My daughter leased a Mazda CX-5 for three years, lease ended in November. Prior to the lease ending she went back to her dealer to get all her options but really got the runaround. Obviously they tried to lease her another Mazda but the numbers and the cars just didn’t work out. She decided to just buy the car and that’s when they started playing games. Ultimately she traded the car in on a VW Tiguan @ a different dealer. The VW dealer took possession of it. It’s a few weeks later now and she just received a bill from Mazda for $800 for tires, damage, and disposition fee. Does this sound right? Is she responsible for this or would the trading dealer be? I’ve traded several cars with leases in and never heard another thing. Thanks.
What was the agreement with the dealer? Were they buying out the lease or turning it in for her?
Tires and damages, sure.
But if VW decided to sell it back to the originating or Mazda dealer nearby, disposition fee could occur.
It sounds like they didn’t buy the car from Mazda. They must have paid out the end of her lease and then turned it into them, therefore she’s responsible for anything that was outside of the allowances.
I guess buying it out didn’t happen, should have gotten all the details and shared them here on the new deal. Sounds like they just turned it in, I doubt it’s a “trade in” and there’s probably nothing you can do. Doesn’t chase waive a grand or something on damage?
This happened to me. Thought they were buying it out but instead just turned it in and paid remaining payments. Got dinged for tires. Raised a stink with dealership and got them to send me a check. That only worked because I made sure to let them know I had bought several cars from them in the prior five years.
It would be in her original lease agreement. IIRC for my Subaru and both Mazda leases with Chase it was only $500 EW&T - I remember thinking how generous Ford was at $750 (and if you lease another one $1500).
With Mazda NA dumping Chase for TFS as their captive, I don’t expect Chase to be especially forgiving (not that they ever had that reputation).
But it all comes down to what was agreed to in the new deal, and if they just made the last payment(s) and turned it in for her, she’s on the hook for disposition and EW&T as others have said.
Y’all are correct. It was just a “we’ll turn it in for you” deal. While the VW dealer (salesman was a friend fwiw) could’ve been more upfront about what was happening, my daughter admits she should’ve done more to understand and asked questions. Said yesterday, “she half expected this” cause she figured it was too easy and there was more to it.
The tally was $420 for tires, $300 Turn In Fee, plus tax. There were no damage charges as they were waived up to $1k. I explained that these fees are pretty much par for the course at the end of leases and she did know the tires were an issue. They were in rough shape after 33k and she chose not to put new on and instead turn the car in as-is. She actually got away good, I think, at $140 per tire X only 3 tires. She also came out great on the damage cause there were significant bumps and scrapes and the interior was kinda rough from her dog. A few years ago she had a parking lot bump-and-run which she got >$2k for from her insurance for which she decided to pocket instead of fixing the car so she came out way ahead on that. She also understood upfront that it’d likely cost more to go away from another Mazda. She just didn’t want to pay more each month for another 3 yrs for the exact same CX5 and she didn’t like any other model enough. That dealership then started jerking her around pretty good.
In the end, she understands what happened and if there was any fault, it was hers. It helped her feel better when I reminded her that if she had purchased the Mazda, she’d have payments of $500/mo and would have at least two more years of them. Then she’d have a car worth ~40% of what it was new. Anyway, I do think she’s calling her buddy at the VW dealer and is also calling Chase to see if she can negotiate them down at least a little. First time she ever negotiated any car deal without my direct involvement so it was a learning experience. I have no idea what she’s paying for the Tiguan and I don’t want to know!
Thanks, all.
Explains everything
Yup, agree 100%.
She did fine, she might have saved a couple bucks on tires, but probably wouldn’t have been worth the hassle. Hopefully the “friend” got her a decent deal.
Subaru standard waiver is 1k for damages. Turning my 2018 lease back in next week so I did confirm with Subaru finance very recently.
I was surprised, it is a good offering