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.

Just thought I'd come back to this has I've just heard from the lease company about my car that just was collected on 31 Jan.

Thought we'd got away with nothing to pay but got a letter today asking for over £300.

The breakdown was for damage to alloys £56 ( we had expected this to be honest) and £260 for a dent on the wing.

There was absolutely no dent on the wing when it was collected!

Luckily I took photos of the car before it was taken away and they clearly show it dent free.

We emailed the company immediately and attached the photo of the wing.

They came back within an hour saying they could find no evidence of the damage and agreed to refund the £230 immediately.

Can't help thinking this is some sort of scam by the people who receive the cars and get them ready for auction.

So make sure you take photos people!

Apologies for all of the typos and bad auto corrects 🙄

Wow! What was the lease company? Our last one was Leasys, not sure who the current one is.

It was Lex auto lease. We are now on our third lease with them and they've always been fine.

They told us that the cars go straight to the auction place and someone there assesses them for damage.

I don't think this was the procedure when we sent the last one back. Our previous car went back in a worse condition and we weren't charged a penny for damage.

First thing cancel the standing order / direct debit this is because in my case they tried to take several hundred pounds from my bank account .
Take time dated photos on the day of the pick up so you can prove any damage
If they say there is damage ask for clear photos
Often they take shit photos and the damage isn’t clear in the photos
Also they rarely do the work as the cars are sent to auction pretty much straight away and sold as seen / nearly new
so ask for a invoice so you can pay the company that is doing the work direct 😂
Some are ok and some are down right scammers

Thanks Angels. Doesn't ring a bell so I don't think that's who we're with now. Good reminder though to take lots of photos yourself.
We certainly didn't and took the assessment on the drive as final. Shan't do that next time now thanks to this thread.

If you do get charged make sure to haggle - I got my bill down from £900 to £300 previously. They don’t actually carry out the repairs as the cars just get flogged at auction - as I discovered when I told them I wanted receipts with a breakdown for the repairs carried out