So I am preparing to sign a lease deal that is through Ally Bank.
A friend of mine who is a manager of a local Honda dealership tells me that 3rd Party Lease companies are terrible with hidden fees and charges when it comes time to turn in a lease, and to expect nothing but issues compared to going through the manufacturers financial company.
Is this something I should really be concerned about going into this lease, or is he just fearmongering?
They are usually pickier then some captives. If you’re concerned buy a wear and tear package. It’ll still be much cheaper then going through the manufacturer. If you beat up your cars you should reconsider leasing in the first place as you don’t own the vehicle.
With that said I’ve had issues at return with Infiniti financial and bmw financial in the past. Never had an issue with ally or usbank in the 2 leases I took to term with them. Both had minor wear and tear like scratches and road chips.
Nothing too awful on here about Ally, they use to be GMAC, the captive for GM. Most of the horror stories are associated with US Bank, and this isn’t anything new, they’ve had that reputation for a long time.
Also most of those usbank horror stories were from years ago. Haven’t seen many lately…
He might be thinking of Hann Financial and then making a broad sweeping generalization
Here is a picture from Ally’s damage claim on my 2013 Ram 1500 lease. They sent me literal black and white pictures that you can’t make heads or tails of with an arrow painted on a ruler that shows who knows what.
Needless to say, this didn’t go over too well and they backed off.
Then there was the bad credit they kept reporting for over 8 years on a lease that showed 0 late or missed payments that I finally had to go to the Federal Consumer Protection Bureau to get them to stop doing so. Prior to that they’d ignored me, my attorney and the state AG’s office.
My third Ally lease was totaled and they played games and refused to let me know what was going on with closing out the lease. Turns out they didn’t want information released because they were getting an insurance settlement $6000 over what the payoff at that point was. After pressing they released the funds to me to apply to another lease which brings us to the last Ally lease, #4.
I took the $6k and applied it to a Honda Odyssey lease. Mind you, it took 2 months to find a dealership that would work with me when they heard they’d be waiting for a check from Ally.
We got a scrape on the hood which I got repaired at the end of the lease and we turned it in right after coming from the body shop. We mentioned we had a large scrape on the hood repaired to the dealership that grounded the vehicle and they misunderstood that I was telling them about a scratch that was still in the hood or something.
Without fail, Ally sent me a bill for $700 in non-existent hood damage. I sent them the repair receipt and pictures and they went away.
If you aspire to work with a company like that don’t say you weren’t warned.
About to return my lease vehicle to Ally next week. I don’t understand why they don’t do vehicle inspections before turn in. What happens if there is some sort of damage after vehicle is returned? What is to stop them from just billing you anything.
Wow that’s some consistent crappy customer service from Ally.
Is it possible to have a vehicle inspected and cleared before you actually walk away from it at the dealership so you know what to expect?
Feel free to report back on how you make out!
Take timestamped pictures of everything and hold onto them until the account closes so you that can provide them if needed as your evidence of the vehicles condition.
Also, ask to be present at the inspection.
Got a letter one week later after turn in, saying thank you leasing you have met all financial responsibility for this lease.
