Car Lease - "Damage" costs on return

chunkytfg

Thats called orange peel and can be sorted without needing repainting.

2000+ Wet and dry in the hands of a pro detailer and then a polish and it would probably end up flatter than the original paint work.

chunkytfg

This is 'factory paint' on a couple of week old BMW M3



After being Wetsanded and polished

Mercdriver

chunkytfg wrote: »

This is 'factory paint' on a couple of week old BMW M3



After being Wetsanded and polished

Hard to compare as picture 1 is out of focus second one in focus

MercilessKiller

To be fair, the pictures they took of mine weren't in focus (check the guys thumbnail in the first picture which is meant to show dirt in paint). You can't even read the Manheim text on the card... Very poor quality which is surprising.

The thing is with these lease cars, they charge what it would cost for a "proper" repair but they take the money as profit and sell the car at auction without repairing them at all - so it's a bit dodgy to start with as it's all pure profit for them...

I'm now awaiting the complaints division to call me where I'll confirm that:
1) It's not "obvious" as per the BVLA terms
2) It was repair under warranty which under BVLA terms is accepted
3) Factory cars DO come with paintwork that looks rippled
4) They are not allowing the garage to review the car under the repair warranty to confirm it can be resolved
5) A simple wetsand would remove the ripple appearance which isn't anywhere near the cost of a re-spray
6) I have done everything right and by the book - had the car repaired via an approved garage, under warranty, and contest that I shouldn't be liable for any costs relating to that

Will see what they say but feel like I'm pretty happy to just refuse outright to pay for that.

MercilessKiller

Well - winner winner!

They just got in touch with me. There was another deep scratch on the car that I agreed needed fixing. They have however said that this was "mislabelled internally" in their system so they have removed that scratch from the invoice. In addition, while the paintwork issue did not comply with BVLA standards they were happy to, as a goodwill gesture, discount the repaint for the areas that needed it by 50%. This brought the total down to what I had expected to pay originally anyway...!

So in the end, I'm now in a place where I'm happy to pay even if what's on the invoice isn't necessarily what I would agreed with in terms of how to get to that same number.

I feel like in a way the people I dealt with totally agreed with me, but with all calls and emails recorded were reluctant to actually do so and instead figured out a way to give me the expected outcome.

Either way - Thanks for everyones help and comments. I'm dumb when it comes to cars (obviously as per this thread) and always appreciate advice!