Mercedes Benz Finance end of lease charges

engmpoll

Hello,

I know this topic has been covered a number of times, but I thought it appropriate to start my own thread as every case is individual in its specifics.Take a seat this could be long winded!!!

Recently my 4 year lease on a Jeep Grand Cherokee (Financed through MB as MB owned the Chrysler group at the time) came to an end. The car was collected from my home prior to my final payment and a month before it was actually due for collection due to me working away from home and not being available on the original date.

The Car was collected on the 10th December 2010 at approximately midday and an onsite inspection was carried out, although the guys picking it up said a full inspection would be carried out upon its return to base, something about the light being poor and the fact it had rained that morning. The car was returned under the mileage limit (39958 of agreed 40000), serviced, taxed and MOT'd. All the required extras were accounted for and handed over. The guys picking up the vehicle from Jet Logistics even commented on the excellent condition of the vehicle. 40 mins later they drove away in it with trade plates displayed.

Fast forward 4 weeks and I have recieved an invoice from MB finance for £343.86 + VAT and 2 photos indicating supposed damage. Happy New Year to you too!! The invoice is for Full Tailgate Panel STB Repair and a new JEEP badge. The 2 photos highlight a scratch on the tailgate just below the number plate which wasn't there on collection and the 2nd photo shows the JEEP badge, however I can't for the life of me determine what the fault with it is!! Prior to the handover of the vehicle I fully inspected the vehicle in compliance with what is deemed as fair wear and tear (ref. BVRLA) and found nothing of any concern.

I have emailed MB finance so as to keep a written log of everything and requested a written description of the damage before I even consider handing over any money. I have also requested electronic copies of the photos as there printed quality is not the best and the reflection of the flash and body countours of the panel make it difficult to determine the extent of the supposed damage. A full panel repair seems a little excessive for a scratch.

Has anyone got any advice on how best to deal with MB finance from now on? Should I refuse to pay? How do I prove the damage occured after collection? I didn't take any photos before it was collected because it was in top condition. Is it possible they are trying to make some money back as the vehicle depreciated like a stone with the fuel hikes over the last 4 years and the crackdown on 4x4's (are they really this underhanded??). In fact if I recall correctly its market value at trade in is approx £2k less than the GFV established at the start of the lease agreement (thats why I handed it back and didn't trade it in).

If anyones got any advice no matter how trivial then please share it, so I can prepare for any response I may receieve from them.

Thanks in advance.

Matt

charlearose

i have had something similar with lomabard - when returning a mazda mx 5 usual crap damage scuffs ect they sent crap photos and took 550 from my bank account as i hadnt cancelled the direct debit
i did manage to get my money back thanks to Ling from lings cars as i was getting another car on finance and she did intervene for me on my behalf But at that time there were 4 other people she was helping out with the same problems


I asked for proper clear photos (not the crap of a photocopy of black and white photos which were sent on a piece of A4 Paper
i couldnt even make out what bloody car it was)

I also requested a vat ,itemised receipt for the work done and one
(They couldnt provide this either)

I also asked requested to see the car and the damage itself in person i was happy to travel ( i couldnt as it had been sent auction - most of them are)
I also said that i would be persuing this as far as i could unless i got my money back and was happy to go to court

the rain /no light thing is a common trick that is used by these awful companies
also to do the work ( if they did ) before contacting me and without my permission although there is probably something in the small print of the contract that allow this


also if you can go and find out how much that sort of repair /damage would cost to get fixed and how much a jeep badge so that you have something to compare with

these companies seem to want the car back in the same condition that it left the forecourt on with no real allowance for any sort of wear and tear no matter how small

Personally i would not pay it and tell you are prepared to go to court
I would imagine and hope that they would have to provide a lot more evidence than two crap photos and an in house reciept for suppossed work done

I Reckon they do this on problaby every car that has the smallest amount of wear and tear - do the maths if they can get 500 pounds from every other customer that a real nice little profit at the end of day

think yourself lucky your not the poor guy in the other thread that mercedes are asking for over 2k
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2521391
if you lease again - make sure you take lots and lots of photos and video evidence of the condition of the car before it goes back and make sure its timedated - also get a photo of the milage its not unusual for the car to aquire a lot of milage on the way home
keep a copy of the car return paper that the driver gives you when he collects it

also cancel the standing order /.direct debit the moment the car goes back - if you have paid anything by credit card at any point report the card stolen so that you get a new credit card number /account so that they cant take any money of it in the future they have been known to do this - if you havent done this yet then do it now, as they could easily take the money from your bank account if its still up and running

my car was written off last month and bloody lombard despite knowing it was written off and that they were getting there full final settlement payment of over 16k from my insurance company they still tried to take the original monthly payment a week earlier than ususal as they probably thought that i was going to cancel the standing order ( which i did as soon as the car was written off)

vikingaero

You need to wait until you receive copies of the photos (and not poxy black and white laser printed copies). Maybe also ask them for invoices for the damaged work. Lease companies seem to like claiming for the cost of repairs but never actually carry out the repairs as they often kick the cars out to auction.

It seems to be that MB Finance seem to be hot on spurious damage charges. Anyone who leases from them and is due to return a car to them should take 101 photos and also use a video camera to document mileage and the condition of the car. If I needed to lease a car, MB Finance would be one company to avoid because of the large numbers of spurious claims.

engmpoll

Thanks for the feedback so far guys.

As for cancelling my DD, I did it as soon as the final payment cleared to avoid any kind of nasty suprises, also the credit card I used to pay for the deposit 4+ years ago is now well and truly expired so hopefully no surprises there either.

I think for the time being I will await there response if any, or ring them when I am back in the country next week to push the issue. I may even request to come and see the vehicle as I'm passing that way to go to Gatwick next weekend, then I'll find out if it's at auction yet. The pictures they provided are colour and are printed on a piece of A4, they just dont appear to be very good.

I can imagine the badge probably does cost what they state, but the full panel respray for a scratch seems ridiculous. Luckily a friend of mine operates a mobile body repair company so I'll ask him for his opinion on the level of repair required.

Thanks again guys.

BlueScouse

Just been invoiced for more than £1,300 by MB Finance for bringing a Chrysler Grand Voyager up to standard. After contacting the BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental and Lieasing Association) I got the bill reduced by over £300, which makes me think Mercedes were trying to make money out of the repairs.
I have finally paid up as I can't see where else to go with this without engaging a solicitor.
My advice to people is simple: Don't lease a car, and certainly don't even think about using Mercedes Benz Finance.