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V · 02-21-2016, 08:29 AM

I am currently leasing my 2014 Camaro, and I leased my 2011 Cruze before this.

I dislike leasing because it is just like renting BUT it gets me in a newer car for less, and keeps it under warranty. Plus I get bored of almost any car after 18-24 months.
I like the shorter commitment of a lease.

About damage at turn-in. There's two ways it could go initially. If you turn in the car and it ends up going back to your bank, the dealership has no say at all about what you get charged in terms of excessive wear. A third party inspects the car and determines if you owe anything. If so, then they first try to send the bill for repairs to your insurance company. However, if you are buying or leasing another car when you turn it in, the dealer can treat it as a trade-in. In that case, the see how much your buyout price is Vs. what it is worth/what they could sell it for. Such as if your buyout is 15k, and the car is worth 22k, they may decide to buy it, and give you 2-3k towards your new car. If they do that, then they are buying it and any wear items are their problem, not yours.

Here is a link to a table showing what is considered normal and excessive wear(from my current leasing company)
https://www.usbank.com/includes/pdfs...-Use-Table.pdf

When I turned in my Cruze, I did it early and the car went back to the bank and then up for auction. Three months later, they sent my insurance a bill for hail damage. I told my insurance to fight it. I had a additional policy when i got the lease that would waive up to 5000 in damages etc. However, it didn't cover one time events that created that much damage. The thing is, it wasn't hail damage and actually dings from acorns falling on my car over a few weeks. So it wasn't a one time event and it should have been waived. I sent the policy to my insurance company and they handled it somehow. Eventually I got a letter that the car had been sold at auction and that was the end of that. Didn't make me very happy with the lease turn-in process.

Now if you turn a lease in early, say you have 4 months left and you pay 400 a month, the dealer will take that 1600 and add it to your new car(you also pay additional fees the bank charges, all depends on lease agreement). its not like you get rid of the lease payments when you trade/turn-in the car. So early turn-ins don't make much sense unless you just want out of it or the dealer will give you enough for it as a trade in that it makes sense to do.

When you sign your lease agreement, you will see exactly how much your car will cost to buy at the end of the lease. But keep in mind there are also fees the banks charges if you do decide to buy it. Those fees could be 500-1000 extra.

When my camaro lease is up in 11 months, I am not sure what I will do yet. If I don't find a used car to buy outright, I will probably end up leasing another cruze. They advertise them currently for as low as 99/month with 0 down. I looked into it and I would qualify for almost that amount, (maybe 120/month). Plus it would only be a 24 month lease with <10k miles a year. (I'm currently driving under 8k/year). I had a large door ding/dent(the other car left its paint on my door) already fixed because I knew I would have been charged for it. Paintless dent removal took care of it for about 250. Now if they would have charged me more or less at turn-in, I don't know, but it was ugly and happened last summer so I wanted it fixed asap. I have another door ding on my fender but its in the range where they consider it normal wear so I wont be fixing that one. Before I turn-in or trade-in the car, I will look that damage table over and self-inspect my car. As for tires, I may have only 24k on the car at turn-in time so I shouldn't need to do anything about them. My cruze went it with original tires and brakes, had 31k miles or so on it, with no problems.

I think that's the basics of leasing. If you have any more questions, just ask.

02-21-2016, 08:29 AM	#10
V Stalker Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 12,077 iTrader: (12)	I am currently leasing my 2014 Camaro, and I leased my 2011 Cruze before this. I dislike leasing because it is just like renting BUT it gets me in a newer car for less, and keeps it under warranty. Plus I get bored of almost any car after 18-24 months. I like the shorter commitment of a lease. About damage at turn-in. There's two ways it could go initially. If you turn in the car and it ends up going back to your bank, the dealership has no say at all about what you get charged in terms of excessive wear. A third party inspects the car and determines if you owe anything. If so, then they first try to send the bill for repairs to your insurance company. However, if you are buying or leasing another car when you turn it in, the dealer can treat it as a trade-in. In that case, the see how much your buyout price is Vs. what it is worth/what they could sell it for. Such as if your buyout is 15k, and the car is worth 22k, they may decide to buy it, and give you 2-3k towards your new car. If they do that, then they are buying it and any wear items are their problem, not yours. Here is a link to a table showing what is considered normal and excessive wear(from my current leasing company) https://www.usbank.com/includes/pdfs...-Use-Table.pdf When I turned in my Cruze, I did it early and the car went back to the bank and then up for auction. Three months later, they sent my insurance a bill for hail damage. I told my insurance to fight it. I had a additional policy when i got the lease that would waive up to 5000 in damages etc. However, it didn't cover one time events that created that much damage. The thing is, it wasn't hail damage and actually dings from acorns falling on my car over a few weeks. So it wasn't a one time event and it should have been waived. I sent the policy to my insurance company and they handled it somehow. Eventually I got a letter that the car had been sold at auction and that was the end of that. Didn't make me very happy with the lease turn-in process. Now if you turn a lease in early, say you have 4 months left and you pay 400 a month, the dealer will take that 1600 and add it to your new car(you also pay additional fees the bank charges, all depends on lease agreement). its not like you get rid of the lease payments when you trade/turn-in the car. So early turn-ins don't make much sense unless you just want out of it or the dealer will give you enough for it as a trade in that it makes sense to do. When you sign your lease agreement, you will see exactly how much your car will cost to buy at the end of the lease. But keep in mind there are also fees the banks charges if you do decide to buy it. Those fees could be 500-1000 extra. When my camaro lease is up in 11 months, I am not sure what I will do yet. If I don't find a used car to buy outright, I will probably end up leasing another cruze. They advertise them currently for as low as 99/month with 0 down. I looked into it and I would qualify for almost that amount, (maybe 120/month). Plus it would only be a 24 month lease with <10k miles a year. (I'm currently driving under 8k/year). I had a large door ding/dent(the other car left its paint on my door) already fixed because I knew I would have been charged for it. Paintless dent removal took care of it for about 250. Now if they would have charged me more or less at turn-in, I don't know, but it was ugly and happened last summer so I wanted it fixed asap. I have another door ding on my fender but its in the range where they consider it normal wear so I wont be fixing that one. Before I turn-in or trade-in the car, I will look that damage table over and self-inspect my car. As for tires, I may have only 24k on the car at turn-in time so I shouldn't need to do anything about them. My cruze went it with original tires and brakes, had 31k miles or so on it, with no problems. I think that's the basics of leasing. If you have any more questions, just ask. Last edited by V; 02-21-2016 at 08:32 AM.