Experience when you turned in your Kia at the end of lease

klrss

I see alot of Topics where folks are asking about getting a new lease, but nothing about turning in those cars.
Can those of you who have turned in your Kia at the end of your lease, share how that process went? Did they really nit-pick every little issue with the car, or was it basically a quick walk-around and sign a paper and it was over? Each time I have turned in a Chevy, it was really painless, but it seems from looking on my Kia account, there are all of these costs associated with dings, dents, window cracks, tire wear, wheel rim scuffs etc, so wanted to see what everyone experienced. Also, if your car was in a wreck during the lease, did they make sure all parts were Kia parts, or did they not care at all? Thanks!

Michaell

klrss said:

I see alot of Topics where folks are asking about getting a new lease, but nothing about turning in those cars.
Can those of you who have turned in your Kia at the end of your lease, share how that process went? Did they really nit-pick every little issue with the car, or was it basically a quick walk-around and sign a paper and it was over? Each time I have turned in a Chevy, it was really painless, but it seems from looking on my Kia account, there are all of these costs associated with dings, dents, window cracks, tire wear, wheel rim scuffs etc, so wanted to see what everyone experienced. Also, if your car was in a wreck during the lease, did they make sure all parts were Kia parts, or did they not care at all? Thanks!

While I can't speak to Kia specifically, each brand handles the end of lease process differently.

With Honda, I simply turned the car in to the dealer, and I incurred no end of lease charges. The vehicle in question was involved in two separate incidents - one was a fairly major collision with over $5K in damage. No idea if Honda OEM parts were used in the repair, or not.

With VW, they scheduled an inspection before the end of the lease through a 3rd party company. They walked around the car and measured any dings or scratches - they had to be a minimum size to count against me. Again, no end of lease charges.

I traded in several Fords before the end of their lease, but for other Fords, so no issues there.

For my Hyundai, I traded that in, too, before lease end - this time for a VW. The VW dealer took it in on trade, so no inspection.

Unless there are some serious issues, I don't think you should worry that much. Do make sure the tires all match and have a decent amount of tread on them.

klrss

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I traded in a Honda Odyssey and they did the whole "schedule appointment, come to home and look it over" thing, but fortunately didn't have to pay anything. All of my Chevrolet cars were just a quick walk around the day of turn in, sign a paper and im done. I think Kia will be like VW, since my end of lease "kit" talks about all of those dings and scratches having to be within a certain size. I have several cracks in my windshield, so I am sure that will need to be replaced, but if I replace it with after market, I wonder if they will say " oh, you didnt use the official KIA sound absorbing windshield, so you need to replaced it again!" since they are going to do the VW style inspection. Guess I need to just wait for the inspection, and see what the point out and play it safe and get the KIA windshield and whatever else they point out. Thanks again for the input. Surprised you are the only one to comment. I guess no one else turns in their Kia's...they all just trade them in.