If you're leasing your car and you get into an accident, what are the consequences?

At the end of the lease, will the dealer make you pay extra because there were repairs done, repainting, etc.

What if you use an insurance company, such as Geico, where they always use aftermarket/salvaged parts for repairs? At the end of the lease you return the car with an aftermarket part installed. Will the dealer charge the hell out of you for it?

What if the accident wasn't even your fault? What can you do in this kind of situation?

 

Usually, as long as the car is repaired properly and is brought back to "normal" then there isn't a penalty. On lease turn-in, they look for excess wear and tear. If the car has been repaired from an accident, everything is fine. If the repair shop didn't do a decent job, they might hit you up for excess wear and tear but it's not very common, I imagine.

I'm not sure about the aftermarket/salvaged parts issue. If you ever are in the position where you have to get a leased car repaired, I'd demand that they use factory parts and claim that the car is leased, etc.

 

I remember seens some lease return document says that you have to notify the dealer to schedule a special inspection if the car was involved in a serious accident.

 

As long as there is no frame damage, you should be fine....if you do incur frame damage (i.e. a serious--not minor--accident) then the dealer will definitely notice it when they inspect the car...should this happen (and let's hope it does not) and you are NOT at fault, make sure you get a letter from the other party's insurance carrier indicating they will be responsible for any possible diminution of value resulting from this accident.

 

The best strategy if you are in an accident in a leased car is to have it repaired by or through your BMW Center. i did $1200 worth of damage to my 01 530 leased BMW and fixed it using this approach. When I turned it in, everything was fine.

 

since you have to carry full coverage on your insurance anyway, and you wont be paying for it, get it fixed at the dealer and they should bring it back up to spec.

 

if you get into an accident and don't repair the damage, you will be hit with excess wear and tear charges at the end of the lease. Those charges are usually significantly lower than the actual amount to repair.

Case in point: my wife just turned in her 2002 VW Passat. She had a "running in" with one of the concrete posts in her office's parking garage that put a nice scratch down her passenger-side rear door. The Body shop estimate was almost $1000, but when the lease inspector came out and gave us our lease turn-in inspection report, the "excess wear and tear" charges were only $250.

If you were to repair a damaged vehicle back to spec, at a reputable repair facility, I would think that you are not responsible for any excess wear and tear. From the BMWFS site's lease wear and tear guide, you _are not_ responsible for excess wear and tear "when the repair is completed by an authorized BMW center, or is made at another repair facility and meets BMW standards." You _are_ responsible for excess wear and tear charges if the repair is "substandard (the paint is peeling, bubbling or mismatched), or for repairs not completed to BMW factory specifications"

Oh, FWIW, it's not the dealer that collects the excess wear and tear charges, it's the leasing company. You will get an invoice from the leasing company around 6 weeks after you turn in the vehicle and will pay then.

-MrB