End of lease hand back - any recent hands on experience?

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Lease ran out a few weeks ago on my 136,000 mile 2013 E220 CDi.

A friend of a friend bought it off Mercedes Benz Finance, by depositing the money into their bank account, and I simply handed the car over.

Although I kept it in good condition throughout, nothing major, I was also concerned about the end of lease charges, if I couldn't find someone to buy the car, without it going back.
 
I imagine there would be hefty excess charge on that mileage. 10.8p per mile on E-class?
 
PenelopePitstop said:
I imagine there would be hefty excess charge on that mileage. 10.8p per mile on E-class?
He was on a 45k mile PA lease...
 
Update on this.

I had the first inspection today. A very helpful and pleasant man from BCA spent 25 mins giving the car a thorough going over, he picked up on damage on both bumpers and they are going to charge me £470 to put them right. He went out of his way to say that the charges were top heavy and I could probably save half if I got a smart repair done. So I signed to say I was disputing the charges but got a copy of his estimate in case of any dispute over condition on 1st August if I leave as is.

I'll make some calls to see if I can get it done but at that cost it'll totally depend on whether I can fit it in or not so may well end up just leaving it.

As far as the alloys are concerned he said there was no problem as I was 'allowed' 20% damage which is far more generous than the wording in the booklet from MBFS.

So, if it goes back as is I'll have to pay about £1k including the mileage that I've done which will mean that over the lifetime of my ownership it'll have worked out at a very reasonable £103/week to have a brand new E-Class.

This includes:
- All finance including deposit
- 1 x A service
- 4 x Tyres
- Front and rear brake pads,
- 25k miles (deal was for 20k)
- Damage on front and rear bumpers

It would have been a fraction less if I hadn't under-estimated my annual mileage at the outset of the deal but on the flip-side handing it back a month early without needing the B service has saved a tidy sum.

However, it does show the gap between the headline "XXX/month" lease deal which lures buyers in and the actual cost of maintaining it properly so you can hand it back. In this case 275.99 month is actually 449.52 so 63% higher than the base cost. Whilst I had done my maths you can see how the uninitiated might get caught out and I expect these deals drive a lot of buyer remorse when costs build up. It's the first time I've leased but am pleased I've signed up to do it again. It suits me.

As for the car, it wasn't the most exciting of beasts but it was supremely competent at almost everything apart from out and out hooning but for my purposes it was great.

Now onto the Land Rover.
 
The PPi mob are now starting to look into final values on PCP, now that could be very interesting
 
I raised the need for tighter regulation on this type of transaction about a year ago.

The view of one of our more prolific posters was that 'these people' who fall foul of car leasing/finance aren't worth protecting.
 
I raised the need for tighter regulation on this type of transaction about a year ago.

The view of one of our more prolific posters was that 'these people' who fall foul of car leasing/finance aren't worth protecting.

Come on Lewy, spill the beans my man. :D
 
The PPi mob are now starting to look into final values on PCP, now that could be very interesting

Interesting but this was a straightforward rental agreement. No final value involved.
 
I raised the need for tighter regulation on this type of transaction about a year ago.

The view of one of our more prolific posters was that 'these people' who fall foul of car leasing/finance aren't worth protecting.

Which bit, the way that they're advertised so that monthly costs are more representative of the headline price or charges at the end of the deal?
 
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The PPi mob are now starting to look into final values on PCP, now that could be very interesting


Got a link for that one as I'm struggling to see how miss selling of insurance products due to term issues crosses over to dealer/manufacturer linked asset value risk?!? Or is it the extra charges that force onto the public that cannot look after or repair damage they have incurred?

I raised the need for tighter regulation on this type of transaction about a year ago.

The view of one of our more prolific posters was that 'these people' who fall foul of car leasing/finance aren't worth protecting.


Spin-bowlers right, the costs are not in need of tighter regulation, it common sense that if you don't stick to the terms and hand back a damaged car you will need to pay extra. However some of these costs I bake in by taking s full maintenance package.

The only time you may get away with it is dealer direct leasing, then they often sting you early into a new car and ignore light damage and mileage issues. But the deals are rarely as good as some internet brokers.
 
Which bit, the way that they're advertised so that monthly costs are more representative of the headline price or charges at the end of the deal?

Got a link for that one as I'm struggling to see how miss selling of insurance products due to term issues crosses over to dealer/manufacturer linked asset value risk?!? Or is it the extra charges that force onto the public that cannot look after or repair damage they have incurred?




Spin-bowlers right, the costs are not in need of tighter regulation, it common sense that if you don't stick to the terms and hand back a damaged car you will need to pay extra. However some of these costs I bake in by taking s full maintenance package.

The only time you may get away with it is dealer direct leasing, then they often sting you early into a new car and ignore light damage and mileage issues. But the deals are rarely as good as some internet brokers.

Car finance used to sit under the Consumer Credit Act but is now under the FCA, however, the regulatory regime is not robust and, in practice, the regulation is largely unenforced.

My concern is that leasing in all of it's guises is overly complicated and is being actively sold to unwary punters. Just try buying a car from a main dealer and avoid seeing the F&I man, it's nearly impossible.

I'm completely unsurprised that the more proactive legal firms are looking at this industry for the next round of compensation claims, think about it.
There is a regulatory body, good because there must be guidelines that they can argue were not followed.
There has been a massive uplift in sales of these products, good because there will be enough disgruntled consumers to provide a regular footfall for them.
It's a complicated product, good because it will have been poorly explained in many instances with little evidence of compliant practices.
Consumers will feel out of pocket and there will be paperwork to show extra charges or interest charged on the full transaction not just the purchase price less the 'balloon'. This paperwork can be called evidence, compensation lawyers love 'evidence'.

It's a misunderstood product and, under the current regime, there is little governance in place to ensure that the consumer really understands what they are getting into.
 
But it's nothing new, Fords option was the first of it kind and I sold tons of it, felt for the customer at the end, no residual, no deposit.

So in a way I agree, but it's the mains stealers deals that I find the worst, huge deposit, low payments, locking you in long term...
 

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