I discovered this forum relatively recently, and find a great source of knowledge
Here is my situation : coming back home late from work (not that it matter)
I’ve scraped one of concrete columns in my garage and ended up dented right side of front bumper that resulted in 5 inch dent and some scratches.
I have to go to dealer for oil change and doubt that they woudn’t notice the dented front bumper.
So my dilemma here is : Do I have to report it to my car insurance and lease company?
and try to get it repaired using collision coverage (my deductible $1000)
or - try to find a body work shop and get it repaired outside of car insurance, or report the damage to leasing company and see what they say.
My lease ends in 6 months and I suspect that if I just leave the damage until the lease ends and inspection takes place the leasing company will take me to cleaners in money sense
So I hope those with more experience can give me advice on how to deal with this.
Dealer doesn’t care and won’t report it to anyone. They will note that the damage was there when you brought it in so you can’t claim they did it though.
All you need to do is return it back to its original condition at lease turn in. Doesn’t matter if you pay to fix it somewhere, get insurance to fix it, etc.
I’d wait until the end of the lease and see what they’d charge to fix it. I’ve found that more often than not, the cost from the finance company is cheaper than paying to have it done in advance.
Once you get the quote from them, you can always take it to a local place to have it repaired before turning it in and just send the receipts in.
As above, the dealership won’t say anything. They don’t care!
BTW - why would you get your oil changed at the dealership, especially on a lease?
He might have a service plan, might have coupons, not really matters if its a lease.
OP you can wait till lease end, or just find a reliable 3rd party body shop who does a decent job for lease returns.
OP, I recently had an experience similar with damage on a leased vehicle that I needed to turn in. Here is the link:
Hope this helps! Good luck.
So there are two pieces to the puzzle here:
(1) Is the body damage bothering you? If so, just get it fixed now however you want (with insurance, without etc) and keep the receipts. I know these are leases and scratches, dings, etc. happen but big stuff would make me nuts.
(2) If you’re just figuring out how to handle it least expensively I would consider waiting until the lease end inspection and seeing what they ding you for on the final inspection. My experience is that what they charge is often less than what you’d have to pay to fix it yourself. If they hit you hard, you can get it fixed on your own however you want and then provide proof of the repairs to the bank.
Op doesn’t mention who his car is leased through. As an aside, not all brands have damage forgiveness. Nissan will do 500. GM will too. Bmw is one that doesn’t as an example. If it’s Ally or USBank, he’s out of luck there as well.
To answer some points that I might missed in my post 
This is my first lease and I most likely made some mistakes along the way.
MP11477: Car is Mazda and leased through Chase
28firefighter: As far as day to day driving goes dent and scratches don’t bother me much as it is not highly visible.
goldy: I have coupons from dealer for service, but probably should not used Mazda dealer
Mfizzy: I’ve looked through you thread - some good points there might not apply to my sitiution though since Mazda is different.
Some additional details - I haven’t spoken to my insurance co. yet
Also I’m thinking of extending the lease (even with damage) but haven’
t spoken to leasing co yet.
Check your lease contract. Our new Subaru lease with Chase comes with $1000 of excess wear and tear forgiveness (with certain exclusions, like tires) standard. Not sure if the same goes with Mazda.
I was recently doing a lot of research on leasing a Mazda CX-5 with Chase as financier. My understanding is that Mazda offers $1,000 of damage forgiveness on the vehicle at turn-in. Is this written into your lease contract somewhere?
Although many parts of my situation may not apply to yours, I think the message from others here is valid. Wait for the lease-end inspection, see how bad it really is, and then figure out if it fits within the damage forgiveness dollar amount (assuming you have one). If not, you can decide how to best address it.
Since it doesn’t appear to bother you much on the daily, just let it go for now.
Unfortunatelly $1,000 damage forgiviness is nowhere in my contract, perhaps I could’ve negotiated it a contract signing, too late for it now.
The message from other that I’ve heard is to let it go until the contract end and deal with it then.
Happy 4th to everyone!!