experience with lease return process?

[astroboy]

Hi all,

in late march 2020, my 3-year lease on my 2017 bolt will be up. as partially discussed in this thread: http://www.mychevybolt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8410, i thought that there would be more EV choices available by now but its not looking like it. i might be in for a 2020 bolt if chevy makes improvements, but not sure if it will actually exist in march 2020 and it might not be a good idea to jump at it if it is just brand-new at that time. so i'm thinking i'll just return the car and wait for a while for a new/better BEV.

i know absolutely nothing about this as the bolt is the first car i've ever leased. i have some questions:

1) i assume that the dealer the car was purchased at is not necessarily involved since the leasing company owns the car. is that correct?

2) what is the exact process for end-of-lease? i assume the leasing company contacts me with instructions? i've heard that people can schedule an inspection at their home, rather than at the dealer. is that correct? does the leasing company come to pick up the car or do they expect it to be delivered by the customer to the (or a) dealer?

3) if lease extension is a possibility, how is this arranged?

4) finally, the car is in really good shape overall, though there is some curb rash on the passenger side wheels. sort of bad on the front. is this kind of thing considered normal wear and tear? i've heard the "credit card rule" but of course since this is a wheel the damage is kind of long and narrow, and can not be fully covered by a credit card. i do have the extended lease warranty which i understand is supposed to cover things like this, but true to form i have no official documentation about this warranty, just the line item on my lease saying i paid for it.

thanks!

 

[astroboy]

well, answering some of my own questions here -

i found this thread: https://forum.leasehackr.com/t/how-is-gm-financial-about-wheel-curb-rash/53117/11

my leasing company is ACAR which i believe is GM Financial.

per the attachment at the end of that thread, it does sound like they will try to ding me on the front passenger tire since there are multiple rashes each > 3" in length. however i could probably just preemptively have someone come out and repair it before inspection if i don't want to hassle with it.

having said that, i *think* i have this lease excess damage insurance:

https://www.chevrolet.com/protection/xs-wear-lease-protection

it says it covers "tires and wheels" but does not really elaborate on what that means. i suppose it could mean that i'm not responsible for the curb rash. worst case maybe i schedule an inspection 6 weeks early, find out what happens, and then pay someone the $150 or whatever to just fix the rim if need be.

only problem here is there's a chance the dealer cheated me - the sales contract says the insurance contract will be sent to me "as soon as practicable" but it was never sent to me. i suppose i still have 11 months to sort this out.

as for different dealers, it sounds like GM wants you to return to the purchasing dealer but they are at least willing to entertain the idea of the car being returned somewhere else.

one problem with extending the lease is that the excess damage contract (if it really exists) is only good for 36 months. so by extending the lease i'd be responsible for things i might not otherwise be responsible for, and another year on the tires means maybe i get charged for them...

 

[sgt1372]

My lease expires in Feb 2020.

I've had many lease returns in the past and it's really very simple. Just drive it to your local dealer and tell them you want to give up possession of your leased vehicle which is expiring on "x" date.

They will do a physical inspection of the car, check the mileage and prepare some paperwork for you to sign. You give them the keys and they give you a copy of the paperwork verifying return of the vehicle. It's also wise to call the lease company (GM Financial, in my case) to tell them when/where you plan to turn in the vehicle and that's it. Just make sure to take out anything that you want to keep (that didn't come w/the car in the 1st place) b4 you turn it in.

They will bill you for excess charges, if any, but they should tell you what items are at issue. Take pics of everything they claim is subject to excess charges b4 you give up possession of the car. I've never had that issue w/any of my leased vehicles, so I can't say what the negotiation process is for such charges is. Excess mileage is easy but the charges for excessive tire wear or body damage is beyond my knowledge, except that ordinary "wear and tear" should be excepted.

I personally haven't decided if I am going to return my Bolt yet or not. GM Financial sent me a letter saying that the lease will be expiring soon and that they'd get back to me about that but they haven't done that yet. I would consider extending the lease but I don't think I'd want to do a buy out.

Definitely will NOT get a Model 3 to replace the Bolt. Leased the Bolt after I got tried of waiting for a Model 3 and cancelled my reservation for one. I've driven a Model S as a rental that Iiked very much but it's too big and too costly for my needs. Nothing else in the EV market appeals to me more than the Bolt. So, it's quite possible that I'll keep the Bolt on a lease extension but it depends on the terms.

 

[astroboy]

thanks for the reply, i had missed it.

the other day i talked to a friend who had a similar insurance policy on his leaf, and he told me that when he tried to claim warranty coverage for damage at the time the lease return was being processed, nissan told him the policy had lapsed some months before the car was due to be returned.

apparently this excess wear insurance is kind of a scam in that you need to make claims well ahead of returning the car. anyone else have a similar experience?

 

[BoltEV]

My 2017 Bolt EV lease was due January 3, 2020, but I returned it early after I hit 44,640 miles onSeptember 10th.

They waived the $400 lease return fee as I purchased a new 2019 Bolt EV concurrently.

The did accelerate the three remaining payments but I called GM Financial and they agreed to a 50/50 payments over two months, the second payment I just mailed in.

 

[PackardV8]

Thanks for sharing and good information for those who are under the mistaken impression a lease contract is not negotiable.

jack vines

 

[BoltEV]

Thanks for sharing and good information for those who are under the mistaken impression a lease contract is not negotiable.

jack vines

Just to clarify, Jack:

I did have to pay all remaining payments at full price and early, too.

My only real savings by returning it early was on my auto insurance; and of course, no mileage penalties.

 

[astroboy]

by the way, the time has come for me to return this car.

it was inspected last week at my home by autovinlive and they have identified about $410 in excess wear but in theory this will be covered by the XS wear insurance policy.

i tried to call a local dealer (closer that the one we actually purchased) and asked if i needed an appointment... i was transferred to someone's voicemail and they never called me back.

so to clarify if you just drive up with the car and keys a lease return is something any random chevy dealer is prepared to do? i didn't realize there was a lease return fee but.. of course there is. since i've already bought a tesla model 3 to replace this car i guess there's no dealing to be done on this front.

 

[astroboy]

well fast forward to today. the car is due back thursday. in the last month i called most of the bay area chevy dealers and most of them told me to pound sand. one of them wanted to know if i was going to buy a new car, and if not, no, they won't take the lease return.

i called my originating dealer this morning and they said due to covid-19 they are not accepting lease returns. i assume this is just an excuse on their part since they are, i'm sure, completely dead in the water on sales and don't want to take any inventory that they need to spend money dealing with. or, maybe they feel like they can't adequately put pressure on customers to buy another car since people are going to want to be in and out as fast as possible. no idea.

GM financial's chat representative told me to just hang onto the car "until this crisis is over". i asked what GM's definition of that was, and they said it means whenever the originating dealer is willing to take the car back. i asked if i should be calling the dealer weekly to find out and they said that wasn't necessary. so... i don't know.

one other tidbit i found out is that there's a 10-day grace period from the day the lease expires to actually turn in the car. so maybe they think they will squeeze me in during that window. but i don't think this shelter in place is going to be lifted in such a short amount of time.

 

[theothertom]

Thanks for sharing and good information for those who are under the mistaken impression a lease contract is not negotiable.

jack vines

Just to clarify, Jack:

I did have to pay all remaining payments at full price and early, too.

My only real savings by returning it early was on my auto insurance; and of course, no mileage penalties.

I turned in early once and in addition to what you mentioned above, I got a pro-rated refund on my property taxes. I had to ask my local tax authority for it....it didn't happen automatically.

 

[BoltEV]

i didn't realize there was a lease return fee but..

I was the first 2017 Bolt EV off the lot of my dealer. Their Term Sheet never mentioned this fee which was a new addition to the GM Financial lease terms, as they knew.

As I was signing all the paperwork to finalize the deal, I blew a cork when I read it!

We compromised by their reducing the down payment by $200.

I ultimately got the $395 fee waived when I purchased a 2019 Bolt EV

Did you make Tesla aware of this fee when to came over to their side of the street?

Are there miles left on your current Bolt EV lease? Maybe you can get some value out of their failure to accept it back and get some use for your $395 return fee.

 

[astroboy]

tesla is strictly my way or the highway... no negotiations and in fact if they inform you your car is ready to pick up and you can't get it within 2 days, they give it to someone else. so i guess i'm going to eat the lease termination fee. hey someone has to pay for autovin to come out and inspect the car! ain't gonna be GM if they can help it.

further updates - i received an email from GM saying "can't return the car?! no problem! we'll just extend your lease for you!!" i talked to customer service about this a couple more times and they claim that they will not charge me another month's payment - i emphasized to them that i don't need the car and don't intend to drive it. they claim they won't charge me. but we'll know when the middle of the month comes around. it would be insult to injury for them to charge me to store their car for them.

 

[SparkE]

tesla is strictly my way or the highway... no negotiations and in fact if they inform you your car is ready to pick up and you can't get it within 2 days, they give it to someone else. so i guess i'm going to eat the lease termination fee. hey someone has to pay for autovin to come out and inspect the car! ain't gonna be GM if they can help it.

further updates - i received an email from GM saying "can't return the car?! no problem! we'll just extend your lease for you!!" i talked to customer service about this a couple more times and they claim that they will not charge me another month's payment - i emphasized to them that i don't need the car and don't intend to drive it. they claim they won't charge me. but we'll know when the middle of the month comes around. it would be insult to injury for them to charge me to store their car for them.

Get all of their responses in writing! Or in email! You can't prove "what you were told" and they can change their mind later.

 

[BoltEV]

Get all of their responses in writing! Or in email! You can't prove "what you were told" and they can change their mind later.

Back in 2002, VW had an internet ad saying that buyers of new beetles would get in a new iPod for free with purchase.

After my daughter bought one, I asked the dealer for the free iPod and was told: “oh no. The promotion does not include convertibles! “

I went home and went to their website and sure enough they had change the ad.

So I printed out a copy of the screenshot that I had made of the previous ad, brought it back to the dealer and got a new iPod!

 

[astroboy]

tesla is strictly my way or the highway... no negotiations and in fact if they inform you your car is ready to pick up and you can't get it within 2 days, they give it to someone else. so i guess i'm going to eat the lease termination fee. hey someone has to pay for autovin to come out and inspect the car! ain't gonna be GM if they can help it.

further updates - i received an email from GM saying "can't return the car?! no problem! we'll just extend your lease for you!!" i talked to customer service about this a couple more times and they claim that they will not charge me another month's payment - i emphasized to them that i don't need the car and don't intend to drive it. they claim they won't charge me. but we'll know when the middle of the month comes around. it would be insult to injury for them to charge me to store their car for them.

Get all of their responses in writing! Or in email! You can't prove "what you were told" and they can change their mind later.

it's all in the chat log, which is still on their server as of this minute. i can certainly screenshot it or save the text.

i guess i won't know until the 26th of april if they charged me for another month. they certainly didn't charge in march but that was to be expected.

 

[astroboy]

lol they sent me a PDF saying: congrats, we extended your lease. we're charging you for another month.

got on the phone with a GM Financial rep and she claimed it was a mistake and would send the necessary emails to undo it. i also asked her to remove my bank account info from the automatic payment program.

the struggle continues

 

[oftheseven]

lol they sent me a PDF saying: congrats, we extended your lease. we're charging you for another month.

got on the phone with a GM Financial rep and she claimed it was a mistake and would send the necessary emails to undo it. i also asked her to remove my bank account info from the automatic payment program.

the struggle continues

Oh wow, good to know. My lease was up on April 14th and I'm taking advantage of the extra month. Seeing what they send me after 10 days.
I'd actually be OK to return it now but would rather wait and lease another vehicle at the same time (which I don't need a car now) to deal away the lease return fees.

Hopefully, they'll abide by the 30-day extension. I have 300 miles before I hit 36k.

 

[astroboy]

gets better... they called me yesterday and were like "where's the car???" and i had to go thru it all with them again. in the end the rep was trying to tell me that if i kept holding on to the car i would eventually have to make another monthly payment. i told her i wasn't going to do that. the car has not moved since the lease ended, i'm still paying to insure it, and GM should be paying me rent to store it in my garage. i'm sure they'd like nothing more than to squeeze another payment out of us, as the used car market has cratered and dollars to donuts they won't be able to auction the car anytime soon (or will auction it at a huge loss.)

they told me to call the dealer again to see if they would take the car; big surprise - "we're still closed and don't know when we will reopen." i called GM back and they claimed they can send a truck to pick up the car but the guy i was talking to made it sound like he had to run it up the chain of command and that i should call back mid-week if i haven't heard anything.

i don't need the car but maybe if they want to make me a sweetheart lease buyout deal perhaps i would take it.

 

[oftheseven]

gets better... they called me yesterday and were like "where's the car???" ....

Astro - what was your original lease return date?
I just returned mine today (5/5). My original return date was April 14.

No issues from the dealer but my GM financial account says I owe another month payment; shows month 37.
Haven't reached them yet so we'll see how it goes.

 

[astroboy]

gets better... they called me yesterday and were like "where's the car???" ....

Astro - what was your original lease return date?
I just returned mine today (5/5). My original return date was April 14.

No issues from the dealer but my GM financial account says I owe another month payment; shows month 37.
Haven't reached them yet so we'll see how it goes.

3/26. originating dealer not open at that time, still claims not to be open as of last friday. heard on another forum that GMF was able to strongarm some other dealers in the bay area into accepting returns - i don't know why some are open and why some are closed, unless my dealer is just using all of this as an excuse to not take returns. clearly they are open enough to sell you a car, so IMO they are just shirking their responsibility. anyway i called in today since no truck ever arrived nor did anyone call me and the guy i've been dealing with says they sent the info to be scheduled on may 6 but there is no info about when they would actually come. asked the guy if he could strongarm a dealer and he said no.

my account says next payment Dec 31, 9999, so i guess that's how they indicate "never" in their computer system.