My Audi lease is being turned in a month early (part of the upgrade program) as I am about to lease a new one. I am worried about the tires though as they are at about 3/32" of tread depth remaining, and Audi stipulates 1/8" as minimum. I know that as part of the early turn in program Audi waives the remaining payments and disposition fee and says they will “forgive” up to $500 in damages. Does anyone know what they charge for tires that are out of compliance? Do I have reason to worry I will get nailed (thinking maybe they are more forgiving to those leasing another car)
i’m not speaking for Audi specifically, but it generally goes like this:
Inspector measures tires. If less than 4/32, you have to pay for tire replacement at their full cost unless you replace yourself before turning in. If they are RFT, they’re expensive ($300+/tire). So 4 tires that don’t pass would be ~$1200 - $500 “forgiveness” (if you dont have any other damage), then you owe $700. Turning in early has nothing to do with it and they don’t forgive more just because you take out another lease, that’s why they give you $500 forgiveness to begin with.
Tires and leases have been discussed at great length on this forum, you can use the search function and read up on what options you have, incl buying cheap used tires to meet the minimum requirement.
Even with an early turn in I would get the inspection done. You will know exactly what is going to happen. If you don’t and turn it in you could get a bad surprise from Audi in the future with a bill for things that are wrong. Once the turn in is done if you do get charged you can’t really fight it.
via the Pull Ahead program, up to three payments are forgiven (as well as disposition fee) if you lease another new Audi. Not rolled into next vehicle.
After discussing with my wife, I am now going to keep the S3 and extend its lease by 3 months for her to use it during summer. I figure if I am going to get stuck paying for $1000 worth of tires I might as well get some use out of them and my wife’s car is in need of replacement anyway. Audi Financial Services were very pleasant to deal with, they said extending a lease 1-6 months is very simple and can be done at any time with a single phone call. Monthly payment remains same and mileage limits are increased a proportional amount (i.e 1000 per month for a 12k/year lease). You can even go month-to-month if you haven’t decided how long you want to extend it. And they said they’d still waive the disposition fee even if I lease my next Audi right now. Figured I’d share that if anyone else is in a similar situation. Good luck to all.
Is it always the case that they will forgive up to 3 payments?
Some audi dealerships list 2 months on their website, and others list 3. I can’t tell if its a negotiating position thing or a dealership policy thing.
I called Audi FS and was told “if tires are needed they will charge you the dealer’s list price for the tires and labor; they don’t shop around for deals, so assume if a full set were needed it could be $1200-$1300.”
So even if they found nothing wrong with the car aside from the worn tires (which would be the case as the rest of the car is immaculate) I’d still be on the hook for potentially $700-$800 after taking the $500 “forgiveness”.
You do make fair point about the registration. Hadn’t thought about that. Renewal in NJ is about $50 though so I will have to just eat it and know I paid for 9 extra months of registration.
Just renewed my tabs here in WA state where some counties have an extra tax that is based on the MSRP of the vehicle. Tabs on my Forester were over $400, so just be thankful you’re only paying $50!
Did you look into buying a used set of tires so you don’t have to spend quite as much money as buying a completely new set?
Definitely don’t buy new tires. Check out bestusedtires.com and find a set that matches the specs of your OEMs. If you have runflats, they’ll need to be runflats when you turn in.
I have never had a problem having different tires. Next month my Cadillac will go back with mis matched tires. Have no choice, Michelin stopped making the OEM tires so the fronts and rears are different. Make sure they all meet spec. Size, Run Flat or not and load capacity. I have heard of people getting hit for ires because the tires they put on were rated below the load spec for the car
