mbender
Well-known member
Last week I was rudely notified (by certified mail) that I had many hundreds of dollars of "excessive wear" on the 2012 I recently turned in at the end of its two-year lease. I'm a bit upset for a number of reasons:
Only after getting the bill and talking to someone at the phone number on it, did I fully realize that calling my dealer for the pre-return inspection was a big mistake, and that it was Nissan proper that I was supposed to call*. So of course part of my "upsetness" is directed at myself, but the dealer could also have figured out what I was asking for and explained that I had to call Nissan, and give me the number, etc.
Now admittedly, I did have some minor scratches from shopping carts, and it may just be that I wouldn't have been able to "fix" them enough to avoid charges even if I had known, but still, I feel that 1.) the charges are excessive, and 2.) the dealer could and should have pointed me in the correct direction.
Finally, regarding the "any recourse?" part of the title line, does anyone know if there's anything I can do to contest the high bill? Has anyone else been shocked by excessive wear charges, and what did you do? I did request an itemized list and was told that they'd send a copy, but in the meantime I'm trying to figure out what I'll do after I see it. Without proper accountability, what would keep these third parties (+ Nissan) from just "arbitrarily" handing out excessive wear bills to anyone who had not done the proper pre-return inspection?!
And a final fyi: I was told during the post-sale phone call that the balance due on the bill I saw did already have the $500 credit applied to it, even though it was not itemized or so noted on the bill.
* Yet another reason not to like the dealership model.
- There was no itemized list of what was wrong with it, or their corresponding cost(s)/charge(s). It also didn't list the "loyalty credit/allowance" that second time and up leasers are supposed to be given (which I have been told is $500).
- I had called my dealer a week or two before returning it and asked for a pre-return inspection, as I believed one was supposed to do. The dealer said bring it in and I did, waiting in the lobby for about an hour as they did the work. They came back with paperwork that said everything was fine. I left a little uncertain of what had transpired, and it was only later that I realized that they didn't do at all what I wanted, but rather did the perfunctory "multi-point inspection".
- Before this became clear to me though, I unexpectedly found a good lease offer at another dealer and took the offer. Because I had the "pre-return" inspection done and because I had the 2012 detailed before "trading it in", I had some confidence that I would not be charged for excessive wear.
- At trade-in I was told about the $500 credit, but was also told that I probably wouldn't require any of it because my car looked very good. I understood that they couldn't be held to that though, because it would be done by a third party.
Only after getting the bill and talking to someone at the phone number on it, did I fully realize that calling my dealer for the pre-return inspection was a big mistake, and that it was Nissan proper that I was supposed to call*. So of course part of my "upsetness" is directed at myself, but the dealer could also have figured out what I was asking for and explained that I had to call Nissan, and give me the number, etc.
Now admittedly, I did have some minor scratches from shopping carts, and it may just be that I wouldn't have been able to "fix" them enough to avoid charges even if I had known, but still, I feel that 1.) the charges are excessive, and 2.) the dealer could and should have pointed me in the correct direction.
Finally, regarding the "any recourse?" part of the title line, does anyone know if there's anything I can do to contest the high bill? Has anyone else been shocked by excessive wear charges, and what did you do? I did request an itemized list and was told that they'd send a copy, but in the meantime I'm trying to figure out what I'll do after I see it. Without proper accountability, what would keep these third parties (+ Nissan) from just "arbitrarily" handing out excessive wear bills to anyone who had not done the proper pre-return inspection?!
And a final fyi: I was told during the post-sale phone call that the balance due on the bill I saw did already have the $500 credit applied to it, even though it was not itemized or so noted on the bill.
* Yet another reason not to like the dealership model.