Confessions of a Lease Car Driver

[Lawrie 1,058]

In January 2017 I handed back my first Mk7R to VWFS and took delivery of a nice shiny new one.  People often ask why they might want to avoid a pre-lease car….. well, here are some of my confessions.  (NB I’m sure owners/PCPers may also do similar things, but as I was leasing lets blame it on that)

 

First a minor one….  I ran my car exclusively on super unleaded.  However, one day I was running low on the motorway and at the service station I stopped at Shell V-Power was £1.60 per litre.  I refused to pay it and put in 95RON.  I then regretted this until I’d filled up at least three more times, certain I could feel a power drop.  Won’t be doing that with this one….

 

I have three kids and use the R for long journeys despite having a Diesel Tiguan too (which would you use ).  Once they had an argument in the back of the R and eldest kicked both the air vent directional controls off the rear seat’s vents.  I left them off for over a year and then superguled them back on the day before I returned the car….

 

In December 2015 I had a particularly heavy Christmas do, rolling in well after it was light.  I had left my car outside a hotel overnight.  The next evening, still feeling extremely rough I collected the car and drove it home.  The oil low light came on during the journey back.  Being completely hungover and not thinking straight I went to the garage and put in a bottle of 10w40 left in there by the house’s previous owners over 4 years ago (the wrong type of oil and god knows how old it was).  The next day I realised the error of my ways, booked it in for an early service and drove the car extremely gingerly for three weeks until it had received a full oil change.

 

Not long after the oil incident I got put into the kerb by a Nissan Serena van, which I may or may not have been undertaking.  I kerbed my front nearside Cadiz quite badly, around about a quarter of the rim.  A few weeks before the lease hand-back inspection I took off the wheel and sanded down the blackened section so that it looked silver again.  The finish was far from perfect but unless you were looking for imperfections you would probably not spot it.  It wasn’t picked up by the BCA inspection. J

 

I drove the car quite hard (occasionally giving it full power and max revs when cold – but this was a rarity).  After 16 months or so the clutch started slipping.  I nursed it for a while and stopped doing wide open throttle changes – this fixed it but I knew it would start slipping again if it had much further abuse…

 

Finally, after two years of treating the paintwork very well and waxing the stunning tornado red fairly often I did something unforgivable.  The car was inspected by BCA one week before collection – I had made sure it was immaculately clean.  Then, it rained and/or hailed every day until collection day and its final inspection and I had been to Centre Parcs and got it filthy putting on 500 winter motorway miles.  The morning it was being collected and with my shiny new 7R sitting on the drive…. I had not had chance to wash it before the collection , so I took it through an automated car wash with those dreaded spinning bristles…  Oh the guilt when I saw the swirls…

 

So, I thought I treated by first R quite well, but looking back I clearly didn’t.  Does anyone have any confessions they’d like to own up to….?

[birdiemachine 2]

This is precisely why I will never buy a ex lease car but fair play to you being honest!! Be interesting to hear what other stories there are out there!

[alexretro 67]

Im pretty sure you not the first and not the last with "that" kind of story mate lol
But... as above... fair play for being honest

[red5dDSG 41]

2 hours ago, Lawrie said:

In January 2017 I handed back my first Mk7R to VWFS and took delivery of a nice shiny new one.  People often ask why they might want to avoid a pre-lease car….. well, here are some of my confessions. 

 

Summary of my first lease approach covering similar points: 

Exclusively on super unleaded - yes

inside damage - none as far as I could tell - rarely had anyone in the back 

oil - one approved dealer service at 18k miles and 21 months, as per car's computer

kerbing - both front wheels, VWFS don't charge for small amounts of kerbing.  First 15 months were a record time for me without scratching alloys, avoided width restricted roads as much as possible

majority of motorway (and therefore overall) miles in eco mode; on short journeys I did wait for the engine to warm up but did not monitor oil temperature so have accelerated quite a few times with warm (but probably not warm enough) engine 

Plenty of hard acceleration at the traffic lights but...

...NOT a single launch control!!!!

washing - almost always local tesco hand wash 

Tyres - over 3mm on all after 19k

 

Plan for my current lease:

- waiting for 1k miles at the moment, so no full throttle even when warm and in sport mode

- will watch oil temperature but use sport mode more when warm

- do launch control a few times once over 1k miles

 

 

[JamieGR7 159]

10 hours ago, Lawrie said:

In January 2017 I handed back my first Mk7R to VWFS and took delivery of a nice shiny new one.  People often ask why they might want to avoid a pre-lease car….. well, here are some of my confessions.  (NB I’m sure owners/PCPers may also do similar things, but as I was leasing lets blame it on that)

 

First a minor one….  I ran my car exclusively on super unleaded.  However, one day I was running low on the motorway and at the service station I stopped at Shell V-Power was £1.60 per litre.  I refused to pay it and put in 95RON.  I then regretted this until I’d filled up at least three more times, certain I could feel a power drop.  Won’t be doing that with this one….

 

I have three kids and use the R for long journeys despite having a Diesel Tiguan too (which would you use ).  Once they had an argument in the back of the R and eldest kicked both the air vent directional controls off the rear seat’s vents.  I left them off for over a year and then superguled them back on the day before I returned the car….

 

In December 2015 I had a particularly heavy Christmas do, rolling in well after it was light.  I had left my car outside a hotel overnight.  The next evening, still feeling extremely rough I collected the car and drove it home.  The oil low light came on during the journey back.  Being completely hungover and not thinking straight I went to the garage and put in a bottle of 10w40 left in there by the house’s previous owners over 4 years ago (the wrong type of oil and god knows how old it was).  The next day I realised the error of my ways, booked it in for an early service and drove the car extremely gingerly for three weeks until it had received a full oil change.

 

Not long after the oil incident I got put into the kerb by a Nissan Serena van, which I may or may not have been undertaking.  I kerbed my front nearside Cadiz quite badly, around about a quarter of the rim.  A few weeks before the lease hand-back inspection I took off the wheel and sanded down the blackened section so that it looked silver again.  The finish was far from perfect but unless you were looking for imperfections you would probably not spot it.  It wasn’t picked up by the BCA inspection. J

 

I drove the car quite hard (occasionally giving it full power and max revs when cold – but this was a rarity).  After 16 months or so the clutch started slipping.  I nursed it for a while and stopped doing wide open throttle changes – this fixed it but I knew it would start slipping again if it had much further abuse…

 

Finally, after two years of treating the paintwork very well and waxing the stunning tornado red fairly often I did something unforgivable.  The car was inspected by BCA one week before collection – I had made sure it was immaculately clean.  Then, it rained and/or hailed every day until collection day and its final inspection and I had been to Centre Parcs and got it filthy putting on 500 winter motorway miles.  The morning it was being collected and with my shiny new 7R sitting on the drive…. I had not had chance to wash it before the collection , so I took it through an automated car wash with those dreaded spinning bristles…  Oh the guilt when I saw the swirls…

 

So, I thought I treated by first R quite well, but looking back I clearly didn’t.  Does anyone have any confessions they’d like to own up to….?

Haha! Good read! I really can't see anything that bad there, I mean there must be some horror stories out there of ex lease cars, I'd say this is pretty mediocre.... until I got to the dreaded spinning bristles... nooo how could you! - The bit about the van putting you into a kurb that you may or may not have been undertaking made me laugh 😂 - I have a 2015 plate from Lookers Blackburn, i'm not sure if it's ex-lease, how would I know? 

[teddosan 110]

Haha! Good read! I really can't see anything that bad there, I mean there must be some horror stories out there of ex lease cars, I'd say this is pretty mediocre.... until I got to the dreaded spinning bristles... nooo how could you! - The bit about the van putting you into a kurb that you may or may not have been undertaking made me laugh  - I have a 2015 plate from Lookers Blackburn, i'm not sure if it's ex-lease, how would I know? 

Your DVLA documents should show previous owner.


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[bodman 120]

Thats pretty tame I reckon.  It sounds like you've treated it pretty nicely.

 

I've used super unleaded once in 22000 miles.

 

It was so dirty over the winter that all the windows were growing moss in and you couldn't read the number plate.  I do however hand wash it (but do indulge in a 5 pound hand car wash from time to time) - never the spinners!  Did that in my m135i once and regretted it for a long time afterwards.

 

I'm a keen gardener and its been used many times to pick up soil, manure, take stuff to the tip on multiple occasions etc etc etc.  The boot was so dirty for months that my work mate wouldn't put his briefcase in the back.

 

My clutch is f!cked so the next person that gets it will definitely need a new one.  

 

I fitted nice new conti sport contact 5's but when I hand it back I'm putting the old potenza's back on (they have just enough tread) and keeping the nice new conti's for my next car on the off chance they'll fit.  I might get another R - not decided yet.  I doubt it'll get treated any better.

 

I'm seriously careful about curbing the wheels but got squeezed into a kerb by a massive lorry transporter but I'm hoping they go easy on me as its a relatively small bit of damage.

 

Oh and I didnt get it serviced by VW, had it done it my local garage as it was cheaper.

 

This is not really the confessions of a leaser, more the confessions of a lazy car owner.

[Lawrie 1,058]

Thats pretty tame I reckon.  It sounds like you've treated it pretty nicely.
 
I've used super unleaded once in 22000 miles.
 
It was so dirty over the winter that all the windows were growing moss in and you couldn't read the number plate.  I do however hand wash it (but do indulge in a 5 pound hand car wash from time to time) - never the spinners!  Did that in my m135i once and regretted it for a long time afterwards.
 
I'm a keen gardener and its been used many times to pick up soil, manure, take stuff to the tip on multiple occasions etc etc etc.  The boot was so dirty for months that my work mate wouldn't put his briefcase in the back.
 
My clutch is f!cked so the next person that gets it will definitely need a new one.  
 
I fitted nice new conti sport contact 5's but when I hand it back I'm putting the old potenza's back on (they have just enough tread) and keeping the nice new conti's for my next car on the off chance they'll fit.  I might get another R - not decided yet.  I doubt it'll get treated any better.
 
I'm seriously careful about curbing the wheels but got squeezed into a kerb by a massive lorry transporter but I'm hoping they go easy on me as its a relatively small bit of damage.
 
Oh and I didnt get it serviced by VW, had it done it my local garage as it was cheaper.
 
This is not really the confessions of a leaser, more the confessions of a lazy car owner.

Ok your confessions are worse. Bravo sir!

Are you sure it's ok to have an Indy service? Thought lease companies insisted on main dealer...

[camelsac2002 2,287]

Ok your confessions are worse. Bravo sir!

Are you sure it's ok to have an Indy service? Thought lease companies insisted on main dealer...

Don't think they can legally do this under block exemption rules. As long as the Indy uses genuine parts and procedures, there shouldn't be a problem. I used to use the dealer when I had my SEAT Leons but after they tried ripping me off, I found a good Indy whose technicians were VAG trained and never had a problem. They'd tell me what needed doing and why and in simple English - probably saved a packet over the years!


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[Silk 285]

34 minutes ago, camelsac2002 said:

Don't think they can legally do this under block exemption rules. As long as the Indy uses genuine parts and procedures, there shouldn't be a problem. I used to use the dealer when I had my SEAT Leons but after they tried ripping me off, I found a good Indy whose technicians were VAG trained and never had a problem. They'd tell me what needed doing and why and in simple English - probably saved a packet over the years!


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If he has signed a lease contract which states that he agrees only to have the car serviced by the manufacturers authorised agent and he then goes to an Indy, he would be in breach of that contract and subject to any penalties in place for said breach. It all depends on what's in the leasing contract. Whether or not the lessor decides to enforce their rights in that regard is a different matter. 

That agreement would be a condition of the lease contract between the provider and the lessor but the manufacturer warranty on the car would still stand under block exemption rules. 

 

My Ghibli is the latest in a long line of cars that I've leased and I've just seriously paid through the nose for a main dealer service. No choice as it's in my leasing agreement. 

[camelsac2002 2,287]

 
If he has signed a lease contract which states that he agrees only to have the car serviced by the manufacturers authorised agent and he then goes to an Indy, he would be in breach of that contract and subject to any penalties in place for said breach. It all depends on what's in the leasing contract.

That agreement would be a condition of the lease contract between the provider and the lessor but the manufacturer warranty on the car would still stand under block exemption rules. 
 
My Ghibli is the latest in a long line of cars that I've leased and I've just seriously paid through the nose for a main dealer service. No choice as it's in my leasing agreement. 

The contract is a breach in the first place so the contract wouldn't stand up in law.


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[Silk 285]

1 minute ago, camelsac2002 said:

The contract is a breach in the first place so the contract wouldn't stand up in law.


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I'm not an expert in law but I suppose the validity of the contract would be for a court to decide if the lessor enforced the terms of it. 

[camelsac2002 2,287]

 
I'm not an expert in law but I suppose the validity of the contract would be for a court to decide if the lessor enforced the terms of it. 

Yes but under the competition and protectionist rules, I reckon they wouldn't have a leg to stand on. I think most contracts would be along the lines of "maintained in line with manufacturer's guidelines" so genuine parts and manufacturer's procedures so you can avoid their rip off labour charges.


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[Am7R 16]

Never had a main dealer service on any lease car I've had and I have and no issues.

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[Silk 285]

40 minutes ago, camelsac2002 said:

Yes but under the competition and protectionist rules, I reckon they wouldn't have a leg to stand on. I think most contracts would be along the lines of "maintained in line with manufacturer's guidelines" so genuine parts and manufacturer's procedures so you can avoid their rip off labour charges.


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That's a very broad assumption based on having no visibility of the actual contract terms. My own current leasing contract on the Ghibli states that it is a condition of the lease that the car is maintained and repaired only by the manufacturers authorised agent. I wouldn't pretend to think that this is what every leasing contract says and again whether or not the the leasing company decided to enforce that clause is a matter for them but it's not worth the hassle for me to chance it. 

 

They're nothing that says the manufacturers authorised agent has to be a franchised dealer but there aren't many authorised Maserati specialists in my neck of the woods so I've never put that to the test.