New Tires for Loaner Lease returns with less than 10K miles

Ask the Hackrs
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Hello All,

2 years ago, I got a unicorn deal for BMW X2 loaner with 4K miles on it for 184 per month for 2 years. I just returned the vehicle last week as lease expired. With all the pandemic and other challenges we only had like 9K miles or so (total 13K) for 2 years. Now BMW is asking me to pay $300 for replacing front tires. Is this normal? Especially this was a 1 year old car with 4K miles when I bought it and did not put lot of miles. Tires looked good to me but they are charging this to me. Any inputs to resolve this matter is much appreciated.

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Would have thought this would be caught in pre-inspection. Accord. to site, Tires ‘needs repair’ if:
Needs Repair

Minimum of 4/32 of an inch tread depth from the thinnest tread.

Tires that are not the same specification as the original equipment supplied on your vehicle (size, speed rating, and run flat, if applicable)

Seasonal tires.

Original equipment left in vehicle but not installed.

Recapped and re-treaded tires.

Tire sidewall repair plugs.

Mismatched, bent, or broken wheels, wheel covers, or alloys.

Spare tire missing or not matching original manufacturer’s specifications (if applicable).

Painted or chromed wheels that are scuffed or scratched.

Bulges, cuts, gouges, cupping, or any tire damage affecting safe operation of the vehicle.

https://www.bmwusa.com/return-vehicle.html

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It’s not I heard of. I went through a set of rft fronts in 10k on my last 3 series. This is why you do the pre turn in inspection, could have bought used tires on ebay.

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I’m guessing you’re surprised by the tire penalty because you didn’t do a pre-inspection. Did you click any pictures at all for your own records before you turned the lease in? It would still be really hard to argue a tire charge unless you have high def pictures of the tread and the wheels pre turn in.

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Same here mine were down to 5/32 before 10k. I switched to non RFT and saved those tires. I am not surprised if it’s run flats.

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It’s totally normal if your front tires were below 4/32 of tread depth, which is all that matters, not how many miles you did or didn’t drive.

As mentioned it’s also not uncommon for tires to need replacing by 13k depending on the make/model, tire type, driving style, etc.

BMW should have sent you a lease-end packet a few months before lease end, including a small tire ruler where you can measure yourself.

Assuming you didnt get a lease end (pre) inspection and/or didn’t take pics of your tires with the ruler, there’s nothing much to do other than pay the $300 and learn to check this for your next lease.

That said, by the time you buy/ship/mount/balance a pair of even used tires you probably wouldn’t be saving much over the $150 a piece BMW charged you so this is nothing to lose sleep over.

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See if they’ll let you take the car to get it done yourself… then sell it to Vroom for $3k profit.

Ha. Just kidding. Obviously they won’t let you. But, at the same time, I’d at least be giving them a hard time about that $300 when they just got back a car worth thousands more than the RV. You’ll still have to pay the money. You made a big mistake turning it in, though.

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Just shy of 24 months in, I’m at 7,000 miles on the odometer.

There’s virtually no chance the rear tires will last until the end of the 36-month term, even at this rate of driving.

I’d much rather buy two tires than change my driving habits.

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In my experience, run flats lose tread very quickly, especially if you do a lot of city driving. I don’t think its unheard of or unusual to need new tires after 9K miles. As others have said, a pre-inspection would have alerted you to this, but you would still need to replace the tires and/or pay BMW to do it. BTW, $300 for replacements is a pretty fair deal.

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I had an X2 loaner and turned it in at just under 2 years and it had 16k total miles. One of the tires was too low as well. I was able to call lease end department and they ended up waiving the charge (and credited my new lease with a credit for so many unused miles). If you stayed loyal to the brand you might have a chance to get this charge waived. It just takes a quick call to find out.

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I assume you didn’t rotate the tires

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Thanks all for the info. I did go for a pre-inspection and it was pretty informal. The manager just looked at said that they may charge for the tires but he was not sure as the car was from a dealership 2 hrs away and i was returning locally. He said BMW may do the inspection and take a call and I may get away with it as well. He also said, there is a chance that they will buy it or my other dealer buy it as well. I always thought that this would not be a big deal due to low miles (my mistake).

I did try to sell the car and the buyout with taxes were 29K or so and they were selling 2020 models for 32K or so and it was hard to sell a 2018 for 29K or so (even with third party sales not having taxes in VN which I thought would attract high purchase buyers as it has warranty left.

Anyway, I will just give a call to them and ask for waiver and if not, I guess I learned my lesson for next time. But I agree that end of the day its probably not worth the efforts to go and buy tires and replace them for $100 or so savings.

I was genuinely not aware that the tires will be required based on condition. I do have some pics I had taken for my listing but may not help anyway now.

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I take it you haven’t been reading all the threads around here lately about selling your car to one of the major outlets. You don’t pay taxes when selling to a dealer, for one thing. I just got a $1700 check from Vroom for our X2 with 31k miles. What they ask for it is their problem.

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197 / month

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