Lease car return with cosmetic damage - repair or take the hit?

[Minstadave]

Just coming up to the end of a 3 year lease and managed to scrape the bumper on my car catching the rear quarter and a small amount of the boot. Kicking myself currently.

First lease car so not sure the best way forwards, get it repaired myself/go through insurance or just leave it to the return assessment and take the hit. Arval's paperwork isn't really clear what it'd cost as it'll depend on whether it's paint only (looks really cheap) or a full bumper replacement (lol thousands).

Anyone have any experience/wisdon?

 

[Dis86]

Get a quote from a couple of bodywork places to start with.

 

[Kill_Phil]

Get a quote from a couple of bodywork places to start with.

Yeah this, by all accounts most lease companies are fairly reasonable when it comes to charges but will likely get it done cheaper locally

 

[dlockers]

Check your lease return conditions. They generally have a quite easy to understand fixed charge schedule.

 

[Minstadave]

Check your lease return conditions. They generally have a quite easy to understand fixed charge schedule.

I did and unfortunately its unclear as if its paint only its cheap (<£100 a panel) but its its bumper replacement they have no cap.

 

[radderfire]

So you can't tell yourself whether a new bumper would be required?

 

[Minstadave]

So you can't tell yourself whether a new bumper would be required?

Not really, there's some trim thats slightly off but otherwise it doesn't look bad. Approved bodyshop will likely say a new bumper job (seems to be the norm). I'll take it in when I'm back from holiday to a local place.

 

[Minstadave]

Finally got the bill for this after many months, it was substantially cheaper and a lot less hassle just leaving it for the lease company to sort out.

My bill was £344 and quotes were anywhere from £600 to >£1000.

 

[Nasher]

If it's just a paint scuff I'd fix it myself using sandpaper and rattle cans, for about £20-30

If you aren't going down the bare metal it's easy. After some machine polishing they won't notice.

 

[SeatIbiza]

Finally got the bill for this after many months, it was substantially cheaper and a lot less hassle just leaving it for the lease company to sort out.

My bill was £344 and quotes were anywhere from £600 to >£1000.

I had this when I handed the Octavia back many years ago. VWFS. I'd dropped my MTB against the back bumper and gave it a scratch. They sent a letter saying "sort it all out before hand back".

Naturally, I couldn't be bothered and in the end they charged me about £100 for that and £15 each for two alloys that were scuffed. I've never gone into one again, but I can't imagine that process is changed.

Ultimately, they just flog them at auction so I doubt they do any of the repairs anyway...! Mine was collected by BCA and sold at one after they offered it to me for about £1500 more than they ended up getting...

 

[jpaul]

guess they're/leeser still not paying vat if they do the repair ... and how much does the chancellor let them bill for it (our london garage did it ?)

Mine was collected by BCA and sold at one after they offered it to me for about £1500 more than they ended up getting..

yeh albeit you knew the history of the car and maybe it would have been worth it to you.

 

[Greebo]

Finally got the bill for this after many months, it was substantially cheaper and a lot less hassle just leaving it for the lease company to sort out.

My bill was £344 and quotes were anywhere from £600 to >£1000.

Our experience as well at work. We own our own car bodyshop and we got our bodyshop guy to quote on a few lease vehs going back and every single one of them the lease company charged around 50% of our cost of doing it in house. So we just send them back untouched.

Missing stamped service books and parcel shelves are lethal though. We once forgot to send a parcel shelf back on an Audi SQ7 and they charged £995 for that. And no way would they buy one, it would go through auction without it and no way would the car make £1000 less at auction for no parcel shelf.

 

[johnny6]

Worked in and around the leasing industry for about 20 years. My advice is:

If it is a major repair, needing insurance claims and body shops, get the repair done.

If it’s a few smart repairs just leave them and get the lease company to invoice you.

Sure the cost could be more expensive through the lease provider but it is highly unlikely, unless you can get the repairs done on the cheap for cash over the counter. But even then be careful of ‘poor previous repair’ costs being invoiced to you by the lease provider. Cheap repairs are fine until you get charged twice for a bad repair.

Leasing companies work to the BVRLA standard in general, or a variation of the BVRLA fair wear and tear standard. So minor scuffs and dents should not be invoiced. If the damage is over the BVRLA standard but still a smart repair leasing companies generally work off a smart repair cost matrix which is reviewed against industry smart repair prices. So you might be invoiced at the same price you could get the repair completed for, but there is a good chance it will be under retail cost price.

Just don't be one of those people who swears blind that the damage was not there when you know it was. Just be honest, hold your hands up and pay your money.

Obviously if the damage wasn’t there when the vehicle was picked up from you argue you case. I’ve seen some shenanigans at BCA auction sites that have happened before the inspection has been completed.

 

[Greebo]

Just don't be one of those people who swears blind that the damage was not there when you know it was. Just be honest, hold your hands up and pay your money.

Obviously if the damage wasn’t there when the vehicle was picked up from you argue you case. I’ve seen some shenanigans at BCA auction sites that have happened before the inspection has been completed.

All our lease vehicles with various different lease companies are inspected on collection (around 30mins) and photos of all damaged taken and signed for.