Hi everyone. My 2 year lease on the Chevy Malibu is just about over and I will most likely owe money for damages on the car. I got the XS wear and tear plan, but I don’t think it will be covered.
There’s a good chance that it will be over $1500 to cover the damage.
My question is, is there any way to get this either waived or reduced while trying to lease another Chevy? I’m looking to lease a Bolt this time. I’m expecting no, but thought I’d ask you guys just in case.
who’s the lease with? if your releasing same bank negotiate with them in reducing charges if taking another lease with them
Current lease is with GM Financial. I was planning on doing one pay. But I guess that may not help with the damages situation.
How do I go about negotiating with the bank? I negotiate with the dealership, right? So after I get the bottom pricing for the Bolt, how would I go about negotiating for the lease return?
i forgot to mention that my experience with gm financial is that they don’t end up charging for damages for their lease when returned !!!
it’s a rather significant damage (over $1500). haha
What kind of damage?
Side fender damage. It spans across the passenger-side door and the rear body panel.
Get the complimentary lease end inspection. They’ll come to wherever you’re at, and assess the car. They’ll also then give you an estimate of what GMF will charge at turn-in. You can then decide to fix it at a local shop, or just turn in and pay the damage.
Note, they will waive 500.00 in damage charges if leasing another GM. So if your damage estimate is $750, you’ll owe $250. If it’s $1500, you’ll owe $1000. Whether or not they’ll actually charge you that fee is another story. Some have reported all charges being waived, whereas others report having to pay. YMMV. Get the inspection and at least be prepared though.
I would take pictures and get on yelp and it allows you to send it out to multiple independent body shops in one click and get a quote. In my experience, dangling cash to these independents will get the damage fixed cheap.
Yup, I’ve got an inspection scheduled for 2 weeks out. Thanks for the input!
in your case , where you have definite damages , it’s advisable with GMAC leases where in my experience they don’t charge you for damages after the car goes back ,you should NOT have them inspect your vehicle , as that can only work against you
Ah, so I shouldn’t get the AutoVIN vehicle inspection? Just return the car as I’m leasing the Bolt? Aren’t they going to do their own inspection? And this only works if I lease through GMAC? If I do single pay, that wouldn’t count as financing through GMAC, right?
The lease is still through GMAC even if you do one-pay.
Whether you do it or it’s done at the dealership after you hand in the keys, an inspection WILL be performed on the car, one way or another, before it gets shipped to auction. Dealership has told me on numerous occasions it’s required by GMF before it’s disposed of if it hasn’t been done by the consumer prior to grounding the car.
Thanks. But either way, it doesn’t seem like I’ll have time to do a pre-inspection. As I need to close my Bolt deal mid week and the earliest the inspector can come for my car is end of the month.
It’s a dice roll then. You won’t know the damage estimate until after the car is grounded. With that said, you’ll either have 0 in damage to pay as others have mentioned in their experience, or at worst, they’ll deduct 500 bucks from your total. They are typically pretty lenient in their damage estimates in the customer favor, as they want to keep you satisfied and in the brand. I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it if I were you.
Why didn’t you just pay the deductible to have gotten it fix back when it happened? Prob cheaper than the damage quote.
Exactly… You’re required to carry pretty decent comprehensive insurance on a lease in most states, no? How much is your deductible?
I had a vehicle with GM financial that had about $800 in damages. I did not buy another GM vehicle at turn in. Estimates to fix the damage were more than the leasing company was charging. I called GM financial when I got the full bill. I spoke with a manager who cut the bill in half if I would pay it right away on a credit card. So I was only charged $400 for the damage. Just call after you get the final bill and let a manager know you want to negotiate.
Just wanted to follow up on my inquiry. I returned my lease 1 month early at the end of Nov and leased a Bolt (one pay). I had about 1000 miles over on my lease (25000 mi on a 24/2 lease) and about $1500 worth of damage on the side of the car.
I got my lease final pay letter a few weeks ago. It completely waived the damages. All it asked for was the mileage overage charge ($230) and 1 month lease ($171) plus $8 late fee. After subtracting my initial security deposit, it came out to $67.
I called GM Financial and told them that I turned the car in early to lease another GM car and asked if they could just waive the fee altogether. And they said YES!
TL;DR - I don’t have to pay GM anything (but lost initial security deposit).