car can drive on its own into the dealership, they will do what they must do to get it Used Car Ready at their own expense.

6. Get Ready for the Inspection - Mazda outsourced to a company called Autovin to check the car in detail before return. I scheduled the Autovin inspection a day before my return of the car to the dealership. I made sure to get the major damage repair work done a couple of days before the inspection date. This gives a few days buffer to redo any shoddy repair work the first time, and to drive the after-repaired car and get it dirty in the areas that were fixed. On inspection day, I did not wash the car. I took out all personal contents of the vehicle including the baby seat (lots of cheerios can accumulate there!), but I did not bother to clean the interior. Some things my inspector from Autovin did that surprised me: He was willing to inspect the car on my driveway or my place of work. He used a handheld device to check various spots on the vehicle if it was original paint. He checked if there was tampering with the odometer. He measured the depth of tread on the original tires, as well as the spare tire. He looked down the sides of the car to check for signs of collision. He spent about 20 minutes and must have checked 50 or more things. At the end I got a 2 page Inspection Report right away confirming the quality of the condition.

7. Schedule the Return of the vehicle with the dealership. Bring the original tires, keys, owners manual, and the Inspection Report. I recommend you bring along a friend in a 2nd car to drive you back home, in case your dealership does not offer their courtesy shuttle (mine did not). Having a friend at the dealership - a potential new customer - puts added pressure on them to treat you nice at the end of your lease. Remember to get back your license plates, and bring a bag to hold the dirty plates in case your dealership does not offer bags (mine did not - but in the end gave me a large envelope).

8. Offer to Sell the dealership your used Winter Tires. I offered them to the Sales Manager, telling him the winter tires may help seal a deal at their Used Car lot. He seriously considered it. By the way, if you drive in snowy winters, I highly recommend getting Winter Tires for your leased vehicle, first for safety reasons, and second because it saves on tread wear on the original tires - which may get charged for excess wear at the return of lease.

9. Remember to claim your refundable security deposit. If you were wise enough to get one at the beginning of your lease, congratulations. For those who don't know, this up-front payment will serve to lower your monthly payments, just like a down payment, and is fully refundable at the end of the lease. There is no interest earned on the deposit. It was great for me because I had gone over mileage-wise and the deposit more than covered the cost of the extra miles I drove.

10. Ask for something in writing to confirm they got their car back. My dealership at first just told me "you can leave". I insisted for something in writing, and the Lease Manager produced a document finalizing the return and confirming what my net security deposit refund would be.

In a future article I will write about leasing vs buying in a frugal world.

[erkkimies]

Nice tips indeed , its better to be sharp than sorry in these kind of things

[purplefdu]

Leasing is definitely going to become more difficult in the years to come so such tips will be useful for those who still have leases.

[Greg]

I recently ran into LeaseTrader.com, where you can dump your car lease or take over someone else's lease. Seems like an interesting concept. Has anyone tried it?

[singleguymoney]

It would probably be a good idea to take photos of the vehicle in case there was damaged caused to the vehicle once you turned the vehicle in.

[wees]

Oh.. The tips are really cool RickLee. Very wise, Very nice and good tips. It's better to be ready and all. Keep it up.

[Rivo Daddy]

Hello Ricky,

Thanks for the great tips, we are returning our vehicle in a few months and have started our research for a new vehicle and the lease return process. We are scared that we will get *DINGED* to heck, which would possible force us to buy out the vehicle.

Do you think that we will get dinged for

1. Wear on the drivers side leather seat
2. rock chips on the hood and grill, I had them repaired but they might notice the new paint?
3. Scrapes on the top of the roof rack, from going to the underground T&T parking, just scrapes, yellow paint, from the big circular bars they hang there for clearance height.
4. Some gouges in the plastic around the back of the SUV tailgate opening from large Home improvement stuff scratching the interior.

Other than these few things, it is in overall good shape and I did do all of the recommended services.

Thanks for your input, and I can wait to read your new thread "In a future article I will write about leasing vs buying in a frugal world"

[dolcevita]

hello Ricky,

I'll b returning my Mazda 3 in July 2009 and your tips will be very useful. I have a question for you. you mentioned that you had your car's rear bumper fixed. Did it involve repainting it? if so, Did the inspector pick that up with the handheld device that checks for the original paint?

[RickLee]

..no, he missed testing the bumper and the new paint job. Lucky me.

RICKLEE

[GeeZee]

Would you recommend leasing a car? I've considered it, but just don't know....