Lease return $687 bill!!!

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IRSmart

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Trust me they are.Bought enough cars/trucks over my life time to say different.
I have seventeen salespeople on my staff. Each one of them is trustworthy, and standup in every way. My store is either the exception, or...
 

coobie

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I have seventeen salespeople on my staff. Each one of them is trustworthy, and standup in every way. My store is either the exception, or...
Your story go with it.I see your age is 33 maybe daddy owns your dealership ?? I do like MY STORE..
 

IRSmart

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Your story go with it.I see your age is 33 maybe daddy owns your dealership ?? I do like MY STORE..
Negative, although I do work for one of the top three largest auto groups in the nation, and we don’t get that way by being anything less than stand up.
 

coobie

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Negative, although I do work for one of the top three largest auto groups in the nation, and we don’t get that way by being anything less than stand up.
I love great internet stories with good endings..Keep up the good work.:mfr_closed1:
 

16RamHemi

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Negative, although I do work for one of the top three largest auto groups in the nation, and we don’t get that way by being anything less than stand up.

Worst thing you can do is walk around thinking how you do everything perfect. If you are not constantly adjusting monitoring and controlling at all times you are making a mistake. Every business can always improve.

My local ram dealer has high high reviews. I've purchased 5 vehicles from them. Last time I went in before my current truck I was ready to order what I wanted. The salesman I sat with was highly reviewed and raved about. I sat with him for 3 hours looking over current inventory (that I already did) fighting me on ordering one. I sat 3 feet from him as he took down personal info from another deal (job info, social security numbers ECT). I heard it all. I left that appt with him asking me to send the truck built online. I did that. After a week I never got anywhere with him. No pricing whatsoever. Wasted my time. I will never buy from him again.

My point? You can make everyone think your dealership is so great. Your salesman are so great. The great ones mess up. You thinking they don't is irresponsible.
 

IRSmart

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Worst thing you can do is walk around thinking how you do everything perfect. If you are not constantly adjusting monitoring and controlling at all times you are making a mistake. Every business can always improve.

...

My point? You can make everyone think your dealership is so great. Your salesman are so great. The great ones mess up. You thinking they don't is irresponsible.
I never said we were perfect, or that we don’t strive to improve. I only commented on our size. In fact, we retrain they entire staff of the whole company (not just my store, all of them) every 90 days. Continued improvement is very important to us. But this thread is not about me, we’re getting off topic.
 

Lucy Girl

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I returned my 2017 Ram Express 6 months early on a buy out. There was normal wear and tear. I asked the sales rep to take a look at the car and I pointed out one dent in the tailgate that was concerning to me. He said I should be fine. I placed my drivers license over it and my drivers license covered it. I went home with my new 2019 Warlock. Today Chrysler Financial sent certified mail a bill for $687 and cited 2 dents no scratch and one dent with scratch. I was told if I stuck with a new Chrysler I was going to be alright and they usually don't bill for minor things if you stick with them. I have 7 days to dispute and 10 days to send in a new estimate from another repair shop. I don't even have the car and live 60 miles away from the dealership. What would you do if this were you?

never lease again. Future problem solved.
 

geotex1

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Piece of advice for the future from the old and gray-haired. NEVER, take your lease in for return until you've done a reasonable detail on it and resolved damage or have come to terms that the state of the vehicle will cost you. In this case, you likely could have taken the truck to a PDR shop and had the dent handled for about $100. Second, NEVER take anyone's word at face value in this day unless they're willing to put it on paper. This last one, which is IMO and YMMV, leasing vehicles only really works for a relatively narrow group of drivers and should be considered very carefully, especially if a truck is involved and will live life as a truck and not just a grocery-fetching, bicycle hauling, commuter vehicle.
 

JS4024

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Buyer beware! You needed to have it in writing! When you return a lease they do an inspection form, not sometimes but ALWAYS. The dealership signs it and YOU sign it acknowledging any issues you may be responsible for, (damage, excess miles, cracked glass ect). You should have done this no matter what. Secondly, if you “traded” it in and the dealer was going to pay off your lease, they have to get approval from the leasing company. Once that is done, THEY own it. Again you should have gotten something in writing for this.
Finally, call the dealer. I am certain they will either cover the damage or work with FCA Leasing on your behalf unless you agreed to fix it before they took possession.....
 

HemiTO

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Glad it worked out to the OP's satisfaction for the most part. FWIW whenever I've leased and brought the truck back and yes with some minor wear and tear dings, the dealership has always inspected it and I inquire with the GM or someone higher than just the salesman. I've never paid anything extra for said wear and tear when driving off with a new vehicle from them.
 

LugsLeadOut84

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Piece of advice for the future from the old and gray-haired. NEVER, take your lease in for return until you've done a reasonable detail on it and resolved damage or have come to terms that the state of the vehicle will cost you. In this case, you likely could have taken the truck to a PDR shop and had the dent handled for about $100. Second, NEVER take anyone's word at face value in this day unless they're willing to put it on paper. This last one, which is IMO and YMMV, leasing vehicles only really works for a relatively narrow group of drivers and should be considered very carefully, especially if a truck is involved and will live life as a truck and not just a grocery-fetching, bicycle hauling, commuter vehicle.


I agree with your first two points. I bought my prior Ram and leased one before it and a Jeep before that. I leased my current Ram. I've never paid a dime turning any in. They've hauled logs, bricks, fencing and carried ripped-out kitchens and bathrooms to the landfill. They've been on off-road trails, beaches and in blizzards. They've moved friends dozens of times and hauled, launched and retrieved a 26' boat and snow mobiles regularly. I've pulled a car or two out of an embankment over those years and yes, it does fetch groceries and carry mountain bikes too. The only thing I never did is rock crawl or hard core mudding. I wash and wax them regularly and changed the oil regularly and none of them had more than maybe a few hair-line scratches and normal wear and weathering since they aren't garaged. The interiors were immaculate even though many of those years had a french-fry and ice cream-eating child in there. I was able to modify the Ram that I owned more than I do the leased ones, but I'm sort of over that now. I do put on a hard tonneau cover, my own tires and wheels to personalize it a bit and remove them before turning it in and will put them on my next one or sell them. I agree leasing is not for everyone but we have no problem taking reasonable care of things and these days I like switching it out for a newer model every three years. By the way, another benefit is having a near fully-loaded Bighorn for less than $300 a month with nothing down.
I know the buy vs lease debate will never end but I wanted to share some of my positives about leasing.
 

madtrucker2016

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I just returned my wife's car and I elected from the lease company to have the inspection done at my home with paper work in my hand when he was done. When you just go to dealer they don't give a crap about that truck,they want to sell you and get you out of their hair. Now any damage done when they are waiting for the lease company to come and look over your return, will be on you. Also it could sit around on their property for 3 to 4 weeks before its inspected.
 

88ROOK

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I have seventeen salespeople on my staff. Each one of them is trustworthy, and standup in every way. My store is either the exception, or...

I never said we were perfect, or that we don’t strive to improve. I only commented on our size. In fact, we retrain they entire staff of the whole company (not just my store, all of them) every 90 days. Continued improvement is very important to us. But this thread is not about me, we’re getting off topic.

not only did you comment on the size, BUT you are saying all your salespeople are pretty much perfect...come on
 

LugsLeadOut84

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ALWAYS READ THE FINE PRINT.95% of all Car/truck sales folks could give 2 ***** about you in the long run.Sad but true..:3639243774_5f528137


Yes, sales people are numbers-driven and many see you only as a tool to reach their quota. They have the the sell 'em and forget 'em attitude then on to the next potential sale. I've had my fair share of them. But there are one's that actually are forward-looking and do think about the long-term. They don't want to burn you because they won't get referrals and repeat business. The person I use sold and/or leased me (and my wife) 4 vehicles. I don't use her out of habit. I use her because I received fair deals without hours of haggling, price-comparing and the "let me see what my manager can do" games. It's not often you see a salesperson at the same dealership for years. Most stay a little while, make some sales, take advantage of the in-house leads and don't care about repeat business because they know they won't be there the next time you come it. On to the next sales job. Like anything, there are exceptions to everything.
 

coobie

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Yes, sales people are numbers-driven and many see you only as a tool to reach their quota. They have the the sell 'em and forget 'em attitude then on to the next potential sale. I've had my fair share of them. But there are one's that actually are forward-looking and do think about the long-term. They don't want to burn you because they won't get referrals and repeat business. The person I use sold and/or leased me (and my wife) 4 vehicles. I don't use her out of habit. I use her because I received fair deals without hours of haggling, price-comparing and the "let me see what my manager can do" games. It's not often you see a salesperson at the same dealership for years. Most stay a little while, make some sales, take advantage of the in-house leads and don't care about repeat business because they know they won't be there the next time you come it. On to the next sales job. Like anything, there are exceptions to everything.
Thats the 5% I was speaking of.
 
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Pezrock

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I never said we were perfect, or that we don’t strive to improve. I only commented on our size. In fact, we retrain they entire staff of the whole company (not just my store, all of them) every 90 days. Continued improvement is very important to us. But this thread is not about me, we’re getting off topic.
IRSmart, It is nice to have a dealer perspective on here. No idea why anyone would have a problem with young go getter on this forum. If you are a 33 year old dealership owner of the number 3 store in the nation than that should be applauded. Always appreciated a boss that stood up for his guys too. With that said, you mentioned something about meetings every 90 days for improvement. It would be huge if dealerships could help customers avoid surprise costs. If there was a better mechanism in place to keep the customer from falling into traps you would have more repeat customers. What would you personally have done in the situation that started this thread? And now that you have seen all these responses would you change anything? I got caught with my guard down because of a past positive experience, so I blame myself. I'm usually more on point. But I may not go back to that dealership now. If your dealership would give me the best deal next time and the best experience, I'll come to MD. I think all of us would really appreciate that when communicating with Chrylser Financial that the representative on the phone not be in a call center in a third world country. Send that up the chain if you wouldn't mind. I am sure there are people on here that have purchased from you. If so please chime in as well.
 

Dr. Righteous

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My personal opinion here; but I've always held that leases are a rip offs. Leases are gamed so the dealership has all the rights and the you have none.
When I was young (and poor) and needed a good vehicle but my job didn't pay that much I looked into a lease on a 2wd base model Toyota pickup.
99/month. I could afford that. Mind you this was back in the mid 90s. They had the same truck on the lot for sale new for $10k. So I walk in and sit down at the salesman's desk and tell him I'm interested in the lease deal that was advertised. He hands me a agreement to "sign" and exits the office to run my credit. I wasn't about to sign anything until I read it. The terms in the lease were not only unfair but almost criminal. I wondered if the mob ran the dealership. The real kick in the teeth was the buy out option. At the end of the lease you could buy the truck for 12K. At which point it was a 2 year old truck that was selling NEW for 10K.
The salesman came back into the office having completed the credit check and with a big grin on his face thinking he has hooked a big fish. That was until he saw the look in my eye (which was kill him and rid the world of evil)
"does.......Does everything look OK to you?" He stammer
I threw the paperwork on this desk and said "I'm not interested in your rip off scheme" and walked out.
 
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Pezrock

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Hopefully IRSmart chimes in and answers those questions.
 
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