specific flow of lease return process, anyone?

[astrorob]

i have a leased M3 which is due back in mid-december. i actually extended the lease 6 months, but it's looking like i'll have my new car (not a tesla) a few days before the original lease expiration date. at this point, in order to avoid re-registering the car, it probably makes sense to try to return it by the original date.

this is my first tesla and so i've never gone thru the lease return process. i'm a little worried about clicking the "begin lease return process" link in the app because i don't know what it entails. does tesla let you pick the actual return date? do you have to complete all the self inspection and tesla's evaluation of the car before it can be returned?

i'm just worried that if i start the process then they assume that i'd like to return the car anytime after i've clicked that link.

i also wonder if i could cancel the lease return process once it has begun, given that i already have the extension.

i tried to contact tesla finance about these things but of course you can't talk to anyone and are asked to send an email, and maybe they'll call you back. or maybe not.

thanks

 

[Tim Roland]

Once you start the lease return on the the first thing is Tesla will eventually contact you, probably by email, to schedule an inspection. A tech will come out to you and visually inspect the car. No much to it, just looking for damage to the exterior and interior. They also measure tire tread. A few days later you will get an invoice if they feel there is damage beyond normal wear. You can either agree to pay them what they are asking or get any repairs done yourself. After that you will be able to schedule a date and location to turn in the Lease on the Tesla App.

 

[astrorob]

Once you start the lease return on the the first thing is Tesla will eventually contact you, probably by email, to schedule an inspection. A tech will come out to you and visually inspect the car. No much to it, just looking for damage to the exterior and interior. They also measure tire tread. A few days later you will get an invoice if they feel there is damage beyond normal wear. You can either agree to pay them what they are asking or get any repairs done yourself. After that you will be able to schedule a date and location to turn in the Lease on the Tesla App.

thanks - at some point along the line i must have misunderstood the process - that you had to do all the inspection work yourself and submit pictures to tesla. this would be very much in keeping with how they run things. so it's good to hear they do the inspection with a real human and then present you with an invoice so that you can get work done on your own.

for me the car's exterior is mostly fine - one ding that i think falls within normal wear and tear, but like all M3s the wheels have terrible road rash. i was thinking of just getting it repaired preemptively by a 3rd party, before any inspection.

there must be some window for return after the inspection though right? in other words, they give you a range of return dates and you pick one?

 

[Tim Roland]

I just recently returned my 2019 Model X. I only got charged $85 dollars for some road rash on my rims. No other issues. Tesla does charge a $395 Lease Disposition Fee which they will waive if you buy or lease another Tesla. So in the end I only had to pay $85, not the end of the world.

 

[Tim Roland]

there must be some window for retur after the inspection though right? in other words, they give you a range of return dates and you pick one?

You can pick whatever date you like in the app. Just keep in mind if you go too far past your lease maturation date they may charge you for an additional month.

The inspection is valid for either 30 or 45 days. Just as the tech during inspection. I forget the exact amount of time he told me. If you do any of your own repairs you will either need to schedule a second inspection or provide photos of whatever you corrected.

 

[astrorob]

You can pick whatever date you like in the app. Just keep in mind if you go too far past your lease maturation date they may charge you for an additional month.

The inspection is valid for either 30 or 45 days. Just as the tech during inspection. I forget the exact amount of time he told me. If you do any of your own repairs you will either need to schedule a second inspection or provide photos of whatever you corrected.

thanks for the further info, that's exactly what i was wondering about.

i think i'll just do the curb rash before inspection since it's clearly way beyond what they deem normal, and then see what, if anything, the tech points out. i have a single quarterpanel ding which i got about 2.5 years in. was sitting in the car waiting for someone, and somebody in a huge SUV parked next to me and opened the passenger door right into my car. i think that ding is acceptable but we'll see.

 

[SDiegoGal22]

I just recently returned my 2019 Model X. I only got charged $85 dollars for some road rash on my rims. No other issues. Tesla does charge a $395 Lease Disposition Fee which they will waive if you buy or lease another Tesla. So in the end I only had to pay $85, not the end of the world.

Wow $85 is great. Someone told me $850 per wheel for any rash. I have minor on one.

 

[astrorob]

idk, my curb rash is really bad, and on 3 wheels. i can’t imagine it will be less than a few hundred dollars.

 

[TallTexGuy]

Question for anyone that returned their leased Tesla, I was reading in the lease return checklist on the Tesla site, the window tinting is consider “excessive”. Has anyone gotten ding for returning their leased Tesla with tinted window or center console wrap?

 

[astrorob]

Question for anyone that returned their leased Tesla, I was reading in the lease return checklist on the Tesla site, the window tinting is consider “excessive”. Has anyone gotten ding for returning their leased Tesla with tinted window or center console wrap?

the guy told me today that any body wraps or window tints will be either required to be removed or you'll be charged for them. he did say something about how there's some law or something about the car needing to be in the same condition at return as it was at the time of sale but that seems crazy.

i did have the curb rash repaired prior to the inspection, and i also replaced the rear tires since we caught a nail about a month ago and the tread was below the limit anyhow. the front tires still had enough tread @ 24.2k miles. in the end i might have spent more money that i needed to. the excess wear and tear report is completely empty. the car does have one rear quarter panel ding, but he deemed that normal wear and tear. based on the guide it should have been fine and so it was.

so to answer my own question, it looks like up until the point that the inspection happens, you can cancel the inspection in the app, and thus cancel the return process. once the inspection was complete, it appears that my only option was to pick a return date, but i suppose you can just not do that to effectively cancel the return. however, now that i've picked a time for return appointment, it doesn't seem there's any way to cancel it, at least in the app.

it took about 3 days for tesla to contact me after i requested the inspection, and the first appointment available was 5 days after that. on the drop-off side, the first available appointment was 3 days in the future from today. so all told it will be 11-12 days from request to drop-off, which isn't bad.

the only thing that sucks is that corte madera seems to be the only drop-off point for east bay customers, and depending on the traffic, that can be a haul. SF is an option but they didn't have any drop-off times available in the near future.

 

[astrorob]

i just noticed that there is now a “cancel drop off appointment “ button in the app. dunno if i missed it before or it just appeared.

you have to tap the link near the top of the “manage lease” screen which takes you to a flowchart of steps in the lease return process. at the bottom of the screen there is a cancel button. most likely it was always there.

 

[get-atty]

Good information - I am a few months out from lease end. I like that the lease disposition fee is waived if you get a new one. Did not know that.