Is Mercedes required to provide final inspection report for lease turn in?

they give pro-rated. so if you had 12k lease, 1k miles / m. Anything over 6 m require recontracting, so theyll only do 3.

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Update: Just wanted to close the loop here after speaking with MBFS. There are actually two inspections completed by a 3rd party (pre-inspection and final) The MBFS website states that lease end charges are based on a final inspection by a 3rd party at vehicle turn-in. However, the final inspection needs to be requested or else they will go off the pre-inspection report. I was able to provide receipts to MBFS to get the charges refunded.

The pre-inspection is to give customers an idea of the charges and the opportunity to repair any excess wear and tear. The final inspection is to make sure there is no additional damage between the pre-inspection to lease turn in as well as verify any repairs.

The final inspection is scheduled if the car is returned to MBFS for auction, but the dealer decided to purchase after grounding (discounted price instead of lease payoff) and did not schedule nor were they required to schedule a final inspection.

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Yes, This is exactly what happend in my case too.

Lease payoff was around $68k and the dealer listed my old EQS for sale for $51k.

Congrats on your new ride

Sharing my recent experience in case it helps others.

  • 12/16: Openlane completed my pre-inspection.

  • A couple days later: I received the report showing only one issue — left front tire tread depth below spec, quoted at $440. No other tire issues or body damage were noted.

  • 12/23: Vehicle was parked in my garage and then grounded and marked LAP at my local Mercedes-Benz dealer. The car was not driven after the Openlane inspection.

After grounding, MBFS assessed additional charges that were not on the Openlane report:

  • Right front tire tread depth – $440

  • Right rear door scratch – $268

These items did not appear on the third-party Openlane inspection, and there was no opportunity for additional wear or new damage between inspection and grounding.

I’m currently disputing these additional charges and requesting the final third-party inspection report (if one exists), since my understanding is MBFS relies on third-party inspections for lease-end condition.

Posting for awareness so others can closely review their Openlane reports and compare them to final MBFS charges.

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So, should what’s on the lease (via open lane) inspection be considered final?

is this 3rd party pre inspection free or we need to pay ?

In my case, the Openlane inspection was scheduled directly through Mercedes, so my understanding was that whatever was documented on that report is what I would be responsible for.

Mercedes’ own language states: “Charges will be based on the final, third-party vehicle inspection to be conducted at vehicle turn-in.”

My interpretation of that is that a final third-party inspection would occur when the vehicle is grounded at the dealership. In my situation, no separate final third-party inspection was performed when the car was grounded.

Since additional items are now being charged that were not on the Openlane report, my position is that MBFS should provide the actual final third-party inspection report and photos showing when and how those additional issues were identified.

Absent that documentation, it’s hard to see how charges outside the Openlane inspection can be supported.

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It is complimentary. Here is where we scheduled.

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I wonder how that makes sense. The whole point of an inspection should be if I should just pay for the assessed damages or fix prior to turn in. It appears to me the final cost will be calculated only after dropping off, and the final inspection is done. Is that right?

That’s what the dealer told me when I turned in my lease. I fixed the two tires that were on my inspection report and the dealer said it is upto Mercedes to take them out of the final charges.

That’s what I thought too! Which is a bunch of BS. If the dealer at ground would have done a “final” inspection and additional items came up then fine, but that never happened. We just got the bill from MBFS with additional charges that were never on the pre-inspection. :-1:

I have had four BMW leases prior to my current Mercedes. I have never paid wear and tear despite some of them had chargeable issues. A phone call to BMWFS took care of them. I have an eqe coming due later this year and I feel like my experience will be different.

And how are you supposed to prove if the damage had occurred after grounding? I suppose taking pix/video at grounding might be helpful…but something tells me they’re not going to be very receptive to that either.

Ya 20/20 hindsight. I’m going to request final inspection paperwork and pictures because these were not provided. The only hard evidence we have is the report provided by openlane which didn’t include the extra wear and tear items.

It’s been a bit of a PITA for sure! The only wear and tear item identified as a chargeable item was the front passenger tire at $440. We even leased a brand new EQE AMG so $500 in excess wear/tear was forgiven. Then we get a bill for extra charges that came out of nowhere….you would think MBFS would be more inclined to forgive these being we stayed loyal for another 36 months. :man_facepalming:

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I would think minor scratches would be just normal wear

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I just got the inspection report. My car has front bumper damage and requires a bumper and star emblem replacement. The initial inspection quoted me $700 but it appears that’s not the amount due. It’s up to the dealership to determine damages and give me a lease end statement balance. My question is:

  1. If I leave that up to the discretion of the dealership, I may get taxed and have to accept whatever quote they apply.
  2. If I fix it before turning in, though inspection happened, do they closely check to see if it’s oem and or raise questions about the fixes I’ve applied independently?

I have 1.5 months left before turn in and this is giving me shivers haha. Is the EQS situation turning into what Lucid did recently? Or varies by dealer/case by case basis I assume.

My car also came without any rear EQS badging, which was stated on the original doc packet, wonder if they will charge for that.

How did you come to this conclusion?

My understanding since I’m currently in the middle of returning my lease: the quote from OpenLane pre-inspection is to give you an idea of cost so you have the opportunity to repair it yourself. The final repair cost comes from MBFS after you ground your lease and they have the final inspection done. You’ll get it in the mail a few weeks later. If you made the repairs and get charged for them, you’d submit the receipts and it’s up to them if it meets their satisfaction (meaning if you replaced something after-market and they require the part to be OEM).

Now, if the dealership buys your car, via trade-in or from MBFS, then you wouldn’t be responsible for any damages since they are purchasing it as is and it’s now off your hands (similar to if you payed the payoff amount). You wouldn’t owe the dealer anything unless you came to that agreement. But ultimately your contract is with MBFS, not the dealer.

To your question in what to do - you’re betting which way it’ll go and we won’t know for sure until hindsight. As reference, my front tires were worn so I replaced them with generic non-run flats. Turns out they’re supposed to be Goodyear run-flats. The inspector at pre-inspection noted it on my report so I’m waiting for the final to see what happens. :crossed_fingers:

I just finished this process and the lease end charges were the exact dollar amounts on my pre-inspection report. However, there are two ways for a dealership to buy your car. They can either buy it for your payoff quote or ground the car then buy the car at a discount from MBFS (more likely since these EVs have crappy residuals). I believe neither option triggers a final inspection at turn in since it is not going back to MBFS for auction.

To add, I repaired my windshield for a chip instead of replacing as the pre-inspection report required then submitted the receipt and MBFS still credited me for the repair and returned my full MSDs. The lease agreements do require OEM so it really depends how much risk you want to take.