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Had two cars inspected by Autovin recently and was quite pain-free. Both cars had excess damage (as expected), and they quoted me far less than it would have cost me to get it repaired myself.
For example, we had this large dent on the back door with chipped paint (worse than the picture looks), but they only billed us $109 in excess damage for it. We also had damage on both sides of the back bumper which we assumed would be billed excess damage for, but they deemed as normal wear and tear (no charge).
In summary, worth it in my opinion to get the car pre-inspected as you may be pleasantly surprised how little is charged for excess damage to just return the car as-is.
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$0 
Pleasant experience.
In reading the notes on this report, I see this quote:
** Please note that if this is a pre-inspection and your current tread depth is at or near 1/8” (4/32”), you will be charged if the tread depth drops below the requirement prior to the turn-in of your vehicle.
I feel like this could be an explosive argument, should I get a bill for these tires - any thoughts on how to avoid this from happening? Probably won’t be putting on more than another 1,500-2,000 miles on the car.
you are thinking too hard, stop. It’s not that deep dude.
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A bit off-topic… then again, perhaps not… I get it that the consensus to it get a pre-inspection without fail however my Ally lease is ending in four months and I’m being told by their rep that they don’t offer a pre-inspection.
https://www.ally.com/auto/lease-end/return-your-leased-vehicle.html
Looks like you’re right. But they have a comprehensive guide so that you can do it yourself, and I haven’t heard any bad stories about Ally charging for ridiculous things.
I also just had the pre-inspection done. Most of the damages that I worried before were noted but reported as $0 charge. The inspector either didn’t spot a crack on the rocker panel or that’s not usually looked at? I also have a windshield repair and they didn’t seem to care either but yet the MB guide says that’s not acceptable. I’m wondering if anyone has similar experience that something wasn’t noted and if they eventually got picked up by another inspection after turn in.
I scheduled my pre-inspection with AutoVIN for my 2017 GMC Acadia a week before lease maturity. I assumed that way I would have enough time to do any minor repairs/fixes if something came up before turn in. We were out of town for a couple weeks before so couldn’t have the inspection done.
Now I see why the suggestion is to do an inspection 30 days before lease turn in… AutoVIN called the day of the inspection and canceled because they were having software issues. The next available date was five days AFTER my lease maturity date. I explained the situation and the phone rep said they would submit a request to fit in our inspection and it should not be a problem to find someone in time. Three days before end of lease I called again as we had not heard anything and a supervisor expedited the request. Still nothing from AutoVIN.
So I grounded the vehicle at the dealership this past weekend. I don’t anticipate many issues. We had some curb rash on a couple rims and a small spider crack in windshield but under 1.5" diameter. I have full glass coverage through insurance and would have fixed the crack if the pre-inspection noted it would be an issue.
As AutoVIN was the party who canceled the pre-inspection, would I have more leverage to contest wear and tear charges as I did not have the chance to fix any issues before turn in?
No. 22020202
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Had my MB e300 inspected last Friday. The inspector was VERY thorough, but nice. I got a BMW 530e this time around, so there was no $500 forgiveness if I went with another MB. So I got my rims fixed for $110/pop, bumper touched up, and car detailed prior to inspection. Got the report yesterday. $0. Didn’t get dinged for low thread on tires and some other small imperfections. Turned in the car yesterday as well. Good experience overall.
You should’ve waited to see what Autovin would’ve charged for the excess damage, if any, before deciding to fix. That said, kudos to you for being responsible and honoring your end of the contract by taking care of things vs feeling entitled and bitching with MBFS and trying to get known damage caused by you waived.
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I was finally able to pull up online the post grounding AutoVIN inspection done at the dealership. Dropped the truck off October 19th and inspection wasn’t completed until November 4th which seems like a long window. Only excess wear and tear items were two curb rash areas on the rims… I can understand that as they were like 5" and pretty substantial. My wife is a curb magnet! Total $170. So not the doom and gloom I was worried about.
Thanks for updating the post
On #3, I think what OP is looking for is a consensus on whether people have good / bad experience with AutoVin.
Having said that, I also want to know from other on what’s their experience with AutoVin.
For the first time ever, I am returning my lease this year and have never used AutoVin for pre-inspection. In the past, I returned the car directly to the dealer (this was in the 90’s) or trade the car for a new one, even for different brand (e.g. trade my leased Audi for Mercedes).
My car has zero dings on the body, small rash on one of the rim due to curb and never been in an accident. Current odo is only 10K miles (have the car since Dec 2017 - yep, I don’t drive a lot). However, I don’t have tools like hydraulic car lift to check the bottom of the car. Even if I do, I won’t even know what to look for.
You don’t have to get under the car. Just make the inspection and let them tell you what (if any) Damage there is. It’s easy. They’ll do it in your driveway.
There’s no need to worry.
Thanks, @mp11477.
Just to clarify: I will pay if there’s damage, as this is per the contract I signed. I am just worried I am going to get charged excessively. E.g. if say I have a small scratch that is smaller than a size of the quarter, I don’t want to receive a bill where they need to replace the panel or something more expensive than a couple hundreds.
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@HubbaHubba Autovin canceled my appointment and won’t be making more for a month I was told. I’m a little unsure of what to do.
@KeithAy I’d call your leasing company. I am sure they have some sort of contingency plan, given that Autovin is used by a lot of car manufacturer.
I am actually curious what would they propose. E.g. extend the lease by 2-3 months?
They had offered a lease extension but I was actually planning on returning a month early. They still allow a lease return but obviously getting autovin is difficult at the moment. I’ll try calling chase again and see what they say.