Can I have advice from people who have leased cars before?

[moneyworries8]

We are leasing our current car and need to hand it back in soon.

I'm just wondering, what's your experience of being charged for damage? We have a chip in the paint on the boot which is down to the metal although it's less than an inch long. We also have scratches to the side of the car where someone opened a car door into ours.

On the other hand, our interior is pristine (DH takes great care of it) and we're also way under the mileage we paid for.

Is it likely we'll be charged an arm and leg?

Thanks for your help.

I had a mini on lease which had a small dint in the door, about half inch. Also one alloy scraped and they didn’t charge anything. Probably depends on how the lease company so difficult to say.

I was charged £200 ish for a few scratches but 2 were quite long/ deep and had started to rust. I should have sorted them before but it was roughly the amount I'd been quoted before I handed it in.

My first lease car went back after 3 years with nothing to pay. My second one which I've had for 3.5 years went back yesterday and the guy collecting it mentioned damage to one of the the alloys so I'm waiting to hear what the cost will be ( I'm assuming there will be a cost)

Oh Angel I thought they'd have to tell you when they collect what the charges would be? As you can tell by my username, I'm not exactly in the best financial position so this is a bit stressful for me.

I had considered getting it repaired but apparently if they notice you've repaired it, they will still charge you for the damage so I'm now inclined to leave it until we hand it back.

That sounds promising fire, I hope we're as lucky with it as you were.

MadauntofA I could manage £200 but I'm worrying incase they say it's much more!

The man collecting mine noted down the damage (we agreed and i'd taken photos beforehand in case there was a disagreement.) He couldn't tell me the cost, but I got a breakdown pretty quickly, and they arranged to take it in 3 or 4 monthly instalments so the cost was spread out as well

Also the small ones weren't counted, just the larger ones. You should have an agreement from the company about what is considered normal wear and tear (which they won't charge for.)

I think there's some kind of guidelines they follow, so sort of fixed pricing. In my experience they were very fair. Scuffed alloys and a couple of supermarket dents cost me 30 quid. The cars all end up at auctions.

None of ours are that small I'd say (purely because the small one is quite deep and the more shallow scratch is quite long). I'll upload pics in the morning.

I hope you're right and they are fair with us girlsnightin 🙏🏼

Mine goes back tomorrow and we had to send them a message with photos re damage. We had someone key the car and a couple of scratches in a car park, plus the alloy wheels are scuffed due to the very limited tight parking I have a work primarily. Think they sent dh the amount knocked off today but not caught up with him about it yet. It'll be £200-300 I suspect.

In the past we've sorted any small damage out ourselves as its been cheaper to do so. Just not had chance this time as the new car is coming quicker than we'd initially planned.

The leases normally say reasonable wear and tear but tbh they generally want them back with no damage. They also seem more bothered by exterior than interior.

Most lease companies follow BVRAL guidelines on wear and tear, I found this on the web which may give you a guide, however it says £60 for alloys and I paid £30?

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.arval.co.uk/sites/uk/files/media/documents/arval-car-damage-matrix-v3.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiby6HXtZvgAhWUShUIHejNBrkQFjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw1N84nS1a1kVAnNrbP5fnjZ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.arval.co.uk/sites/uk/files/media/documents/arval-car-damage-matrix-v3.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiby6HXtZvgAhWUShUIHejNBrkQFjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw1N84nS1a1kVAnNrbP5fnjZ

My first two leases went back with small marks and no charge. My most recent one I got charged £300 and something for a couple of marks, some of which I’d never noticed. And you don’t find it til later when they’ve done a final inspection.

We found that the lease company charged for the scratched wheel rims very reasonably. I think £14 a wheel no matter what the damage! But they rob you blind for chips - get it sorted independently before you hand it back

Can you buy some t cut and use that in some of the scratches?

We did that with our first lease and we didn't get charged a thing. Just done it with the most recent car and it covered all the scratches really well ( we bought the stuff that has colour in it to match the car)

Here are some pics of the damage. This is the first chop/scratch. As you can see it's down to the metal but is small.

*chip

This is the one where we've had someone open their car door into ours.

if that's all there is, you might not get charged anything at all, or if you do, it won't be much.

I sent back a Skoda Citigo just over a year ago which was on a PCP with VW finance (not sure what difference leasing/different companies makes).

It was pretty shabby - there were two scuffs on the back bumper that I would describe as quite bad as I backed it into the corner of a brick wall, which made a long deep gouge in the paint, also a bus brushed past the corner of the bumper, and also there were a couple of door chips and one on the wing mirror and like you, I was worried about charges.

Just before it went back, a man from an auction company came to assess the car, took a load of photos, made notes, connected his ipad to a printer in the boot of his car and handed me a bill for about £80. He said most of the damage fell into 'fair wear and tear or would polish out'.

I was stunned and just about managed not to kiss him .

Getting the chips done by Chipsaway before it goes back is one option, but I would caution against this, as I got a quote for mine and it was nearly £400, and I'm glad I didn't go for it, because the assessor said that a lot of the charges they make are to redo repairs done by the Chipsaway type people. I don't know if this depends on the type of damage or the paint colour (mine was metallic green, flat white might be different, although there are many shades of white, as I learnt when trying to buy a new panel for a uPVC door).

Similar chip on inside of door rim due to seat belt quoted 45 quid just before christmas - but actually no charge has actually come through. GUy had an ipad and he photo'd any issues and an assessment made there and then

We lease our cars from Ford. My last one went back a few weeks ago. During the lease I had someone go in the back of me and I had to have the bumper replaced, but that was paid by the third party's insurance. It went back to Ford with just a minor mark on the back where the dog had scratched it with a claw when getting in/out of the back but Ford weren't bothered by the mark. Apart from that it was immaculate, no marks on the paintwork or alloys. As it was it such good condition, and was low mileage, it was better than book price and they gave us a good discount off our next lease.

Sounds as though I may be best to wait and see what Ford say rather than repairing ourselves.

We had nothing with ours last year. Car was thoroughly inspected on collection and the few age related stone chips were not charged for.
Was very pleased actually.

Just hoping we're lucky when we hand it back. I dread to think what they could get away with charging us if they choose to.

Just hoping we're lucky when we hand it back. I dread to think what they could get away with charging us if they choose to.