What are the things most commonly charged for at the end of lease?
Quick answer: The most common end-of-lease charges cover excess wear and damage -- scuffed wheels, scratches and dents, cracked or chipped glass, poor paint repairs and stained or torn interiors -- along with excess mileage and missing items like keys, manuals or service history.
If you don't prepare your car for return and just send it back, you're likely to be charged for the most common forms of damage: chips on door edges, scratches, scuffed wheels, dents, and stains on seats -- and a filthy car can also attract a separate cleaning recharge; see will I be charged for a dirty car for where that threshold sits.
Generally speaking the charges for these are not too bad. You'll be billed for the cost of repair, which is often close to -- or cheaper than -- what you would have paid anyway. The exception is chips on door edges. Because they have "broken the paint" (which can lead to rust) you could be charged for repair and repaint at a body shop, which is far more expensive than filling them with a touch-up paint. For a breakdown of how much these recharges typically run, see what do lease car recharges typically cost.
Where people get a shock is when they assume that because the damage is small, the repair bill will be small. There are many ways to repair a scuff on a bumper: you might polish it out or touch it in; if it has dented, you can heat it up and push it back into shape; if there is a crack, plastic weld can fix it like new. Somebody sitting in an office looking at a report doesn't know which of those is the cheapest option that will work, but they do know that the sure-fire way to put it 100% right is to replace the whole bumper and have it resprayed.
The same thing happens with carpets. If a carpet has a cigarette burn or a high heel has worn through under the pedal, we're usually confident we can do an invisible and durable cosmetic repair for a reasonable price. The assessor, however, has absolute certainty that the problem can be solved by stripping the interior and replacing the entire carpet. The same goes for scuffs and wear on leather upholstery. In most cases this kind of damage can be repaired to an acceptable standard for a reasonable cost, and a leather specialist can examine it and quickly assess the likely outcome. The assessor is not a leather specialist and only has photos to go on, so they will be pricing a replacement seat -- which gets spendy even on a Ford or Fiat, let alone a Jaguar or Mercedes.
There are lots of things like this that catch people out. It is very rare for us to recommend a new carpet set or headlining, and there is usually a cheaper but acceptable way to deal with most issues. Once the car goes back to the lease company, however, it's too late to explore those alternatives. The full range of end of lease repairs -- damage types, typical options and likely costs -- is worth knowing before that point.
The other thing that catches people out is missing items. If you took the parcel shelf out of your car and left it in the garage, you might be surprised how expensive it is to replace. The socket key for locking wheel nuts can also be costly, as are electronic keys, spare keys and master keys. We often hear of people being charged hundreds of pounds to replace the spare key sitting in the kitchen drawer.
There is also excess mileage, incomplete service history, or the wrong grade of tyres fitted. These are all things to pay attention to as you go along. If you have a service contract or tyre deal as part of your lease, make sure the technicians do their job properly and complete the paperwork.
This may all sound harsh to the lease company, which it shouldn't. They are generally fair, their recharges are reasonable or generous, and most will even work with you on things like excess mileage.
For everything else on returning a lease car cleanly, see our end-of-lease car preparation guide.