In February we took advantage of a pull ahead lease offer. We were in a 2016 GMC sierra and we ended up buying a 2019 Chevy Silverado high country. When purchasing our new vehicle the dealership told us that we would get out of our lease with no fees and they would take care of the last payments. Shortly after our purchase we received a letter from GM stating that they would be evaluation our lease and sending us a bill in 45 days for any fees remaining. So here it is 3 months later and they sent us a bill with 2 options on it. The first option was telling us what the vehicle sold at auction for and telling us to pay the remaining balance of over $600 or the 2nd option was to pain the remaining lease payments off which is around 1,000. The first page of the letter stated these charges were for the excess wear and tear of the vehicle. But they didn’t fix anything, they only sold the vehicle at auction. Am I really responsible for this charge? Is there anyway of getting out of paying this? The dealership told us we could walk away from the vehicle clean. That was the only reason we bought a new vehicle. What are my options?
Did you call the dealership? That would be step #1.
Look at your GMF contract. Section 12, Item F ‘Prior credit or lease balance’. What is in that field?
I have and the dealership has not called me back yet.
I don’t see this section. We signed on the new electronic version.
Leave a message for every possible higher up at the dealership…Owner, General Sales Manager, Finance Director, anyone with a title that has weight. Make sure you’re professional about it, but firm in your disappointment.
Thank you I will do that. Do you think this is something that I should have to pay? I thought the wear and tear charge was if something was wrong with the vehicle?
You could call GM Finance and see what the wear charges were. If it is wear I think they have an automatic $500 waiver. Did you get a pre turn in inspection?
I had wear and tear charges on a turned in vehicle (legit charges). When I got the bill I called in and GM cut it in half it I would pay it immediately.
It’s not automatic…the dealership has to fill out and submit a waiver form. Otherwise, GMF will charge.
I can’t answer that without seeing a contract. That said, assuming the dealership rolled the remaining payments into your new lease, and assured you that you would be ok, I’d definitely go after them and find out why.
If the payments were for excessive wear, then it’s very possible the dealership didn’t submit the waiver.
The only inspection we had was when the dealer evaluated the vehicle when we were purchasing our new vehicle. We showed them the GM pull ahead offer and they told us we were scotch free of the other vehicle. When we talked to GM they said that is why they advise the dealership not to speak for them and to contact the dealer ship. But option 1 of my offer doesn’t make sense because they are supposed to charge me for the wear and tear not the difference of what the vehicle sold for compared to what was owed. Also the 2nd option didn’t make sense if we used the GM pull ahead offer. Plus we are financing through gm!
We didn’t have to pay the remaining 3 months because we used the pull ahead offer that gm sent us.
The pull ahead would only waive 3 months…so if you had 6 months remaining, you would still owe 3 months after Pull-ahead. You didn’t indicate how many payments you had left initially. If only 3, then you’d owe nothing payment-wise.
We only had 3 remaining payments.
Then you need to ensure the dealer submitted the loyalty waiver for damage. You did lease/finance through GMFinancial on the new one, correct?
Yes we are financing through GM for our new vehicle.
I think the option to pay the difference of the residual and actual final sale price is an option if that amount is lower than the contracted payments. I would call GM Finance and find out exactly what you are being billed for. If it is remaining payments explain the pull ahead offer and make sure it was applied. The dealership may not be much help on a deal that was closed months ago as they will focus on deals closing now.
If the found wear items they will charge them even if they do not fix them. It would be assumed that they would get less for the vehicle at auction because of the defects.
Ok…then you remained “loyal” and the waiver should apply.
So I should contact the dealership then?
GMF will refer you back to the dealership…been there, done that.
Thank you I will try that option.