Seat lease return experiences

[DaveHowe]

Hi all.
Wonder if you can help me? Currently got a Leon ST Cupra 300 on a lease. I am returning the car early and want to know of anyone's experience in the handover process and in particular the fair wear and tear.
Has anyone been charged for damage or anything on the car.?
I am remaining with the brand though so all good there. Looking to take delivery of a Cupra Ateca in the next couple of weeks hopefully.

Cheers

 

[almas09]

Hi mate

My last car, Corsa VXR was a lease. The handover was smooth and no issues.
It had a crack on the rear diffuser which the guy didn't notice. (I was pretty lucky there!)
Nearly a year on now and no bill.

However he did pick up on a light scratch on the alloys which he said was fine.
You should be fine as long as there isn't any dents/major scratches etc

 

[BoomerBoom]

My advice would be to make sure your car doesn't have any damage over and above the fair wear and tear guide.

If it does then you'll be better off getting them fixed before hand back, as it's considerably more expensive when you get charged by the lease company - not that they fix anything, it's just compensating for a possibility lower auction value.

Also, my current lease states that the pickup only includes a cursory inspection now, the car is then taken for a specialist inspection that I'm not allowed to view. So I'm going to video the guy doing the cursory inspection in 4k def, to help if something gets found later.

My previous four leases all went back with no charges made, I'd touched up all the chips and they didn't have any dents or damage to find.

 

[bgb]

My advice would be to make sure your car doesn't have any damage over and above the fair wear and tear guide.

If it does then you'll be better off getting them fixed before hand back, as it's considerably more expensive when you get charged by the lease company - not that they fix anything, it's just compensating for a possibility lower auction value.

Also, my current lease states that the pickup only includes a cursory inspection now, the car is then taken for a specialist inspection that I'm not allowed to view. So I'm going to video the guy doing the cursory inspection in 4k def, to help if something gets found later.

My previous four leases all went back with no charges made, I'd touched up all the chips and they didn't have any dents or damage to find.

Just to add. If it’s with SEAT/VWFS/AUDI finance, the return costs to slight damage, scuffed alloys (especially diamond cuts) is in my experience a lot cheaper just to hand back. The costs of such repairs are freely available via their website but if it’s a return with a leasing outfit supplied funder, may be different!

 

[duckson]

I’d advise to not fix any damage as I’ve read of numerous people either not being charged for it or it not being picked up or it tends to be much less than fixing it yourself if they do end up billing you for it. Also if you get it fixed sometimes they can tell if it’s been repaired and charge you anyway for it to be resolved.

 

[Juro]

I handed my Octavia VRS back last month. Someone came to collect the car before a proper handover check was carried out. He only marked down 3 scuffs on the alloys, but missed 2 small car park dents. The guy from BCA said as he hadn't inspected it nd as a third party company hd collected, they couldn't send me a bill. It has been 4 weeks now and still have not heard anything.

 

[DaveHowe]

Thanks for all your replies. I havent got much to worry about. Just so happened on the day I ordered the new car and started to arrange the early handover of the current ST 300 someone has graciously decided to go into my rear bumper & bugger off..

 

[sumogtr]

My previous Cupra ST290 Black Edition was collected with 2 rims kerbed (but no damage to spokes), as well as being 300 miles over my mileage allowance - the only thing I received was a rental rebate for the part month that I no longer had the car!

 

[ChrisM75]

Getting work done yourself really depends on whats wrong. Im prepping my Astra for return while I wait for my Cupra. Ive replaced a door seal because a chunk of rubber got torn off. I figured that for the £25 it cost on ebay was worth it. I have a badly kerbed alloy which likely isn't worth doing. They charge about £40-50 for a kerbed wheel, which is less than my local refurbisher charges.

My main concern is the windscreen, it has a chip in the A zone, which leasing companies dont like, even if repaired. That could be big money (its a £600 screen), so im considering my options right now.

 

[KXL]

Depends on whether you get an @r$e of an inspector or not from BCA. When I returned my Leon, it had quite a few stone chips, and dings here and there, and some scratches that I stupidly used the 'scouring' side of the sponge to remove bird poo, and me using touch up paint incorrectly and made it look more obvious that it was touched up, the inspector that day, looked at it, was impressed, and commented if everyone kept the car in this condition his job would be so easy, gave it an A grade, and that was that.

The inspector of the Ibiza however...oh my days...he marked me down for dents that don't exist, when I said I can't see it, he commented 'that's why he's the inspector and I'm not, and that BCA went for a big redundancy and only the best were kept' he was measuring the panel thickness everywhere with a device, pressing down quite hard on the panel at some points... Bear in mind, this car had NO stone chips, No wheel scuffs (despite black alloys), even my dual exhaust were polished and shiny. I think he was trying to find something to mark me down, on, and boy did he try. He insisted both panels had a dent, that I couldn't see, and charged me £36 per panel...one on each side. He used a mirror and straight line card to prove his point....took pictures with a tablet. Till today, I still believed he put the dents there himself when he pressed hard on panels. When I asked if I could challenge his decision, he said sure, but if you do that, they would also have to inspect the underside of the car etc...and that may incurred additional costs etc...so I left it. Cool downed, returned with my dSLR camera and took pictures. They did take my £36 per panel out of my account, but I challenged it with Seat/BCA, after looking through once more the fair wear and tear policy. Who after looking at he pictures he submitted, said, they couldn't see anything, apologised and refunded me. The person who collected the car, said the car was in immaculate condition, well done, and signed it off with an A. Go figure...

And don't worry if by the time you return it, you are out of insurance, which I was...they will bring trade plates, but do tell them in advance.

 

[ChrisM75]

Depends on whether you get an @r$e of an inspector or not from BCA. When I returned my Leon, it had quite a few stone chips, and dings here and there, and some scratches that I stupidly used the 'scouring' side of the sponge to remove bird poo, and me using touch up paint incorrectly and made it look more obvious that it was touched up, the inspector that day, looked at it, was impressed, and commented if everyone kept the car in this condition his job would be so easy, gave it an A grade, and that was that.

The inspector of the Ibiza however...oh my days...he marked me down for dents that don't exist, when I said I can't see it, he commented 'that's why he's the inspector and I'm not, and that BCA went for a big redundancy and only the best were kept' he was measuring the panel thickness everywhere with a device, pressing down quite hard on the panel at some points... Bear in mind, this car had NO stone chips, No wheel scuffs (despite black alloys), even my dual exhaust were polished and shiny. I think he was trying to find something to mark me down, on, and boy did he try. He insisted both panels had a dent, that I couldn't see, and charged me £36 per panel...one on each side. He used a mirror and straight line card to prove his point....took pictures with a tablet. Till today, I still believed he put the dents there himself when he pressed hard on panels. When I asked if I could challenge his decision, he said sure, but if you do that, they would also have to inspect the underside of the car etc...and that may incurred additional costs etc...so I left it. Cool downed, returned with my dSLR camera and took pictures. They did take my £36 per panel out of my account, but I challenged it with Seat/BCA, after looking through once more the fair wear and tear policy. Who after looking at he pictures he submitted, said, they couldn't see anything, apologised and refunded me. The person who collected the car, said the car was in immaculate condition, well done, and signed it off with an A. Go figure...

And don't worry if by the time you return it, you are out of insurance, which I was...they will bring trade plates, but do tell them in advance.

That guy would get told to back the F*** off from the car if it was me and I'd be making complaints to the leasing company right in front of him. Thats unacceptable. Apart from opening things like doors etc they shouldnt need to touch the car. If they have to use tools to find problems then the problems arent worth finding.

 

[KXL]

That guy would get told to back the F*** off from the car if it was me and I'd be making complaints to the leasing company right in front of him. Thats unacceptable. Apart from opening things like doors etc they shouldnt need to touch the car. If they have to use tools to find problems then the problems arent worth finding.

I did remind the guy 'weren't you allowed only to inspect it at a 1m (or it could have been 2m) walkaround radius from the car? He said things have changed since...

When I returned the Leon, the inspector only opened the doors, glove compartment (to check service book) boot (to check tyre inflation kit), and walked around, but didn't touch nothing on the panel, except to point out and touched an obvious ding near the rear door.

 

[ChrisM75]

I bet he did, I would still be making a complaint. I have this joy to come next month when I return my Astra.

Every single thing they note down should be photographed, so they cant claim its worse than it actually is.

 

[KXL]

I bet he did, I would still be making a complaint. I have this joy to come next month when I return my Astra.

Every single thing they note down should be photographed, so they cant claim its worse than it actually is.

That's right, the manager at BCA had a second look at the photos and didn't see anything, so refunded...

 

[ChrisM75]

Good that you had the right outcome. Its just so hit and miss. Ive seen people have inspectors that just glanced at the car and that was enough, and others that had it inspected like they were a forensic scientist.