In the long run you can win. Issue is your credit will likely take a hit and you’ll prob have endless calls back and forth with the bank and the credit bureaus to have it removed.
Just weigh the risk vs reward. I have no conscience when it comes to big banks, they would do the same to you, except they have the time and resources.
I would at least try in the beginning to get out of it. But would pay or try and settle for 50% before letting it hit my credit.
If the mileage rate is $0, then how can he get dinged by the credit bureaus? $0 charge is no payment due. Now the finance company can state he owes X amount, but unless the contract has some small print that states they can change anything on it, due to errors, they don’t have much to stand on.
They can report it to credit. It’s up to you to have it removed. The credit reporting laws are always written in the banks favor.
If they don’t remove it when you have valid proof then you can litigate. But is it worth the time? I’m sure there’s lots of steps before actually being able to sue the credit reporting bureau.
OP needs to read arbitration addendum also, this sample is what I found on Chevy’s website. It says you agree to binding arbitration or small claims for any disputes.
Contract says “0. n/a” on mileage so I get the “contract is wrong” points (so many non-lawyers playing Lionel Hutz on LH), but a reasonable person leasing knows that IF you go over your miles you owe SOMETHING (if it were unlimited there would be no cap). It’s up to a retired judge to enforce if you dispute the difference.
If you’re paying $600/mo for a Bolt I’m guessing in the face of Chevy’s lawyers (like the other 99%) you’re bringing a knife to the Battle of the Bulge. So while you may be 100% in the right, they can get you other ways as suggested (excess wear and tear charges unrelated to miles, sending the bill to collections and further impairing your non-perfect credit, etc).
Were I you, I would reserve the $$ toward usual mileage overage into a savings account (start paying yourself), play dumb at disposition, and see how small you can make that number if it isn’t 0. If you reserve 0.25/mi and they’ll accept 0.10 - you beat them at your own game.
If you expect to mile this Bolt up with no restraint and owe $0 for the overage, I think you’ll be sorely disappointed.
So what amount would he be seeking in the suit?
So when the bill comes for $0.XX * miles over, just call them and they’ll pull up the original contract and waive everything?! 
good luck with that. Don’t pay whatever bill they send you, regardless if it’s right or not and they will ding your credit
If OP gets a bill, it will be for the amount of miles over the agreement times the standard mileage rate. If he refuses to pay it, they might tack on service charges and or send it to collections
I was asking a question, not making a statement. Forum comments are to taken w a grain of salt, since this has not been looked at by a lawyer, it’s just conjecture. He may have a case or not, just depends on the small print of the contract and legal resources ($).
So the bill shows up, and they’ve included a $1500 disposition fee, even though the contract says $300. Should they call them up and reference the original contract or just pay it?
Snowy off ramp 
, problem solved
Right. Unless someone was proposing OP would initiate a lawsuit where he was seeking dollar amount, I couldn’t figure out why it was suggested to stay within small claims amount. Without seeking money, OP could proactively pursue a declaratory action (to determine terms of contract), but not sure where OP is located, much less whether his local small claims court entertains declaratory actions.
People don’t have to hire an attorney in any court. It’s just that you usually can’t have an attorney in small claims court. But if the jurisdiction requires the defendant to have an attorney, e.g., a corporation, then they can typically simply remove the case to a higher court that allows attorneys.
Who smacks a hornet’s nest on purpose?
The only issue is turning the lease in over miles and getting a bill for overage.
Not sure if anyone saw this but one of the comments on that link states
“My brother had a similar thing happen with Chrysler Financial a few years back, however the contract said 0 cents per mile over. He returned the car 20K over and although the dealer tried (weakly) to get him to cover some of it, he never got a bill.”
That’s not what OP’s contract says. Also FCA isn’t GM.
A lawyer could argue (and they do love doing that), that the contract allows excess damage/wear costs over 15k/yr mileage but the rate isn’t determined by specific mileage (“n/a”). Not sure if it would fly with a mediator but they can be very hard to predict anyway.
I would feel pretty comfortable as long as I didn’t go crazy with the overage that they would not be able to successfully charge me. Contract doesn’t specify the remedy.
Yes it does: binding arbitration. It’s right at the top.
No, the contract says n/a. Arbitration is the method to determine the remedy not the remedy.
They can’t make stuff up
TIL we spend all this time trying to hack leases just to pay whatever the bank or collection agency feels like billing us at the end.
Ok, you’re getting a lot of advice from people who may or may not have any legal experience and I’m no better, but I have, however successfully (and quite easily) had things removed from my credit report, and have dealt with my own contact issues in the past and won (it was a rental, but we did manage to scare their lawyer into paying us to move).
In case that somehow gives my grain of salt advice more weight, I’d personally start by bringing it back to the dealer that wrote up the contact, and then pointing out, repeatedly, that it clearly lists that their is no overage charge on the contact you signed in their finance office. This may take an hour or so extra out of your life, but it’s likely going to be the end of it as they would then have to go through the process of explaining to the lender why the contact says what it says, and then the lender would have to want to go to the trouble of pursuing it.
If it’s not, and you have to deal with the lender, you’re in a strong negotiating position, and they will likely take pennies on the dollar if they argue with you.
If it goes past that and you feel like fighting, demand a small claims dispute in your area and you’d likely have a strong case.
If, however, you’re worried about it damaging your credit and this somehow goes through collections (one email to the collection agency with the contract attached would likely end that process before it gets to that point), if they try putting it on your files, all three credit reporting agencies have easy to use online dispute forms where you would attach the contract with a note explaining it to person who will look at it for ten seconds or so (unless it just gets removed automatically like many of them do when disputed - that’s how it’s gone for me thus far, anyway), and I sincerely can’t imagine it wouldn’t be taken off on the off chance it escalates that far in the first place.
Finally, if you want to completely get past this with no trouble and you don’t want to keep it yourself, put an ad up to sell it. Your ‘cousin’ that comes with you shouldn’t have any issue buying it out that’s exactly what the finance department told me to do on my current lease - the lender would much rather get rid of it as soon as possible.
Hope this was somewhat helpful 
