Paying for repairs on a return lease vehicle

November 24, 2005 1:59 PM

I am returning my Hyundai Accent after a four-year lease and leasing a new car with the same dealer. They evaluated some damage on the returned car which we negotiated around. Can the dealer legally come back after me in the future for any additional repairs or problems they find with my car that they did not find initially.
posted by sandrapbrady to Law & Government (5 answers total)

Not if you have them sign off on it, eh? Read what you're both signing with reasonable care. If you don't see anything that lets you off the hook once they accept the car, write it up and have them sign off. I daresay that if you use common sense, you'll find a judge (and especially jury) would side with you in the future.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:38 PM on November 24, 2005

Worst case scenario: Assuming they're evil, they'll sign off on the deal, then shout bloody murder and threaten your credit report. You ignore it, and they'll send the issue to a collection agency (which "buys" the debt from the dealer for pennies on the dollar). No dealer will take you to small claims or level a bigger complaint -- it's just not worth it (unless the car is totaled, which is isn't).

The collection agency will harass you, then eventually give up on the issue and slap your credit report. You can then legally dispute the credit report (which is fairly simple to do). You'll more than likely win, as the collection agency won't have the original complaint. If not, the knock against your credit won't be all that bad (presuming you don't already have other knocks on the report).

So, if you can ignore all the harassment, you'll be OK. They're counting on you being stupid and paying up. Don't be stupid.

And don't ever lease cars. Unless you're leasing a fleet of them, or you absolutely, positively have to have a luxury car and can't afford it outright, I can't think of a single reason why anyone would lease a car.
posted by frogan at 2:46 PM on November 24, 2005

Actually, there are a number of good reasons for someone to lease a car: lower total cost of ownership and lower tax implications, among others.

However, there isn't a single good reason to intentionally ding your credit rating, or to put yourself in a position where you could be dinged. It doesn't matter how good or bad your rating already is, or how "big" the ding is for. To suggest otherwise is just amazingly stupid advice.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 3:41 PM on November 24, 2005

>> there isn't a single good reason to intentionally ding your credit rating

The original questioner implied that the dealer had already signed off on the damages. Then I said "worst case scenario." I'm not encouraging anyone to get cavalier with their credit.

But ... most people think credit scores are incredibly fragile, and they're just not. The avenues for successfully disputing a shaky report are far easier to navigate than most people think. And if you have a credit score in the 800s (which isn't at all difficult to accomplish by your late 20s), a single low-cost ding ($500-$2000) is essentially meaningless.

Assuming that you can afford the car or the house in the first place, no one's going to deny you a mortage or a loan over a single ding.
posted by frogan at 4:05 PM on November 24, 2005

Before you trade it in, maybe you should consider having an independent mechanic take a look at the car, fix some of the smaller problems he discovers and give you a hard-copy list of all the other things he finds. That way, you'll be prepared to dispute anything that the dealership may (or may not) invent, and possibly have a better defense against any attack on your credit.
posted by Jon-o at 7:55 AM on November 25, 2005