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Leased X returned in May. Received invoice for $9800 in September!

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In Mid May 2020 I returned our 2015 (previously a demo) TESLA X with 5400 miles under the 30,000 allowed, in excellent condition and 3 days Early. All the 36 lease payments were made before the return and all the taxed were paid upfront.

Today I received a invoice from Tesla Finance for:

$635.00 Payment Due
$395.00 Disposition Fees
$1840.00 Excess wear and Tear
$6,974.40 Termination Balance

$9,844.69 Total Due


WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON. Is this normal?
Has anyone else had Tesla bomb them with a bill like this?
What do I do?
 

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In Mid May 2020 I returned our 2015 (previously a demo) TESLA X with 5400 miles under the 30,000 allowed, in excellent condition and 3 days Early. All the 36 lease payments were made before the return and all the taxed were paid upfront.

Today I received a invoice from Tesla Finance for:

$635.00 Payment Due
$395.00 Disposition Fees
$1840.00 Excess wear and Tear
$6,974.40 Termination Balance

$9,844.69 Total Due


WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON. Is this normal?
Has anyone else had Tesla bomb them with a bill like this?
What do I do?
this happened to me too (only mine was ~$2.5k)

Did you get a new Tesla car to replace this one? If yes they are supposed to waive the disposition fee.

You can request the excess wear and tear explanation (it takes over a month to get reply from the lease alias they tell you to contact, but chill, there's nothing bad happening if you just shoot your clarification request email, ignore all the nags to pay the balance).
The termination balance did not happen to me but you can also ask about that.

I documented my experience here: https://twitter.com/greentheonly/status/1304236441145430016
 
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Reactions: Eugene Ash and DIL
I’m not sure the left hand knows what the right hand is doing over there in their admin offices. I’ll be nice and blame it on the pandemic and everyone working from home but it took me nearly 4 months to get my registration documents sent to me from Fremont. I drove 2 full months on an expired temp tag. Obviously, you wouldn’t be liable for any termination balance and payment due if you made all of your payments. “Wear and tear”, outside of the norms, is discretionary and arguable. Did you take good pics (inside and out) when you returned it?
 
In Mid May 2020 I returned our 2015 (previously a demo) TESLA X with 5400 miles under the 30,000 allowed, in excellent condition and 3 days Early. All the 36 lease payments were made before the return and all the taxed were paid upfront.

Today I received a invoice from Tesla Finance for:

$635.00 Payment Due
$395.00 Disposition Fees
$1840.00 Excess wear and Tear
$6,974.40 Termination Balance

$9,844.69 Total Due


WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON. Is this normal?
Has anyone else had Tesla bomb them with a bill like this?
What do I do?

Excess wear and Tear I have been charged on other cars at end of the lease. If you scrape up a wheel on a curb you get charged for that. Also, bumper dings, etc.

But what is the Termination Balance is about? Did you not pay a lease origination fee upfront?
 
No Idea what the Payment Due $635.29 is or the Termination fee.
We paid all the licensing and state taxes when we started the lease totaling some $7900+, and made all the payments early.

Tesla had been sending me a "return your car" notice starting the day after the car was returned...
 
tires are a common thing, and for some reason leasing companies get the worst price on tires. otherwise paint chips, all sorts of things. Usually when i leased a vehicle there was a walk through you would do, but it's 2020 and it's Tesla, two crazy variables. The tires not having enough tread life could easily be that amount.

the termination balance to me says they think you still owe payments on the lease amount. I'd double check your original lease paperwork and make sure you made the 36/39/48 payments and dig up all the statements showing that so you can prove it when they get back to you.

Disposition fee, yep, waved if you buy a new one, owed if you don't has been my experience with the vendors.
 
How were the tires? If they were near death, that could easily be most of the excess wear charge. I have no idea what a termination balance is.
Leasing company sent a guy to me, that did perform a very thorough inspection, including a short drive, a couple months before it was turned in. I actually got a refund of over $900 when I turned my lease in. Turns out I made one too many payments, minus the $395.
 
What's the point of leasing if you're going to be responsible for every little scratch, plus tires? It's a huge waste of money.
not every little scratch, they actually have guidelines for what scratches/dents constitute reasonable wear and tear.

As for the tires - when you buy the car vs lease you still need to change the tires when the time comes, and if you are selling a car - the buyer would still likely try to either get better tires out of you or a discount to reflect the bald tires (if that is the case).
 
In Mid May 2020 I returned our 2015 (previously a demo) TESLA X with 5400 miles under the 30,000 allowed, in excellent condition and 3 days Early. All the 36 lease payments were made before the return and all the taxed were paid upfront.

Today I received a invoice from Tesla Finance for:

$635.00 Payment Due
$395.00 Disposition Fees
$1840.00 Excess wear and Tear
$6,974.40 Termination Balance

$9,844.69 Total Due


WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON. Is this normal?
Has anyone else had Tesla bomb them with a bill like this?
What do I do?
US Bank?
 
not every little scratch, they actually have guidelines for what scratches/dents constitute reasonable wear and tear.

As for the tires - when you buy the car vs lease you still need to change the tires when the time comes, and if you are selling a car - the buyer would still likely try to either get better tires out of you or a discount to reflect the bald tires (if that is the case).

that's funny because when the situation is reversed, they had no problem selling me a pre-owned tesla that had literally balding edges of all tires. Their justification was that the middle tread was fine. Ridiculous.
 
I was forced to turn in my Model S without an inspection because the inspection queue from US Bank at the time was 6+ weeks out and my turn in time was up as my replacement Model X was ready and Tesla wanted me to take delivery before Q end... Was told repeatedly that I had nothing to worry about, that I wouldn't be at a risk turning in the car without an inspection, I'd be taken care of and blah blah blah... All lies, got a nice bill because they claimed my tires needed replacing (they didn't) and of course I had no other option but to pay and all Tesla could say was "sorry"... Learned the hard way never to trust this company with anything, ever. When my current lease is up, I won't budge this time and I sure as heck won't trust them on anything. If I don't have an inspection completed and done, I'm not turning in this time and I don't care what Tesla says.

Jeff
 
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they had no problem selling me a pre-owned tesla that had literally balding edges of all tires
on the other hand nobody forced you to accept delivery until they corrected the issue.

All lies, got a nice bill because they claimed my tires needed replacing (they didn't)
When doing a self-assessment for a Tesla return they make you take a picture of the remaining thread depth. Hard to argue the thread depth was not enough after that.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: njhtran
@SeaBayR I think you will have be well-off by throwing above a cliff your immaculate Model X and get the insurance money !!!

What the real advantage of getting a lease over financing?

Were you able to deduct the lease from your taxes, as I believe this is the case when a car is used for business.

Did you have to get any complementary car insurance when you lease a car?

What is the reason of the "termination balance" if you competed your lease as expected?

Early termination option.
Voluntary termination means that you choose to end your lease before its scheduled termination.
Most leases give you the option of ending your lease early. In most leases, you may turn in the
vehicle, pay the balance due (including any associated early termination and other costs),
and end the lease. Some leases permit you to terminate early only if you purchase the vehicle.
 
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