Question about alloy damage on a leased car.

molotovdog

I've currently got a leased car, due to go back the middle of next year, and i've got some damage on two of the alloys. 

Annoyingly i'm pretty sure the damage was on the car when i got it, as i've never curbed a wheel before, there's no damage to the tyres, and i've been being exceptionally careful with it, knowing that i'd need to give the car back.

The reason i think it might have been on it from delivery is because the damage is actually quite hard to see, if the wheel is oriented, so the damage is on the bottom half, you can't actually see it.

Anyway, i was looking through the details of the “acceptable damage” on the company i've leased from, Leasys, and i found this

Which says, I'm allowed “scuffs totalling up to 50 mm around the circumference of the wheel”

My question is, on one of the wheels the damage is like lots of tiny little marks with gaps between, and i'm curious if you just measure the damage or if you count the gaps between? My instinct was that you'd cound the gaps, but then i thought what if you have two minute marks on opposite sides of the wheel, if you measured from the start of one to the end of the other you'd get a massive “area of damage”

Here's the damage on one of the wheels, the other wheel only has a maybe 2mm mark, so i know that wheel is fine.

Weirdly, the damage almost looks like it's something stuck on the alloy, rather than a gouge or dent taken out of it.

The document on the site doesn't really clarify, i've emailed them to ask, but they're taking forever to reply, so thought i'd see if anyone here could give me some insight?

On-the-coast

I’ve handed quite a few lease cars back - and taken note of the guidelines each time. And if you think you’re alloys are OK or marginal - you’re probably right!

Most times my inspector has been fair to generous. Including one time when he said “that alloy is going to cost you £50… but I’ll overlook the other. 

On the other hand the last one was a picky so-and-so, and I probably ended up paying £150 more than was fair. 

If you’re thinking of challenging the assessment - take good photos of clean car (including closeups of the details, pref with ruler in shot - at time of handover!, then take it up with head office. The assessor is unlikely to budge from their opinion. 

molotovdog

The thing is, while i'm annoyed about it, due to not thinking i did the damage, i'm willing to pay to get them refurbed, but the real annoyance would be if i don't get them refurbed, then when i hand it back they say they need doing and want to charge two or three times what it would've cost me to take them and get them refurbed myself.

One thing i did wonder as well, they obviously do the inspection when they come to pick the car up, if they miss something and only spot it when they get the car back to whever it's going, that's their problem right? they can't do a "oh, we've just seen this as well...." not that i'm trying to hide things, just wanted to double check that's how it would work.

bigbars

My tip, obviously a bit late now is to take pics of pertinent bits so you have prior evidence when you take the vehicle, dents, mileage, scuffs etc. i do it for any hire or lease.

But in this case, double check your lease contract as to what has been noted. when i got the car it was 3/4 full, but I over filled my courtesy car on return back to the same level but I didn't realise the fuel tank was listed incorrectly on the lease as 2/5 which is less than half, it also detailed a few dents and scuffs that were present.

From experience, it depends on costs, they are happy to overlook some items if they are trivial and cheap, but those that maybe costly, they will pick them out and screw you over. Unfortunately they only do a cursory check on a few things on collection, but their engineer will check properly, so until the contract is closed they could conceivably find something to get you on later. I always push for that closure of the contract for piece of mind.

Scuffs will normally be overlooked, but gouges, chunks will not. Hopefully its mentioned on the original contract as a previous consideration.

Good luck !

molotovdog

Thanks, yeah i knew about taking pics, but this being my first lease i was obviously too excited about my first ever brand new car and somehow it completely slipped my mind, very annoying.

KXL88

Tell me about, they delivered the car, I did the once over, fine, two weeks later opened the front passenger door for the first time, there was minor chunk of paint missing on the door edge. I told them they said too late, so I used touch up paint, can't find anymore (my car is black). Rims I have some minor scuffs, from experience if u need to take awhile to find it, you will be fine. The inspectors use a tablet camera which thankfully is crap! However if I use touch up paint to sort the wheels makes the dark grey/black scuffs less obvious. Mine are regular alloys so used E tech silver alloys touch up.  Dings in doors are the worst! Firstly not our fault... I have 2 small ones and one obvious one. Probably get a £48 on that one like last time. Previous car had gloss black alloys so used missus black gloss nail polish, perfect!

baser999

Try having a word with a local garage to see if they could ‘rub down and buff out’ the offending scuffs. I had a local guy who did this on a couple of wheels for far less than a wheel refurbishment company. 

lemondrops69

looks more like the lacquer is coming off rather than a dink 

molotovdog

KXL88 said:

Tell me about, they delivered the car, I did the once over, fine, two weeks later opened the front passenger door for the first time, there was minor chunk of paint missing on the door edge. I told them they said too late, so I used touch up paint, can't find anymore (my car is black). Rims I have some minor scuffs, from experience if u need to take awhile to find it, you will be fine. The inspectors use a tablet camera which thankfully is crap! However if I use touch up paint to sort the wheels makes the dark grey/black scuffs less obvious. Mine are regular alloys so used E tech silver alloys touch up.  Dings in doors are the worst! Firstly not our fault... I have 2 small ones and one obvious one. Probably get a £48 on that one like last time. Previous car had gloss black alloys so used missus black gloss nail polish, perfect!

yep, i also noticed a little mark on the rear bumper a couple days after getting the car, there's no physical damage like a scuff or dent but there's a peel of paint missing, roughly the size of a thumbnail, like just the colour coat peeled off. Thankfully i called up and let them know and they said they'd add it to the report, thankfully i've kept details of that call etc... should they challenge that. i wish my wheels were a nice simple colour like gloss black all over, so much easier to touch up!

lemondrops69 said:

looks more like the lacquer is coming off rather than a dink 

yeah, i'm honestly not sure exactly what it is, as you say it doesn't really look like a scuff/chip and it feels raised rather than indented. It's almost like something stuck onto the wheel like specks of cement, but not really. I'm tempted to very, very carefully take a razor blade to one of the tiny bits and see if it chips off.