OEM Rims Damage + End of Lease

Ask the Hackrs
1

Hi Leasehackr!

Long story short.

  • Leased luxury car has minor vibration problems. It slightly rumbles on the road. 2019 model car.
  • Lease ends next year, August 2022
  • Purchased Lease-End-Protection (+$45/m) up to $7500. It covers “…alloy and steel rims and rim covers; worn tires; breakage….”
  • Rims + Tires not covered by manufacture warranty

Today, I went to my dealership for them to take a look at why my leased car is slightly vibrating when driving. They came back to me saying that my OEM gloss black 19" rims has damage and it is “oval” shaped…perhaps from hitting a few potholes. No pictures were provided to me, and they said “2 of the rims are really bad, the 2 other rims are slightly damaged”. They first recommended me that I might have to re-purchase the OEM rims and it is suggested I have to get new tires on top. Of course there were other minor things I “needed”, like brakes, fluid, etc. Total would be over $5000+. The bulk of the cost is mainly for the OEM rims, as they are over $1000 each and they are the main culprit of my vibration issues. Even if I decide to purchase new rims for just 2 of the really “damaged” ones, I will still be dinged over $2000. This is the initial talk.

Since this car is a lease, I was worried about being charged for those rims when I return it. I talked to a Lease Manager and they expect to have the OEM wheels returned, and aftermarket wheels are no exception (rightfully so). Of course, I need to re-think if I want to pay $5000+ in repairs for a car I am returning next year. That being said, I DO have end-of-lease protection which is $45/m included in my lease payment. As stated above, it covers "up to $7500. It covers “…alloy and steel rims and rim covers; worn tires; breakage….” plus all the regular protection like dents, interiors/exterior damage +++. I didn’t get a clear answer from them if this covers my rim damage now. I told them upright, if I leave it now…wouldn’t my protection cover part of that cost including whatever damages they find during my return of the vehicle?

Still, I know something should be done with my rims and I’m not going to leave it. Made a few calls with people in the industry, they said I can just go to a auto repair shop that specializes in rims and have them fix up the “oval” shape and do some tire re-balancing for my vibrations. Again, I have no idea how bad the rims or wheels are damaged, I am just hearing all this from what the techs told the service advisor.

In the end, they said I MIGHT be able to repair the rims through another mechanic shop THEY recommended me. Hmm, so that was an option after all. Anyways, I respectfully declined any repairs to be done today, and said I’ll call them when I make a decision, but I appreciated their time with me today.

Now my question is, when my independent auto-shop does some repairs on my rims, how much do you think that will affect my Lease contract when I return it? I know a 3rd party does the inspection, but if they see the car has issues with vibration, I suppose they will go and check if the rims were in acceptable condition prior to returning the car and I might be responsible for paying for NEW ONES regardless? I want to make sure when I do my pre-inspection process, the dealer is able to give me a “pass” on the rims (even with my lease end protection) and I don’t want to suddenly be dinged a $5000+ when I return it because I have to purchase new ones.

I appreciate any insights or advice on this!

2

A rim and tire shop should be able to repair. When I last had this done, it ran around $100 a wheel. YMMV.

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3

+1 on a rim repair shop. Worse comes to worst, look for the rims in a junkyard. Chances are, someone had a car totaled with your wheels. That said, you didn’t mention what type of car you have either.

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4

I was going to say, mystery car ftw

Without knowing who or where:

  • lease-end wear and tear coverage applies to any charges at disposition, not during the lease
  • you can’t drive on 2-4 bent rims now
  • you can trying getting these fixed, buying 1-2 new and repairing what you have and keeping an extra or two

I wouldn’t be trying to drive this on wobbly-wheels for another year

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5

What’s cheaper? Fixing the Original Rims or getting some fitting OEMS
Drive until done, and have the shop switch em back.
Since you have ‘excessive W&T’ you won’t be charged.

But Wow, ‘Oval’ rims, that’s some nasty pot holes driven over.

6

10,000 words and the OP couldn’t list the make and model?

Sometimes there’s a very liquid market for private party OEM wheel classifieds, which could have been an option but I guess we’ll never know.

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7

Fixing the rim finish is $100 each. The rim oval damage is much more

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8

If the wheels are out of round that can’t be “repaired” by a wheel repair company. Also, good luck finding a used wheel in a junk yard that looks half way decent. My dad was in the auto body repair business for over 40 years, and rarely ever got a wheel out of a junk yard that he would put on a customer’s car. Seems like the “tire and wheel protection” plan would cover something like this. Isn’t they why you buy it?

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9

Edit: Sorry I read that wrong. You are correct. It could be much more these days. I have not had to have a rim fixed for several years now…

10

I see a ton of oem rims on Offerup and FB Marketplace from people who immediately swapped. I’m generally not one to advocate for any kind of fraud, however:

  • your cars rims are not the only OEM rims that manufacturer sold that model year
  • if they appear on the Monroney at all, that’s what they have to go on at disposition

So if your 20” black oem rims are trash, but you can find a set of the silver 20” oem rims that some dope replaced when the tires went bald :man_shrugging:t2:

11

Those plans typically just waive the applicable charges at lease-end, they don’t pay out of their pocket to repair something in the midst of the lease to keep you on the road safely

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12

What’s not clear is, was OP referring to excess w&t (which is almost always a waiver at disposition) or wheel and tire - which sometimes (not always) covers claims during the lease.

Whatever coverage was bought in mystery car, it came with a pamphlet that is probably still in the glovebox. They (the people you call on the phone number on the pamphlet) would know better than anyone here what it covers, deductibles, limits, etc.

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13

Mmm…read the contract ??? May offer some insight into what it covers. Seems like the place to start…lol

14

Sounds like excess wear and tear coverage at lease end and not rim + tire coverage, which would cover you now.

Good rim repair guys can do a lot of magic. They usually charge $100 to $175 to repair the bend in my experience (based on DC metro and DFW pricing as of late 2020/early 2021)

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15

I’m still curious on ‘Oval’…dang that was big pothole.

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16

true… Either the dealership is pulling OP’s leg with $5k of damages… or the car is in really really bad shape

17

Apparently it was a few hundred dollar fix at my local rim repair shop. All 4 were bent - presumably from a pothole. :+1:

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18

Hmm…a pothole the size of a car.
It’s a BMW right, MAYBE you like to ‘catch air’ a few too many time…hehe

Well a few hundred sounds like less than what BMW was going to charge you.

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19

You are a funny man Me. forbs :slightly_smiling_face: Maybe the stealership exaggerated the “oval”. They also told me I got 2” on my rear brake pads when I had 5”.

I am actually not sure if it was a pothole tbh. It could be me “catching air” from running through the train tracks on my daily commute :grin:…where I live there’s always construction and it snows heavily as well.

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20

The production plan you purchased… hopefully covers the specific damage (read it word for word). But if it doesn’t, there are ways to address it.

  • rim repair shop can sometimes bend it back to spec, or fairly close (use yelp to find), ~$100ish as others mentioned.

  • rim repair shop can also respray the wheels/touch up any scrapes/curb marks ($50-100 a wheel)

  • if your tires are below the wear bar, you can buy used tires on ebay.

  • if the rim is not repairable, you can look for used replacements on ebay. There are a lot of vendors online that sell used rims (try santa ana wheel)

  • find a body shop that can order a replica of an oem wheel. Many insurance companies only use aftermarket replicas (this includes rims!) since they are cheaper.

  • you can roll the dice and hope they dont drive the car (fast at least). Most times dealers/banks take lease returns, then dump it at auction. So it gets returned, goes thru visual check for outside damage, and then loaded onto a transporter. They’ll even sign you a paper saying car was returned in good condition.

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