lease return experiences? (curb rash)

[astrorob]

later this year i need to return my M3 stealth performance. almost every M3 i see with the standard wheels has a good deal of curb rash, including mine.

this will be the first tesla lease return for me. i understand from reading these forums that they don't do any pre-inspection, but rather just send you a non-negotiable bill sometime after turning in the car. GM and others have their "credit card test" but i don't see any guidance like that for tesla.

is curb rash not considered normal wear and tear? should i be getting this fixed ahead of turning in the car? anyone have experience with this?

thanks

 

[jjrandorin]

Tesla has guidance on wear and tear. It specifically answers your question, actually

The guide tesla has:

Excess Wear and Use Guide | Tesla Support

Learn how to do a self-inspection using our guidelines to see if your vehicle wear and tear is normal or excessive.

www.tesla.com

The specific table tesla has for wear and tear:

Excess Wear and Use Guide | Tesla Support

Learn how to do a self-inspection using our guidelines to see if your vehicle wear and tear is normal or excessive.

www.tesla.com

The section of the table that covers wheels:

 

[astrorob]

thanks. that is helpful. i was hoping to get a sense of is how much they would charge for curb rash, to figure out if it’s cheaper for me to repair it myself before lease end. again almost every M3 i see out on the streets has curb rash in excess of their guidelines, so there have to be people around that went thru this with tesla.

i’m surprised to see talk of a lease end specialist in the guidance; all of my experience with tesla car- and powerwall-wise would indicate to me that i’ll never be able to talk to someone with any authority about this process (or really, talk to anyone at all)

i guess if no one here went through this i can call that number and see what happens at least.

 

[jjrandorin]

Let us know how that goes... I also agree that its likely you wont be able to talk to someone with authority on this, within tesla. I also think I have read some of the same lease return stories here on TMC you have. I have been through several "lease returns" but only with BMW, not with Tesla. Not being able to get a pre lease return inspection, then yet getting charged for stuff at some indeterminate time in the future, seems pretty darn frustrating.


If 'I" was going through this with tesla, I would be taking a ton of pictures of the car, both inside and out, on the day I returned the car, so they were time stamped with that date. Pics of each wheel, and all the standard pics that get taken when a car dealership is trying to sell a car (all those angles).

I would also try to contact tesla, like you said, to find out how I can get some feedback on it pre turn in, couching it like "I believe I have normal wear and tear on this car, but how can I get feedback on this to avoid surprise charges?

 

[wavegeek]

I have been in my lease of my Model 3 for 10 days and already have curb rash...didnt even sense it at all until I looked at the rims. How did you end up after turning in your lease?

 

[SteelClouds]

Based on Carmax, shift and a few dealers, curb rash is not "normal". Banging your tires and rims into a curb is not normal. I just sold a van to Shift and that was one of the first things they checked for and I didnt have any which surprised the guy checking. I did get dings for the scraps on the very bottom of the scuff plate on the nose of the can that hits the parking curbs :/ They also check for excessive ( like any) scratches around the door handle where keys bang into the car ( not an issue with Tesla) and chips on the edges of the doors. These are all "gimmes" that are easy money for them to ding you.

 

[derekmw]

When I returned my Model S lease, the guy also was checking for curb rash but was shocked that I had none. But as others have posted, Tesla has pretty descriptive breakdown of each type of damage and what falls within the normal wear and tear.

@SteelClouds, I just sold my wife's 2013 Rav4 EV to Carvana and I was shocked that they did not check any condition of the car at pickup except for VIN and mileage. The entire process took less than 3 min after he arrived. He took my keys, checked vin and mileage and then had me sign the documents and he left. A few days later I had the money transferred to my account (the full amount given when I did the quote online). The car had quite a few scratches and tires were getting low as well. I'm utterly shocked at how easy the process was. If Carvana always performs their buys this way, i think I will sell my cars to them from now on. Oh and also out of dealership, carmax, etc, Carvana offered the most by a significant amount.

 

[SteelClouds]

I ended up with Shift because Carvana had more on the offer but never followed up with the verification Shift was picky but fair on the inspection.

 

[OCCanuck]

I had my inspection for my 2019 SR+ the other day. I have curb rash on three of the rims. Here is a breakdown of the charges:

- replace 2 tires that are below 4/32" - $250 each = $500 (this is for the 18" rims)
- remove tint - $350
- fix curb damage on one rim = $85

They forgave the small rim damage on two of the rims since they were less than 3" long.

I was also told that I can replace the tires myself with any brand that matches the size, weight, and speed rating of the OEM tires. I am going to get them replaced at Americas Tire for ~$250 total.

My tint guy recommended against having him remove the tint. Apparently the early (pre 2020) rear windows have poor quality defrost lines. They tend to come off if you are not careful.

 

[brkaus]

Curb rash is common, but not normal.

 

[derekmw]

I had my inspection for my 2019 SR+ the other day. I have curb rash on three of the rims. Here is a breakdown of the charges:

- replace 2 tires that are below 4/32" - $250 each = $500 (this is for the 18" rims)
- remove tint - $350
- fix curb damage on one rim = $85

They forgave the small rim damage on two of the rims since they were less than 3" long.

I was also told that I can replace the tires myself with any brand that matches the size, weight, and speed rating of the OEM tires. I am going to get them replaced at Americas Tire for ~$250 total.

My tint guy recommended against having him remove the tint. Apparently the early (pre 2020) rear windows have poor quality defrost lines. They tend to come off if you are not careful.

That's odd that they are charging you to remove the tint. Does it look bad? I asked specifically before even putting my tint and was told it's not required to take off. And when I returned my lease, they did not charge me for it.

 

[Jo060]

That's odd that they are charging you to remove the tint. Does it look bad? I asked specifically before even putting my tint and was told it's not required to take off. And when I returned my lease, they did not charge me for it.

I agree. Tint only enhances a car, unless it's ridiculous 5%, hoodrich tint.
I live in FL, it's absurd to own a vehicle without tint.

 

[SteelClouds]

They want it off because of the legal liability if they sell the car with it. The side windows are not legal in ANY tint here in CA even tho most have it. When you turn in the car, they will tell you to take it off or they will do it themselves. My mother in law bought a used Audi with tint and she complained about it.. the dealer fell all over themselves to get it off. Saying it had been overlooked in the used car prep that takes place.

 

[derekmw]

They want it off because of the legal liability if they sell the car with it. The side windows are not legal in ANY tint here in CA even tho most have it. When you turn in the car, they will tell you to take it off or they will do it themselves. My mother in law bought a used Audi with tint and she complained about it.. the dealer fell all over themselves to get it off. Saying it had been overlooked in the used car prep that takes place.

Right, I'm in CA too but both my brother and I have returned our leases with tint and never had an issue or been charged. Not like I have a huge amount of lease return experience, but out of the 4 we have returned between us, all were tinted and never been charged for it. I wonder if it's just luck of the draw with who inspects the car...

 

[astrorob]

Based on Carmax, shift and a few dealers, curb rash is not "normal". Banging your tires and rims into a curb is not normal. I just sold a van to Shift and that was one of the first things they checked for and I didnt have any which surprised the guy checking. I did get dings for the scraps on the very bottom of the scuff plate on the nose of the can that hits the parking curbs :/ They also check for excessive ( like any) scratches around the door handle where keys bang into the car ( not an issue with Tesla) and chips on the edges of the doors. These are all "gimmes" that are easy money for them to ding you.

there's just something about the M3 that exacerbates this problem. i previously had a bolt and the only time i curb rashed it was when i was parking in a cutout, and i had no idea i was close to where the curb started angling out. i don't think i had any curb rash on my leaf, nor on my benz. the bolt damage was actually pretty significant but GM didn't ding us that hard at all. some of the marks passed the credit card test...

but almost every M3 (with the non-sport wheels, at least) that i see has some amount of curb rash on both passenger side wheels. some of them are incredibly excessive, like the whole dang rim.

 

[SteelClouds]

My wife managed to ding my perfect wheels after two days of ownership :/ She misjudged where the butt of the car was when turning into a sharp 180 driveway for a Starbucks. She also placed too much faith into the tech to tell her she was too close. I think that was the real issue. Instead of looking into the mirror, she was waiting for brains to tell her she was too close. In this case, the curb was high enough to damage the wheel but not high enough to register as a threat.

 

[astrorob]

that's what's weird for me - i seem to have a PhD in parallel parking at least relative to the other people in my family. i told my kids when they were learning to drive that the car should become an extension of your brain/body, that you should be able to 'feel' where the car is and whether or not you are going to hit something with the car... and they think i am crazy. but somehow i have not been able to internalize the shape of the M3 as i've curb rased the front passenger wheel twice now. my wife managed to get the back wheel making too sharp a right turn around a pedestrian bulbout.

we do plan to lease an MY after the M3 and with any other car dealer i wouldn't worry about this as they sometimes discount lease damage against 'loyalty', but of course tesla doesn't play that game. i'm actually pretty worried that i'll be able to procure the MY near the time the M3 lease ends, though it looks like Tesla will do lease extensions. the downside there is i'll pay for another year of registration and then lose the money.

 

[fortunex]

For some reason, the rear wheels especially right are hard to feel in space when driving. When I had my tint done, the shop owner said that almost every M3 that comes in has curb rash on the rear wheels.

The other issue is that the tire is basically flush with the wheel and gives little to no protection relative to other vehicles.

 

[BGaffigan]

When I returned my Model S lease, the guy also was checking for curb rash but was shocked that I had none. But as others have posted, Tesla has pretty descriptive breakdown of each type of damage and what falls within the normal wear and tear.

@SteelClouds, I just sold my wife's 2013 Rav4 EV to Carvana and I was shocked that they did not check any condition of the car at pickup except for VIN and mileage. The entire process took less than 3 min after he arrived. He took my keys, checked vin and mileage and then had me sign the documents and he left. A few days later I had the money transferred to my account (the full amount given when I did the quote online). The car had quite a few scratches and tires were getting low as well. I'm utterly shocked at how easy the process was. If Carvana always performs their buys this way, i think I will sell my cars to them from now on. Oh and also out of dealership, carmax, etc, Carvana offered the most by a significant amount.

Sold two care to Carvana last year and had the same experience with both. Insane they operate this way.

 

[astrorob]

maybe caravana's practices are due to the extreme shortage of new/used cars? probably anything would sell right now.

which is what sucks about my M3 lease - because of the pandemic we're just at about 40% of the total allowed mileage and the residual value is going to be huge. i think this is probably reflected in the fact that they'd let me end the lease 12 months early with no penalty. so they can easily afford to eat any curb rash given what they are going to sell the car for next.