bender73

hello. i am returning my C230 early (paying off the pmts and getting an SUV). MB financial is sending a 3rd party pre-end-of-lease inspector tomorrow AM and i am wondering what to expect.

i take pretty good care of my cars. i have 31,000 miles on it and there is no damage, just a few scuffs here and there from the last 31 months.

they said this inspector is to protect me from the dealer. is that true?

they said just dropping it off at the dealer after paying the final pmts can lead to someone scuffing it and leaving me responsible.

i am just worried they're gonna say "brakes, rear tires, a ding here, indentation from child seat in the rear, etc."

am i worrying too much about this? a quick look at my car reveals it's near perfect! but, i went over it tonight (every inch) and can find some imperfections. thoughts? thanks!

BF_JC230

---STF---What ever can be covered by a Credit Card should be okay...

MBUSA or a website out there has a good video and the "rules" for lease turn in...Don't know if it relpies to "early" turn in...but should be about the same...

Jake

bender73

what about a few scuffs (not dents) that are a little larger than a credit card...if you can find it easily. back bumper. also, one of my wheels is pretty rashed. all scuffs smaller than a credit card, but each spoke has some rash.

EDIT: overall, my car looks awesome! it's only if you get a foot away and examine every inch.

bender73

oh, and what if i never had service B done? the dealer did an oil change and set the interval on my OBC back to "Service A Due in xxx miles." they said it's not required, but recommended.

KingMota

I had my 2005 C230 inspected about 3 weeks ago. The inspector came to my house at my convenience and spent about 1 hour with the car. I was not able to observe him since I was at work. He gave me a clean inpsection report despite paint scrapes under the front spoiler much larger than a credit card and two curbed alloy wheels with scrapes going around half the wheel. He did not inspect my brakes to my knowledge. I was 14 days from needing a service B and my lease turn in date was 40 days away. My tires are almost bald and I have Sumho Ecsta All Season tires instead of the original Michelin Pilots. He did not drive the car. Just made sure it would start. I had to show I had both keys and the owners manual. My key is missing the valet key and that was not reported either.

What I cannot comment on is what might have been dealt with differently by the dealer when I turned in the car because I decided to purchase the car at the end of my lease. The dealer did it as a CPO (at no additional charge to me) and they did a thorough inspection. They said I needed brakes, oil change, wiper blades and had an oil leak and a transmission leak. They did all the work other than the brakes under warranty as my car had 49,450 miles. My lease allowed for 60,000 miles.

The dealer never tried to strong arm me by threatening to make me pay damages if I turned the car in. It appears that they were going to be very reasonable.

bender73

1 hour? that seems like a long time to do a walk-around. my only real concerns are a few small scuffs on the rear, technically longer than a credit card (only seen in good light and looking hard), rashed wheel from me throwing it after i dislocated my finger changing to winter wheels/tires, and the lack of service B done.

1. scuffs hard to see
2. the dealer reset my OBC to next service due being service A. i can argue that they did service B since they should never have reset it if not done. as far as i know, they did it when they did the oil change. yep, that's correct and i am not wrong for thinking that.

i could be totally worrying about nothing, but i hate any sort of inspection.

i do think they will get me on rear tires though. i will put the cheapest tires on i can find...that's what MB financial said to do. i had a state inspection done and passed 9/2008. nothing was said about my tires.

KingMota

One thing I forgot to mention is that I intentionally left my car very dirty, especially the wheels. That helped hide the curb rash. I'm not sure if the dealer would have washed the car before doing their final inspection. On the other hand, if I was buying a CPO car that wasn't already mine I would have made them fix the wheels.

As for the cheap tires, I don't think they will care. I didn't see anything in the lease guide that stated you have to replace the tires with the same brand/type tire.

KingMota

I stand corrected on the time for the inspection. I just asked my wife who was here and she said it only took 20 minutes. The inspector had told me one hour, but you are right that it shouldn't take that long.

bender73

UPDATE: the inspector came and was here for 5 minutes. i actually had to push him to look at the factory wheels/tires in my basement (since the winters are on). he took a pic to show they exist, but never measured tread.

it was so quick and painless and i asked if he saw anything wrong. i washed it yesterday and he said in a vehicle that looks so exceptional, there will be no wear & tear issues at all.

i guess they get a sense of when they "should" start looking harder the moment they arrive and clearly i keep my cars looking good.

i should expect the formal report by the end of the day.

thanks everyone.