My Audi Q5 lease ends next month. I didn’t pay attention to the leasing company when I signed up and turned out it was not AFS. Now this third party leasing company says they’ll look at the car only after I turn it in and I can do inspection beforehand on my own dime if I want. Obviously I don’t want to deal with made up charges later, so now I have to find a NYS DMV certified appraiser to write a report on my car. I did some googling, but haven’t come across anything worth following up. Does anyone have any recommendation on Long Island, NY area? TIA
Are you sure it’s not AFS? I haven’t heard of any Audi leased through any 3rd party bank.
Even if you get some other company to do some report, what will that do? The leasing bank will still do their own inspection.
Can you post more material, name the company?
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This one is CAL Automotive in NJ. I guess the dealer found a way to make more money by switching leasing company.
Quotes from the letter they sent me (called to confirm as well):
You have the right to obtain, at your own expense, before you turn in your leased vehicle, an itemized appraisal of any excess wear and damage. The appraisal must be prepared by an appraiser licensed by the Department of Motor Vehicles
…
If you obtained your own appraisal, you must submit a copy with the return of the vehicle. If there is a discrepancy between your appraisal and the lessor’s, you may submit the dispute in writing to legal department. However you may instead choose to submit the dispute to the Attorney General’s arbitration program.
Recently i see a lot of dealers using this bank.
At least they provide $500 waiver.
Also they should provide some kind of lease end brochure like this one from US Bank. If You did not get it i would ask for it.
Very interesting - thanks for posting that. My Jeep Cherokee lease is also through Cal auto and I didn’t know they don’t pay for the lease end inspection.
CAL is getting more common w CJDR
That’s the only time I’ve heard of them.
Or maybe it’s how they got you to your number? Or both?
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Call Detailing Dynamics in Mineola to see if they can do it or if they can recommend anyone.
Are you sure you got the correct information?
Never heard of CAL charging for a lease inspection. Typically an inspector from CAL will come out and inspect the car prior and then they send a shipping company to come and pick up the car a couple days/week after.
They changed
Ah didn’t know about this, will call and confirm.
They didn’t send any brochure. Their customer FAQ has some info about lease end, buried in there is the wear and tear doc
My numbers for a 2018 Q5 was mid-range at best based on what’s on swapalease. Assuming CAL’s MF is lower than AFS, I suppose this Audi dealer might be using CAL for all their leases.
Thanks, will check with them
They are not charging per se, they’re just giving an option to skip it or do it on my own. Who knows what made them come up with this convoluted process. If the inspection is done while lease owner is in possession, obviously lease owner is liable for any damage. Doing inspection after lease turn in and then charging lease owner doesn’t make any sense to me. Anything can happen while the car is in shipping or in their lot.
The wear and tear doc read like they are pretty forgiving, especially on the wheels and tires. Are you concerned? Do you have any damage?
Try calling AutoVin to see if they can do an inspection and how much it would cost.
btw, it’s ON Long Island, not in Long Island. 
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I just returned a crv to cal automotive in august and was worried about it as well because I used to park under train track at work where all kinds of metal rust particles flaked off onto my car fusing with paint in some places. But long and behold I was not surprised with any bill except my disposition fee three weeks later.
Yes, thank you!
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Oops 
To close the loop on this, I ended up not doing any inspection on my dime. My only worry was rear tires, decided to take a chance with it. I got the bill this week and it was just the disposition fee $450. Also can confirm they do have a $500 damage waiver- it’s mentioned in the bill too.
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