Returning a leased car...

[Zexhuffer]

My mother in law is returning her 4 year old leased car with 10k on it. She is starting to have memory issues so she can no longer keep the car.

She has a dent on the back panel and is worried about the cost. My question since I've never leased a car is....should she go through insurance, pay the deductible and get it fixed before she brings it back??

Any help would be great she's in her 70s and I always deal with her car, phone, computer issues etc but I've never dealt with leased cars before.

[mavrrrick]

If the damage is higher than her deductible and she wont be driving anymore , i would claim. JMO

[ZR]

Good chance you can buy it out and make a few bucks on it.

[Laffs]

Good chance you can buy it out and make a few bucks on it.

Yep. Market is so fucked right now worth checking her buy out vs the current resale market on the thing. Odds are you could just buy it out right, maybe PDR the dent and then flip it for a couple thou profit.

[Uncle Buck]

Depending on the dent, maybe a paintless dent repair guy can fix it. I find them very reasonable.

X2 on buy it and flip it or put the word out in your network, maybe someone will step up and buy it to save you the flip hassle and taxes.

[Uncle Buck]

What is the vehicle?

[5.4MarkVIII]

as said look to buy out and re sell if you have the time will make money.

as for the dent depend on size. if its just a small ding. they may not even care.

but we just had a door din PDRed and it was only a couple hundred bucks.


edit. depends on your sales /leasing guy. my guy on any lease return gets a wholesale price first. if its bigger than the lease return the dealer buys it out, whole sales it and cuts me a check (or uses as a deposit)

[Zexhuffer]

She's in her 70s and will no longer be driving..its a 2017 Chevy cruse lt and she just wants to drop it off with the least amount of hassles. She has a 500 deductible and lives in st Catherine's so I can't just pick it up and deal with it myself.

[Minaccia]

When I inspected end of lease vehicles for Ford credit dents bigger than a credit card would be a charge and paint damage (your finger nail feels the scratch) is a charge. Keep in mind this was over 10 years ago so I'm sure rules and costs have changed. There was also an option to get it fixed yourself if it's cheaper than what the inspector has in his report.
If they do things like we did she should be getting a call from GM credit to let her know about the inspection.

[Ponyryd]

She's in her 70s and will no longer be driving..its a 2017 Chevy cruse lt and she just wants to drop it off with the least amount of hassles. She has a 500 deductible and lives in st Catherine's so I can't just pick it up and deal with it myself.

Any larger private lot (or dealership) would likely buy it from her for more than what’s owing. At our dealership we often buy out leases and sell them to private lots or dealers at a decent profit, so were she to do that she would just eliminate the middle man.
If you really don’t care about the money, call the dealership yourself and speak to the sales manager, tell them the situation and say if it’s gonna cost any money you’ll sell it to another lot, or buy it out yourself, I’d bet they will pretty accommodating.