Getting hit with excess wear and tear charges

I have to return 2010 lease in a couple of weeks. I can't say anything yet. What was wrong with the returned cars. I mean damages beyond normal wear and tear or mileage.

 

this happened to me 25 years ago, and i haven't leased a car since. all the best!

 

I have never understood fleecing a car. It seems like having a perpetual car payment with the uncertainty of getting out from under it. Maybe you're better off in buying out the car? Best of luck!

 

The residual on my 2010 III was very high... What did they charge you for wear and tear? This is my 4th car through TFS (two Avalons and two Prii).

 

I've leased folks many a 2010 Prius in the past, and right now, the market's totally flooded with them.
Especially in CA.

Residuals were high - perhaps a tad too high back them from this vantage point now, so Toyota's gotten a tad more picky for condition. In the past, I agree, they had been less fussy but that's when they were "OK" in the car and could make it right and still unload it at auction or thru the dealer.
Your lease contract does say that a certain amount of wear and tear is permissible, but frankly, lots of my clients are in LA and the Valley and cars just seem to get beat up more in great LA area. Not too bad in OC and SD areas.

Things you may not know:

Residuals were high back in early 2010 on this still-new product. It was very hard to get this car right after it came out, this 2010 refresh. Especially after cash for clunkers. Once the stock filled back up, & gas was still pretty high, the "OMG my car won't stop" press seige was upon us. That created some crazy low lease payments for months. Building consumer confidence was crucial. It worked. Some folks freaked but many did get a Prius (or a few other models) anyway because we had trust in Toyota. And, the deals ROCKED! But, the price to pay for that is 3 years later we're swimming in lease returns. You'd think this was good, with gas still at $4 a gallon, but the leases and low APRs on new 2013's make this a difficult time to move 3 year old cars that are NOT pristine.

Example: My son's 2010 Package II in gray with 36k miles had a residual of $16k - March 2010, 3 years ago. The leather and dark tint I added to it later for a birthday gift are of no real value on a 3 year old car. That just makes the car possibly more desirable but not more valuable in a money sense. Today, a II is still the price leader at $25,220 at MSRP and our cost is $24,150ish. Aggressive "a few at this pricing ads" have this car NEW in the mid to high $22K range. Once I make sure his 3 year old II is pristine, with great tires and can certify it (a costly process and certification is expensive) I'm in it SO much, it's hard to sell over a new car.

The reason you walk someone out to the used car lot to see a pre-owned is because a new one's too much, but a three year old one's GOT to be a lot less, as perception is what it is... and if we try to save $$ and not certify a late model used Toyota, ya know what happens?
"What's wrong with it?"
That's what ya hear.
It's kind of a consumer-driven racket for used cars which works against the consumer for pricing in the end. The days of just cleaning up a car you know is a good car, making sure the safety items all check out and the rubber is good - those days are OVER. The days of being able to get a 2-3-4 year old Toyota off a dealership's lot for a lot less than it was new are slowly coming to an end because the buying climate FORCES dealerships to spend an average of $1000+ per car to certify, service, and spend what it takes to "clean up like new" ... we're in them too high to make sense of keeping them or trading them in instead of letting them get dropped off as returns.

Gosh, that's a bunch said. I could go on, because after 34 years in this biz, I have sure seen a lot. The last 5-7 years, things have changed so exponentially, especially with leasing, it's definitely got to confuse the average consumer. Even one who has leased a few cars in their life!

I am happy to answer any questions you might pose to me. I just shy away from sanctioning individual specific deals because each area of the USA (ie. regions) are different, with different rates and terms. Your local market is what it is and I am not going to have an opinion about a deal in Denver or Utah or Florida. You exist in your own market area. If your locals have 10-15 day supply of Prius or Tacoma 4WDs or even Highlanders .. as opposed to my own 2 MONTH supply, how can you fault them for wanting more $ for their car than I do? But, by that same token, you'd possibly get a better deal on a 4WD Tacoma or Tundra than here because their incentives are better on trucks AND they have loads of 4WDs there as opposed to just a few in Southern CA. You don't know till you ask, but beating up a local dealer to get down to my very aggressive deal pricing isn't quite cricket.

OK - to close this in keeping with topic... make sure your car is in good shape when you turn it in. Dents, scrapes, less than 5/32nds tread for the tires, broken glass, cracked mirror housings, deep scratches, these are things you wouldn't see on a late model car on dealership's used car lots, so your car needs to come in good too. Rule of thumb!

Dianne

 

I just turned in a 2010 Prius leased through Toyota Financial, and had no problems whatsoever on wear and tear. Toyota offered a pre-turn-in wear & tear review by Auto-Vin, with whom they contracted to provide the reviews without cost to the customer. The Auto-Vin report is sent to you and the dealer, and in my case listed what they found and whether it was normal wear & tear or excessive. Mine report said that the scratches etc. on the car were normal wear & tear. Toyota also uses the Auto-Vin report to try to market the car once it has been turned in -- other dealers etc. can review the vehicle's condition etc., complete with pictures.

I have heard that other finance companies have gone nuts on using excess wear & tear as a money-maker. For example, if you google US Bank on the subject, you'll see there is a lot of controversy about excess wear & tear. I have no experience with them, and don't know whether the complaints are well founded or not. But, the issue is out there. My local Ford dealer tries to build a type of insurance for excess wear & tear into leases which are not with Ford Credit, citing bad experiences of its customers at lease turn-in.

I leased a Chrysler 300 through Ally, and bought their coverage for excess wear & tear when I leased it. Cost a bit over $500, but I decided that I'd rather incur that cost than risk a much higher price for excess wear & tear if the world isn't nice to the car. Another way I looked at it was that it simply raised by monthly lease price by the equivalent of $13, except that I paid it up front.

 

Three suggestions:

1) Follow Diane's suggestions

2) Don't leave anything off the vehicle that came with it, and replace the mods with the parts that came with the car. Please, let's not start a debate on mods. We are talking leased vehicles, which we don't own.

3) If you gat an invoice for ecxess wear and tear, and you think the charges are excessive, call Toyota, ask the representative to walk you through the list of items you should have received with your invoice, then make a reasonable counter-offer.

Real world example:
We tend to baby our vehicles, regardless of how we finance any given vehicle, and one of them was used away at school for a few years, by a relatively inexperienced driver, and had three body issues. When I received the excess wear and tear invoice I poped a cork. So, I called Toyota and talked through it and made a countrt-offer, which was immediately accepted. A new invoice with the agreed upon amount was in my hands in a week. I happily paid it the day I got it.

Note that we are very loyal Toyota customers and shared that with the representative that I spoke to about the excess wear and tear.

Lastly, and I can't believe I am quoting my mother..."don't be afraid to ask nicely, all they can do is say no".