Nissan Note Lease Return Video

This clip is from one of our video reports which comes with our End-of-Lease Inspection. This part is just a visual record as an overview, there is also a written report with photos detailing each individual issue.

We are well aware that we are not showing how each issue should be repaired, how much it will cost, nor are we recommending if it should or shouldn't be done. There is good reason for this.

Armed with this information, we can take a view on the whole car and draw up a plan of what to do.

One of the most important things to remember is that lease companies usually have a threshold of charges. That is to say, they will not charge for every single little bit of damage. They want a car back in good condition, so they can get a good price for it when they sell it. If they get a car back which is in decent condition and will fetch a good price, they will be happy. But if there are lots of bits of damage, it devalues the car, and they lose money. So they will send you re-charges to cover the cost of that devaluation. Obviously, with these big companies, it's systemized, and that system costs money. There are admin costs they have to consider, and if the customer sees them as being petty, they could lose a good customer.

This leaves us with wiggle room to work. If we can do the cost-effective repairs and the obvious things, it's likely that the remaining damage falls under their threshold, and they just don't consider it worthwhile sending out a bill.

It's also worth considering that they don't actually do the repairs they charge you for. So to them, a dent is a dent and will be charged at a fixed price. That dent might actually be difficult to get to or do, so might actually cost you more money in the real world. But often the opposite is true. While their recharges for dents and wheel refurbishment are often very reasonable and can work out cheaper than you could get the repairs done paying retail prices, with other types of damage, they may charge you the cost of replacement parts or full body shop repair and repaint.

That would certainly be the case if they deemed the repair to the front wing to be unsatisfactory. They would charge for repairing and repainting that whole front wing, but as mentioned in the video, we can flat-and-polish it and make it acceptable for a fraction of the cost.

The same goes for the carpet. If they did decide that that wear did not fall under 'fair wear and tear', they could charge for the cost of a new carpet plus refitting. This would run into hundreds of pounds, yet carpet repairs are effective, relatively cheap and easy. 

One of the biggest mistakes people make is getting everything done, which could be as costly as accepting the recharges. It is far better to weigh it all up and approach it intelligently. It is often the case that we recommend doing a few, minor and inexpensive repairs and leaving more major damage which would be costly for you to repair, because when everything else is done, scraped front bumper or dent in the roof falls under the threshold, and you escape a recharge.

You might also have noticed that we mention the spare key, locking wheel nuts, spare wheel kit and service history. These are items which customers are often caught out on and incur expensive recharges. This is one of the benefits to having an End-of-Lease Inspection, the custom now as a report documenting that all these items are present. Should you get a bill that you don't agree with, you can dispute the charges armed with your own report.