Lease car being delivered - crash en route to my house

JT1987LBN

I have just signed up for a new lease car (first time doing this) and my delivery date was today. Unfortunately the company has just phoned and advised that the car has been in an accident en route and is on it's way back to the depot. They are going to assess the damage and provide transport in the meantime so that's ok, however I'm wondering what my options are if I'm not happy to accept a fixed car as I paid for brand new. Any advice would be appreciated.

Mark_d

If your lease agreement says that you can cancel before taking receipt of the car, then maybe this is what you want to do.

If you were buying the car I expect you'd be able to reject taking a repaired car but I suspect the things are different with a lease car.  What does your lease agreement say?

Mildly_Miffed

Something like a third of all brand new cars have bodywork repairs prior to delivery.

The only difference here is that you know that it's happened.

DullGreyGuy

That was me too... other than I was the person that drove into the back of a Mercedes being driven off the forecourt to be delivered to the customer (who lived a few blocks from us it turned out) back when I was 18 and a tape had got stuck in the cassette player. 

If you want to cancel then check the terms of your lease agreement. 

As has been said, you only know about it because they are now late delivering it to you. If you go to collect a car from a garage instead they normally ask you come 2-3 days after it's been delivered to them so they can "get it ready for you". What sort of thing takes 2-3 days to get ready on a brand new car? Certainly urban myth is that a notable proportion turn up with minor stone chip damage etc which the garage fixes up before handing it over to you and you're none the wiser. 

JT1987LBN

Thanks all for your replies. I guess my worry is if the damage is significant and it causes long term issues after being "fixed", I don't want to have to spend a large amount of time and effort throughout the lease having to take it back to the garage, I went for the lease option for an easy life .

DullGreyGuy

JT1987LBN said:

Thanks all for your replies. I guess my worry is if the damage is significant and it causes long term issues after being "fixed", I don't want to have to spend a large amount of time and effort throughout the lease having to take it back to the garage, I went for the lease option for an easy life .

ask for a photo of the damage? 

Herzlos

If it's fixed properly then it'll be as good as new and still have a full warranty. You can always ask to see the damage but it's unlikely to be write-off serious.

Hoenir

Pointless speculating until there's far more information. 

Mutton_Geoff

Mildly_Miffed said:

Something like a third of all brand new cars have bodywork repairs prior to delivery.

Any reference for this? I worked in the motor trade and have never heard this % being quoted before.