Car back to lease tomorrow - Flat Tyre - Legal or illegal to foam it?

reeceg353

Hi all,

My car is going back to the finance company Monday (in 3 days) after 4 year lease.

i just put continental tyres on it last week, as you’re supposed to do that and not budgets. 

Literally, yesterday I had a slow puncture on the way to work which I’ve now repaired within an hour of doing it via the puncture sealant kit in the boot at home.

**My question is -  rather than paying £270 it’s going to cost for one tyre - can I give the car back to the inspector as it is?

+ you cannot tell it has sealant
+ it is pumped up to the correct presssure 
+ save myself £270 
+ once they drive it off my property it is their responsibility 

- could get seen and returned cancelled, costing me admin fee and more money 
- will have to replace anyway £270
- if the guy crashes it could be my fault 


what do you think? I know the right answer is probably it’s my fault, my responsibility, be a good human but I just know the lease company are going to charge me for everything they can when I return it. (Last time the car was 99% spotless but they still said it wasn’t clean as it was delivered and charged me £70 valet)

paul_c123

You could have had the slow puncture repaired (probably) for £10-20 at a tyre fitter shop. But putting the goo/foam into it has made it significantly more difficult. Does the car come with a compressor too? Or just the can of goo?

In any case, too late now. But if its holding pressure, its fine to drive. And if the pressure goes down, its 100% the responsibility of the driver who collects the car to remain safe, you don't normally crash from a flat tyre - especially a professional driver.

I believe they normally inspect the car again once it arrives at the auction house, if it went flat then they fixed it and found the goo, it might come back to you. But it might be they just accept there was a puncture on the way from collection to delivery address and suck it up.

reeceg353

I took it to two tyre shops on the way home and they both said it was too close to the side wall (within 2.5 inches I think)
but yeah I put the sealant in and the used the compressor too, so it’s pumped up to the correct tyre pressure and there is no tyre loss icon on the dashboard anymore. 

Obviously I’ve replaced a like for like replacement can of goo

It says it should last for up to 100 miles and/or 2 weeks… so I think I could try my luck 

MyRealNameToo

reeceg353 said:

Hi all,

My car is going back to the finance company Monday (in 3 days) after 4 year lease.

i just put continental tyres on it last week, as you’re supposed to do that and not budgets. 

Literally, yesterday I had a slow puncture on the way to work which I’ve now repaired within an hour of doing it via the puncture sealant kit in the boot at home.

**My question is -  rather than paying £270 it’s going to cost for one tyre - can I give the car back to the inspector as it is?

+ you cannot tell it has sealant
+ it is pumped up to the correct presssure 
+ save myself £270 
+ once they drive it off my property it is their responsibility 

- could get seen and returned cancelled, costing me admin fee and more money 
- will have to replace anyway £270
- if the guy crashes it could be my fault 


what do you think? I know the right answer is probably it’s my fault, my responsibility, be a good human but I just know the lease company are going to charge me for everything they can when I return it. (Last time the car was 99% spotless but they still said it wasn’t clean as it was delivered and charged me £70 valet)

Its not "illegal" as in you won't go to prison for it, it may however not meet the reasonable condition in which you agreed you'd return the vehicle in and therefore they may charge you to bring it back up to how you should return it. They arent going to return it to you to sort out either, they'll do it but you'll foot the bill.

The fact it's full of foam is going to be a giveaway that they didnt do it themselves on the way back to their compound. Certainly with my gunk kit there was a speed limit you could go at, if you handover a car you know isnt safe to go over 50mph and dont tell them the consequences could be much more significant than having to pay for a damaged car if they go at motorway speeds and sustain major injuries/killed as a consequence. Not say this will happen, have no idea how overly cautious they are with the speed limit on gunk.

Personally when I was about to hand back my car I took a chunk out the body coloured lower lip of the front bumper. I intentionally parked so that part of the car was in the darker area and may have gotten creative with trying to mask it a little. When they inspected the car they totally missed it however they did note some "dry paint" under the bonnet and said there would be a circa £3.50 charge for it to be polished. They also said the car would be looked at again outside in better light and that ultimate the finance company makes the choice of what charges to apply. 

A few weeks later I got a letter back saying its all finished, it made no reference to any charges being due, nor that they had waived any charges

Keep_pedalling

You are supposed to restrict your spread to 50mph after fixing a puncture with foam, so I think failing to tell them about this could leave you in a whole heap of legal trouble if someone had a blow out on that tyre at 70mph just after you handed the car back.

Was this one of the new tyres you just had fitted? If it was it could just be a failure in the rim sealant and a new tyre not required. 

reeceg353

I think with that argument, about being back charged - they will definitely see it’s been sealed when they take the tyre off, agreed, however my argument would be, “I didn’t do that”

I think (and correct me if I’m wrong) legally that it’s their responsibility once it’s off my drive (anything could happen, and how can they prove otherwise)

Yeah I mean, the limit on the foam says 60mph max, which yeah is under motorway speed, there is that. 

Emmia

reeceg353 said:

I think with that argument, about being back charged - they will definitely see it’s been sealed when they take the tyre off, agreed, however my argument would be, “I didn’t do that”

I think (and correct me if I’m wrong) legally that it’s their responsibility once it’s off my drive (anything could happen, and how can they prove otherwise)

Yeah I mean, the limit on the foam says 60mph max, which yeah is under motorway speed, there is that. 

But that would be lying. It would be easy to check with the professional driver who collects whether they had used the can of goo... Which if they'd used the goo enroute, after picking the car up would then be missing 

Also, whilst you've replaced the can of goo I bet it has a different expiry date to the one you used. 

facade

It isn't illegal.

However, they will sting you for the missing gloop when they check the supplied accessories, and they might ask you where it has gone.

Premium tyres often come with a guarantee that if they suffer an irreparable puncture you get a replacement tyre and only pay for the % of the tread you used. Did yours? 

MyRealNameToo

reeceg353 said:

I think with that argument, about being back charged - they will definitely see it’s been sealed when they take the tyre off, agreed, however my argument would be, “I didn’t do that”

I think (and correct me if I’m wrong) legally that it’s their responsibility once it’s off my drive (anything could happen, and how can they prove otherwise)

Yeah I mean, the limit on the foam says 60mph max, which yeah is under motorway speed, there is that. 

The question will be if they take the tyre off. The whole thing is they get the car back, decide what work if anything will need to be done to it and then get it to auction ASAP. Some things are worth fixing and many arent because it won't increase the auction price by the cost of repair. The car continues to depreciate whilst it's being fixed and storing it takes space and therefore money. 

I've no idea if the lip damage was ever spotted, even if it was spotted dont know if it was repaired before it was sold. Did find the car on the auction website afterwards and they had angled the photo so that part of the lip was out of view (probably coincidental but amused me)

Certainly our agreement didnt end our liability the second they drove it away, the contract allowed for a proper inspection when they get back to base and can lift the car etc. Yes there could be an argument it was done whilst in their control but certainly with some damages you can tell if it was done yesterday or 2 years ago. Were it just a slow puncture you'd probably have a better claim it was done by them, but its not, you've filled the tyre with gunk and presumably the car will be returned without its can of gunk. Our car was driven away but have seen some put on a low loader so if it isnt driven away how could they have punctured it? 

prowla

The car is legal to drive (subject to the stipulations of the temporary repair), but should be repaired (which the foam hasn't helped).

As far as handing it back, I can forsee some potential issues:

1. If they ask you if it has any known issues and you say no (ie. lie).
2. They check the repair kit and spot that the foam has been used.
3. They subsequently find you've handed it back with an issue (for which they may charge you, probablymore than the cost of a puncture repair).
4. If they don't find it and the car is leased or sold on to someone else who then has a problem.

Emmia

MyRealNameToo said:

reeceg353 said:

I think with that argument, about being back charged - they will definitely see it’s been sealed when they take the tyre off, agreed, however my argument would be, “I didn’t do that”

I think (and correct me if I’m wrong) legally that it’s their responsibility once it’s off my drive (anything could happen, and how can they prove otherwise)

Yeah I mean, the limit on the foam says 60mph max, which yeah is under motorway speed, there is that. 

The question will be if they take the tyre off. The whole thing is they get the car back, decide what work if anything will need to be done to it and then get it to auction ASAP. Some things are worth fixing and many arent because it won't increase the auction price by the cost of repair. The car continues to depreciate whilst it's being fixed and storing it takes space and therefore money. 

I've no idea if the lip damage was ever spotted, even if it was spotted dont know if it was repaired before it was sold. Did find the car on the auction website afterwards and they had angled the photo so that part of the lip was out of view (probably coincidental but amused me)

Certainly our agreement didnt end our liability the second they drove it away, the contract allowed for a proper inspection when they get back to base and can lift the car etc. Yes there could be an argument it was done whilst in their control but certainly with some damages you can tell if it was done yesterday or 2 years ago. Were it just a slow puncture you'd probably have a better claim it was done by them, but its not, you've filled the tyre with gunk and presumably the car will be returned without its can of gunk. Our car was driven away but have seen some put on a low loader so if it isnt driven away how could they have punctured it? 

The OP said they'd replaced the gunk

reeceg353 said:

I took it to two tyre shops on the way home and they both said it was too close to the side wall (within 2.5 inches I think)
but yeah I put the sealant in and the used the compressor too, so it’s pumped up to the correct tyre pressure and there is no tyre loss icon on the dashboard anymore. 

Obviously I’ve replaced a like for like replacement can of goo

It says it should last for up to 100 miles and/or 2 weeks… so I think I could try my luck