Recommend a lease company
Looking for my first car lease, hearing things about extortionate final repair fees and unexpected charges, apparently this is how these firms make their real money.
I can understand charges if the car has been returned in a state where it needs repair but I am talking about cars that have good back that are 7-8\10 and still been hit with a charge.
Can people please forward on a list of lease companies they have had good experiences with and also ones they would recommend to avoid.
I here that there are lease companies that offer "Smart Repair Insurance" but to me that sounds like another money maker for them but again if anyone had experience of this please let me know
Thanks in advance
Romeospadre
I can understand charges if the car has been returned in a state where it needs repair but I am talking about cars that have good back that are 7-8\10 and still been hit with a charge.
Can people please forward on a list of lease companies they have had good experiences with and also ones they would recommend to avoid.
I here that there are lease companies that offer "Smart Repair Insurance" but to me that sounds like another money maker for them but again if anyone had experience of this please let me know
Thanks in advance
Romeospadre
Same happened with a VW dealer who beat any other lease deal i found but i decided against it.
A neighbour returned her car last week that was on lease. I watched the fella who was picking it up go over her car with a fine tooth comb, even using his finger nail to check little marks. He checked for curbing, checked tyres, stone chips, scratches, top to bottom and front to back, then checked boot and under bonnet plus interior. The fella was from a leading car auctions can't remember the name, might have been BCA. He spent about 20 minutes going over it. They allow for fair wear and tear so a small trolley dint should be ok depending where it is but a big dint or long scratch won't be ok nor poor body work if it's had any done. Baldy tyres will be charged for and rips in upholstery. Always best to get scratch and dint insurance plus gap from honest John's.
I got a booklet with all the damages that are acceptable and what is chargeable - Mostly stuff like you can have this number of chips on each panel with a maximum depth and width etc..
They found no problems that were chargeable. Obviously i had some chips on the car as that is impossible to avoid!
I had lease car gap insurance to cover myself for a total write off - £100 to cover the 3 year lease, but there were additional options to cover stuff like chips, scrapes to alloy wheels etc but i didn't do that.
Think about 3 of my colleagues have lease cars aswell, and when they go back a person comes and checks over the car and it usually only takes 15 minutes so they don't go over the top and none have ever had chargeables.. When i sold my car to one of those we buy any car similar places they spend 2 hours going over the car for a comparison...
It was my first lease experience and aslong as you treat the car as you would your own and take the risk of someone in a carpark bashing your door you'll be fine.. Same with everything if a price sounds too good then they probably are a shady company and i'd avoid.
You shouldn't have any problems with charges at the end of your lease if it's through a BVRLA registered company, as they have guidelines on what is and what isn't acceptable wear and tear. There are no hidden charges. I can tell you now, if you follow the rules and look after the car you'll be fine or very unlucky. If you're careless or clumsy and damage the car, you'll probably be charged. It isn't a way of making money, they're simply passing on the reduction in value, as a damaged car won't be worth as much when you hand it back. The charges are actually quite reasonable, for example VWFS charge something like £40+VAT for a damaged alloy wheel. Try getting a refurb at a reputable company for less than that. Some people hand them back damaged and are happy to be charged, as it can be cheaper and less hassle than arranging their own repair.
Thanks @Guzzle , good point with the charges. With the prices you mention its probably worth not getting the car repaired yourself and leaving it to the lease company. Is it worth getting a price list off them for repair charges? Does this exist with all companies?
I must admit I've seen lots of lease cars with poorly kept alloys but at those prices I can see why they don't care.
VAG on the other hand was awesome, with no additional bill despite the mrs curbing two of the alloys. Hence VAG have got our business again and mercedes won't be seeing another penny.
@DKLS Many thanks for the information. Its a VW that I am looking at so this really helps.
I was expecting a bill for the alloys from VAG, and it would have been justifiable, but they classed it reasonable after 16k miles.
Its worth having a look on Pistonheads for a bit more research, there are a number of threads of Leasing deals and experiences of returning cars.