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Lease return charges $ 3000 but Autovin inspection shows NO charge

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Hello,

We got inspection done for leased Model S with Autovin before we physically returned the car to near by service center.
On inspection day, the technician from Autovin came and asked us to take the car out of the garage on the road and spent about 45 mins to 1 hr to do thorough inspection.
He told us the inspection report would be available soon online in 24-48 hrs.
We got the email once the inspection report was posted online. It showed everything is clear and indicates "zero" charges for excessive wear and tear. The report in fact also shows images of under carriage - both in the front & back. The inspection was fairly detailed.

So we took the car to nearby Tesla service center and the person in charge of taking lease returns, took the car in possession, asked us to wait (almost 20-25 mins) while he went inside and did something. Then he came outside to tell us everything is OK and we left the service center.
Now after almost 5-6 weeks I receive a Bill from Tesla Finance showing "Disposition Fee" and also shows a charge of $ 3000 for excessive wear and tear. There is no documentation attached to it. So I called up Tesla Finance and after almost 3-4 days managed to get hold of a person. The lady said they do more detailed inspection after the car comes back and they found a dent. I explained everything to her in detail but she told me that she is just reading the remarks and that "leasereturns" team will have more details.

This kind of came out of no where. There may be small scratches on the car after 3 years of lease and that's normal wear & tear BUT nothing that would warrant $ 3000 to classify as "Excessive Wear & Tear". The most frustrating part is we followed the procedure as advised by Tesla and now this comes as a SHOCK. After returning the leased car in fact I removed my car from my insurance coverage

Any help/inputs on how do we address this ??
Thanks.
 
That's terrible, and it appears you did everything reasonably. I would assume the inspection company has photos of the entire car? Ask Tesla the location of the dent and compare against those photos. You don't mention how much time transpired between the inspection and the return date. That would make a difference.

For me, anytime I drop a vehicle off, either for service or turn in, I always take a quick video walking around the car, of the interior, tire condition, etc while in the parking lot. Then when you get it back (service), do a quick walk around again as you likely will have to note any damages as quick as possible.
 
That’s terrible, from what I hear about autovin inspections they are very thorough and I’d be surprised if they missed a “dent” that’s worth 3k to repair.

On a side note, when I turned in our lease they didn’t do an autovin inspection. They just had me upload photos of the car and when I dropped it off the person just walked around the car once, took down the mileage and I was on my way. Less than a 5 minute ordeal.
 
That's terrible, and it appears you did everything reasonably. I would assume the inspection company has photos of the entire car? Ask Tesla the location of the dent and compare against those photos. You don't mention how much time transpired between the inspection and the return date. That would make a difference.

For me, anytime I drop a vehicle off, either for service or turn in, I always take a quick video walking around the car, of the interior, tire condition, etc while in the parking lot. Then when you get it back (service), do a quick walk around again as you likely will have to note any damages as quick as possible.

Thanks for your response. The inspection was done just 2 days before the lease return an we didn't use the car after the inspection.
The photos were taken by the Autovin technician from all sides and he in fact uploaded it on the inspection report. Tesla Finance has not provided us with any photos yet to support $ 3k of excess wear and tear.
As regards to doing the walk around the vehicle & taking the photos at the time of returning the car, then we didn't see a need and also this is our 1st time leasing a car. But we saw that the person from Tesla who took our car actually did the walk around and obviously didn't say anything to us. He told us he verified the online Inspection Report as well.
 
This is why I always take picture and video at the return site with the inspector or the person taking the returning vehicle. The reason being is once you walk away they could easily do a joy ride and crash it and say it was caused by you and you have nothing to prove otherwise. I suspect someone probably dent it on the way back and oppose to taking responsibility they just say the previous own never took pictures or video so they can take the blame and they have nothing to prove otherwise.

Lesson learn for next time if you cant get this one fix. Never fully trust anyone. Cover yourself position first and foremost.
 
This is why I always take picture and video at the return site with the inspector or the person taking the returning vehicle. The reason being is once you walk away they could easily do a joy ride and crash it and say it was caused by you and you have nothing to prove otherwise. I suspect someone probably dent it on the way back and oppose to taking responsibility they just say the previous own never took pictures or video so they can take the blame and they have nothing to prove otherwise.

Lesson learn for next time if you cant get this one fix. Never fully trust anyone. Cover yourself position first and foremost.
See prior post. Seems the OP did everything right.
 
When I purchased my car used from Tesla (2016.5 MS P90DL/lease return), it had 3 dents, damaged/scratched rocker panel, severally scratched leather steering wheel, etc. NONE which were disclosed online.

I sent detailed photos to Tesla and they said it was "normal" wear and tear. I escalated and again, was told in writing, that this was normal wear and tear. It's funny how they considered the items they didn't disclose to me normal....