todd s

Piece of advice to anyone going to lease a car...

My wife and I turned in our leased Grand Caravan to Dodge. I just got a bill for $300 plus tax so $318 for the "Vehicle turn-in fee". Its not from Dodge or from the dealer...But, from Chrysler financial. I am so irrate. It was mentioned in small print on the third page of the lease. Now, I know its my fault for not going over the lease more carefully. But, I had purchased 3 cars from this Dodge dealer and he either never mentioned it or brushed it off that they would take care of it. Now, the kicker is this. Chrysler financial will waive the fee if I got another Dodge/Chrysler. But, only if you finance it through them. I did get a new Dodge. But, it was through another dealer who got me the financing through Wells Fargo. If I would have known about this. I might have insisted that the new car be leased through Chrysler.
I am just annoyed at all of the parties involved and reminded me how scummy car dealers. But, like I said its my fault for not going over the lease. I let my comfort of dealing with this dealership get in my way of checking it out.

So let this be a warning to anyone looking to lease a car.

Bring back John Doe! Or at least resolve the cliff-hanger with a 2hr movie or as an extra on a dvd release.

Henry Gale

Thanks for the heads up todd.
From what I've heard of auto leasing if the worst that happened to you was a $318 surprise you should consider yourself blessed.

EugeneR

The "disposition fee" is BS, but is standard on every lease. It is also standard for the manufacturer's lease company to waive the fee if you lease through them again. The dealer should've mentioned it, but they don't see a penny of that money.

Jim Mcc

That sucks. I would never lease a vehicle. It's the most expensive way to have a new vehicle.

Yee-Ming

Is "leasing" the same as hire purchase? Alternatively, how else would you finance the purchase of a car, I can't imagine that you guys would regularly pay the full price in cash up front, even if cars in the USA are a lot cheaper than here.

Kyle McKnight

Leasing is where you pay a lower monthly fee to "borrow" the car for a few years, then give it back or pay a high fee to own the car, I'd say around $13,000 dollars.

Kyle McKnight

SethH

Mike O'Connell

Or buy a car new or slightly used, keep the cars for a longer than normal time period and put money in the bank or investments each month as if you are making a car payment, even when the initial note is paid off. That way when you come around to needing your next car you have the cash in hand and can use that cash to buy the car....

It takes self control on spending, but it sure works great.

Yee-Ming

Thanks for the explanations. I dont' think anyone leases here, except maybe expats, which makes sense since they're here for limited terms anyway.

Would you believe you can get a 10-year hire purchase on cars here? All because of the (relatively) obscene price of cars -- today it's about US$30,000+ for a Toyota Corolla Altis, and we actually consider that cheap now...