[pvesmart]

Mercedes Benz Financial has demanded that we return our 2014 Smart EV ASAP because they will no longer extend the lease.

How can We expect to be treated on the return? Will they tag on lots of fees? Should we wash the car first? We bought accessories such as weathertech mats and the trunk compartment thing. Do we let them keep those, since we have no use for them.

Thanks for your advice

 

[MB DNA]

How can We expect to be treated on the return? Will they tag on lots of fees? Should we wash the car first? We bought accessories such as weathertech mats and the trunk compartment thing. Do we let them keep those, since we have no use for them.

Read your lease - it will indicate a turn in fee ($375?) and any accessories you have added will provide you no credit, maybe keep them and sell them so a SCoA member? Excess miles and or wear and tear could be chargeable . . .

 

[jzchen]

I'm actually surprised to read they are demanding a lease back. My parents have extended a lease through MBFS in the past, a long time ago I must admit, though. It's not worth it, as they earn a huge amount of profit on it anyways, so don't feel too bad...

I don't think you need to wash it. I'm afraid the only lease return we've done was for a GM vehicle.

Check the requirements for tire tread depth. Probably cheaper for you to replace the tires on your own than have them charge you.

 

[OliverB]

Returned my leased leased gasser 1.5 years ago. Charged return fee and overmileage fee - both of which were refunded by mail, possibly because I purchased a new smart. No charge for worn tires, etc and no inspection of vehicle while I was there. Car had never been back to dealer. I did all maintenance and didn't have any problems necessitating a visit to dealer.

 

[SmartCarDan]

Mercedes Benz Financial has demanded that we return our 2014 Smart EV ASAP because they will no longer extend the lease.

How can We expect to be treated on the return? Will they tag on lots of fees? Should we wash the car first? We bought accessories such as weathertech mats and the trunk compartment thing. Do we let them keep those, since we have no use for them.

Thanks for your advice

$395 disposition fee, $0.25 per mile over your allowed miles, plus bill for any damage or missing parts. You can have a pre-lease end inspection done if you call in advance to MBFS so you know what they'll charge you for.

It is MBFS that charges you, NOT the dealer.

If you buy a new smart, they MAY waive $500 in damage (not excess mileage fees) and they waive the $395 dispo fee.

Have you ordered a new electric smart? If you have a Purchase order for the new model already then they should let you keep it until it arrives.

 

[OliverB]

As I said above, my excess mileage fee was waived in full.

 

[SmartCarDan]

Returned my leased leased gasser 1.5 years ago. Charged return fee and overmileage fee - both of which were refunded by mail, possibly because I purchased a new smart. No charge for worn tires, etc and no inspection of vehicle while I was there. Car had never been back to dealer. I did all maintenance and didn't have any problems necessitating a visit to dealer.

MBFS changed the way lease returns are handled in summer of 2016. A third party company AUTOVIN inspects the lease returns now for miles, worn tires, missing keys, bumper damage, etc. I encourage all my clients to get the pre-lease-end inspection because the lease return process had changed significantly since last year. Just be careful- if you returned a smart lease before last summer, it will be much different than current lease returns since they implemented the new process. They used to be more lenient than they will be now. Same goes for BENZ leases.

 

[pvesmart]

Thanks for all the helpful responses

Thank you all for your help! It turned out that we need to postpone returning the Smart, so now I know what to expect.

We have a 2017 Smart EV on order and had extended the 2014 lease 6 months past its expiration date. But in the middle of the 6th month, MBF sent us a new 6-month lease contract and started calling us everyday saying that we had to sign it or return the car immediately, even though we were paid up 2 months in advance. Today we decided to sit tight and just sign the new lease. Funny thing is that when we called to tell them that, they were very nice. But I assume, if we end up not waiting for the 2017 Smart to arrive that we will get hit with some big early termination fee. I will take the earlier advice and read what the contract says about that...

Thx again!

 

[OliverB]

Glad I returned my 2013 before the change in procedure!

 

[pvesmart]

FYI, we returned our 2014 Smart EV in Jun-2017. It probably wasn't necessary, but I cleaned it up really well before returning. The dealer was impressed. But he doesn't do the inspections because it is contracted to a third party company. So we got charged as follows:

$252 for excess wear and tear on the tires
$138 for misc taxes or taxable charges
$430 for vehicle turn-in fee
-------
$820 total

 

[OliverB]

FYI, we returned our 2014 Smart EV in Jun-2017. It probably wasn't necessary, but I cleaned it up really well before returning. The dealer was impressed. But he doesn't do the inspections because it is contracted to a third party company. So we got charged as follows:

$252 for excess wear and tear on the tires
$138 for misc taxes or taxable charges
$430 for vehicle turn-in fee
-------
$820 total

Wow, that's quite a bit! I was told they charge for worn tries anymore like they used to.

 

[MB DNA]

FYI, we returned our 2014 Smart EV in Jun-2017. The dealer was impressed. But he doesn't do the inspections because it is contracted to a third party company. So we got charged as follows:

$252 for excess wear and tear on the tires
$138 for misc taxes or taxable charges
$430 for vehicle turn-in fee
-------
$820 total

Guess it didn't matter that the Dealer was impressed as the third party inspector handed you an $820 bill, OUCH!

What were the terms in months/miles of the original lease? And the terms of your extension? At turn in, what were your total months/miles?

 

[jzchen]

$820 is a lot of money. I am so sorry to read about that! So I'm guessing the lease extension was not a good deal, like it wasn't for my parents.....

(Hopefully you also get a refund with a new purchase/lease, like OliverB did)!

The tire condition is pretty darn strict, at least as I know from BMW, I think at least 50% tread depth needs to be left....

My wife was panicking when we had issues with tires on her BMW lease a couple months ago because the tire shop said I needed to replace two, and they are costly run flats. Luckily she somehow purchased a return damage warranty excluding $5k in damage, which I learned included tires. (I got 2 cheaper non-runflat tires as replacement).

 

[gewitzt]

Brrrr. These stories are reminders of why I never lease. When I own a car, I can drive as far as I please, add all the accessories I want, wash it (or not) as I please, and don't have to worry about dings, scratches and bumper stickers.

Well, I do worry about those last items. And only my smart has a sticker or two.

 

[Mister_smart_LA]

Get another one and you might be able to get most of that waived...

 

[Miss Mercedes]

I got Tucker through a MBFS lease. I drove him hard and fun all 2 years of the lease, modded him, and went nearly 20,000 miles over mileage. I then just turned the lease into financing and all the fees melted away. All in all, even after accounting for APR I made out with paying roughly $18k or $1,800 over sticker.

Now that I'm a repeat customer, MBFS has no problems being super awesome to me. :3

 

[stevenjb]

Ah to lease or not-to-lease. A returned lease CPO might be a better deal.

Sent from Tapatalk on Android

 

[pvesmart]

Wow, that's quite a bit! I was told they charge for worn tries anymore like they used to.

Yeah, i was surprised. We had the car about 3.5 years, extended while we waited for the new car to arrive, but we only had about 20,000 miles which was less than the 3-year 10k miles/year lease. But apparently the mileage plan doesn't include tire wear.

And maybe MBZ Financial was mean to us because we didn't lease a new Smart as we originally intended. But as I say, it's all good in the end. I enjoyed that car, but I am really happy with the BMW i3.

 

[MB DNA]

FYI, we returned our 2014 Smart EV in Jun-2017. It probably wasn't necessary, but I cleaned it up really well before returning. The dealer was impressed. But he doesn't do the inspections because it is contracted to a third party company. So we got charged as follows:

$252 for excess wear and tear on the tires
$138 for misc taxes or taxable charges
$430 for vehicle turn-in fee
-------
$820 total

Arranged for a lease end pre-inspection of our MY15 ED with MBFS. Scheduled for about a month before the actual turn in and yesterday was my appointment. You have the choice of dealer, home or office for the inspection BUT the appointment "window" is 5 hours. I chose home and fortunately the inspector made me one of his first of the day.

No special cleaning/detailing, not even a quick car wash.

The third party company contracted by MBFS was AutoVin. The inspector was very pleasant and suggested it should take about a half hour - I joked because it is only half a car?

Equipped with a tablet and camera he went to work. Pretty thorough to include taking pix of items such as key fobs and owner's manual. To no surprise, he found nothing of concern.

The full report is uploaded to their website a day or two later complete with all details and pictures.

Apparently tires are "chargeable" if they show less than 4/32" - all four came in at 5/32".

Summary of report . . .

Wear & Tear $0.00

Excess Wear & Tear $0.00