I had just recently returned a chrysler 300 after a 3 yr lease. The lease return process did not involve any inspections, other than a 10 second visual by the chrysler rep at the dealership. Signed papers and I was out in 15 minutes.

I recall several years previous to that when returning a lease for my Civic, they had a representative come by a few months before lease's end, do a very thorough inspection of the vehicle, charge for every ding on the car.

This question arises since my lease will be up in about a year and my tires are running at about 4/32 with extra wear at the edges (these stock turanzas suck) at 22k miles. I"m thinking of just placing a set of used tires on it run it out to the lease end. The exterior and interior are immaculate with the exception of a few bumps on rear bumper that you can only see at certain angles.

main question : what does acura look for in a lease return? If I brought it back with shot tires, is that something I can negotiate.

 

Acura uses (or used as of 2007) a 3rd party company to do the inspection. They make an appointment and come to you.

They have (or had) a Palm/Blackberry-type device with a comprehensive check list. Basically that all the basic stuff works, body panel inspections, tires, etc. At the end you get a print out with the MOST you would have to pay Acura.

Acura may decide to wave any fees and will inform you of your obligation at sometime (a few weeks) prior to turn in. Mine was a $280 max, that was waived to $0. When you get this letter from Acura, you can decide what you want to do - correct it yourself, pay the fees, negotiate, etc.

Technically, Acura doesn't have to negotiate since the details on this is spelled out in the lease agreement and corresponding docs. Did you get an "end of lease" packet with damage allowances, etc? You do (did) have an allowance for "dings" of $1500, iirc.

On tires specifically, I don't recall. I would think as long as they are within "normal" wear (say, 4 - 9 32nds) they'd be fine.

 

Take it from me. If the outside shoulders of your front tires are worn past the inspection tolerance, spend $20 ea. at your local tire shop to get them re-mounted and balanced with the tires flipped around so the wear is on the inside of the rim.

Money spent, $20 per. Charge for new tire from leasing company? $150 per. Net, $130 per side.

 

BearCat94 : Thank you for the play by play. I guess Acura/Honda have been retaining the same practices. I did get a damage allowance on the lease that I completely forgot about, I forget if the tires were covered, or if it was just for body damage.

The Mirror : didn't think about reversing the mounting haha. good idea. I'm going to have that done and take the wheels off asap. I'll ride on my craigslist provided wheels til then.

Thanks for the insight guys. now to find a decent tire place that would do work on things I don't buy from them.

 

Take into account also, that the $1500 allowance is actually $500 per incidence. For example, if you've got a bunch of rock chips on the hood, that could count as the first incident. Then if you've got a ding on one of the doors, that would count as the 2nd incident. Your tires could potentially be a 3rd incident and you'd in essence have $500 left to cover them.

So again, $1500 isn't like a lump sum that they automatically give you to cover all wear and tear. But it is better than the rest of the industry because there aren't too many who provide any type of allowance on leases.

 

they'll charge you for having to detail the car when returning... they'll charge you an astronomical price for everything when turning in a lease.

 

well as stated before, they'll assess any "repairs" and give me the option to fix myself. I'll just have my shop do some touchups and get the full in and out detailed. let the adjuster work hard to find something wrong with the car. thanks for all the tips guys