End of lease? What are you doing?

[michael]

My 2014 FFE lease ends at the end of this month.
Has anyone gotten the free 3rd party inspection prior to turning in their leased Ford car?
I'm trying to set that up now since I'd prefer to know in advance if they find anything to charge for, then be surprised after I turn it in to the local dealer.

I had mine done. It was painless and fair.

 

[NightHawk]

I had my Ford authorized 3rd party end of lease inspection at my house today for my 2014 Ford Focus Electric which has its 3 year lease ending at the end of this month.

I setup the appointment about a week ago for sometime in the afternoon today.
I put the car out in the driveway for easy access.
Got a phone call 30min before he arrived and the inspection only took about 15min.
He took some digital photos and did a quick look at everything.

An hour later I got via email the inspection report as a PDF file.
He noted the car looked new, and the report listed nothing for excess wear and use, total = $0.00
The report listed the tire depth for all 4 tires, was 7/32" to 8/32"

 

[NightHawk]

Anyone that returned their leased Ford car in California to a Ford dealer, did you have to yourself go online to the DMV website, to enter info there for a "Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability" form within 5 days?
Or did the Ford dealer do this for you as part of the lease end turn in procedure in their office?
I've read if that isn't done, you will get a bill later on from the DMV for the next year's license fees plus a penalty fee.
I don't see any way to verify if it was done and to do so yourself on the CA DMV website you need to know the name and address of the "new owner" and I have no idea who that would be after you turn the leased car in.

 

[EVA]

Nice - glad the inspection went well and you don't owe any money. That has to feel good.

 

[michael]

Anyone that returned their leased Ford car in California to a Ford dealer, did you have to yourself go online to the DMV website, to enter info there for a "Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability" form within 5 days?
Or did the Ford dealer do this for you as part of the lease end turn in procedure in their office?
I've read if that isn't done, you will get a bill later on from the DMV for the next year's license fees plus a penalty fee.
I don't see any way to verify if it was done and to do so yourself on the CA DMV website you need to know the name and address of the "new owner" and I have no idea who that would be after you turn the leased car in.

Normally they will do so, but you should definitely do it yourself and not risk their making a mistake. The new owner is Ford Credit at whatever address you have been using for them


A friend turned in his car out of state, and the California DMV never got notified. It was a big expensive headache.
When I turned in my Volt, the Chevy dealer told me "Do it yourself, it's very important"

 

[NightHawk]

Normally they will do so, but you should definitely do it yourself and not risk their making a mistake. The new owner is Ford Credit at whatever address you have been using for them

A friend turned in his car out of state, and the California DMV never got notified. It was a big expensive headache.
When I turned in my Volt, the Chevy dealer told me "Do it yourself, it's very important"

Is it OK to do it yourself on the DMV website even if it was possibly done already by the Ford dealer, will one override the other?
I'm still unsure about the new owner name and address.
The only address I have is on my CA DMV registration for the FFE, which shows a "Lien Holder" as HDT Leasing LLC, with an Atlanta, GA address but under registered owner it shows "Cab West LLC" with my name and address below.
No mention of "Ford Credit" there.

 

[Guest]

Normally they will do so, but you should definitely do it yourself and not risk their making a mistake. The new owner is Ford Credit at whatever address you have been using for them

A friend turned in his car out of state, and the California DMV never got notified. It was a big expensive headache.
When I turned in my Volt, the Chevy dealer told me "Do it yourself, it's very important"

Is it OK to do it yourself on the DMV website even if it was possibly done already by the Ford dealer, will one override the other?
I'm still unsure about the new owner name and address.
The only address I have is on my CA DMV registration for the FFE, which shows a "Lien Holder" as HDT Leasing LLC, with an Atlanta, GA address but under registered owner it shows "Cab West LLC" with my name and address below.
No mention of "Ford Credit" there.

I just picked up my 2013 off lease and the paperwork shows the previous owner as Cab East LLC, Atlanta, GA. This is in NY but Im assuming its the same company with at least 2 divisions, 1 for each coast.

 

[NightHawk]

I just picked up my 2013 off lease and the paperwork shows the previous owner as Cab East LLC, Atlanta, GA. This is in NY but Im assuming its the same company with at least 2 divisions, 1 for each coast.

Of the 2 pages of paperwork I was given that I signed at the Ford dealer to turn in the leased car, one was the "Odometer disclosure statement"
That one lists the Lessor/Transferee as CAB West LLC, but with the local Ford dealer's address.
Maybe that is what should be used for the DMV form?

 

[EVA]

Same name on mine from the Chicago area.

 

[Guest]

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=131570583

Interesting that it has dearborn as the address but my paperwork clearly says atlanta GA.

 

[jmueller065]

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=131570583

Interesting that it has dearborn as the address but my paperwork clearly says atlanta GA.

Note that "One American Road" is also Ford's WHQ's address in Dearborn.

 

[EastWestBrothers]

The lease on our 2014 Focus Electric ends in about 4 weeks. While I was originally contemplating extending the lease to wait and see about the Model 3, but after much debate and consideration, we moved on something sooner.

We have about a month of overlap between the Focus Electric and the new car so expect a comparison soon.

In the meantime, still waiting to get my lease end inspection done. Anticipating getting charged mostly for other people's mistakes (e.g. door dings) but we shall see.

So the lease-end inspection went well and we were charged for absolutely nothing, despite a few door dings and one tire that was a different brand from the others. I guess it might depend on how anal your inspector is, but my guy ended up being super chill about everything.

Just need to schedule the date to drop the car off at a dealer now.

 

[EastWestBrothers]

Returned the car last Friday and the process was fairly painless. Dealer accepted the vehicle, had me sign the lease return form and an odometer certification. I inquired about the disposition fee and was told my lease might have been too old to have it written in since they saw nothing about it on their end and thus did not charge me for it. We will see if Ford reaches out directly about it.

 

[EVA]

Returned the car last Friday and the process was fairly painless. Dealer accepted the vehicle, had me sign the lease return form and an odometer certification. I inquired about the disposition fee and was told my lease might have been too old to have it written in since they saw nothing about it on their end and thus did not charge me for it. We will see if Ford reaches out directly about it.

Don't think they will. The dealer collects any money and that's that. You signed the papers, the lease is done.

 

[EastWestBrothers]

Good to know. Thanks!

Also, since we returned the FFE, might as well share that we replaced it with a Chevy Bolt. Ended up with a monthly payment only a few bucks more (mostly due to increased taxes) and no money out of pocket. I opted to go this route instead of waiting on the Model 3 mainly due to the Model 3's lack of leasing options and likely poor lease rates. Click the link below for more details on how I came to the decision.

http://www.eastwestbrothersgarage.com/2017/10/long-term-test-2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev.html

 

[NightHawk]

Good to know. Thanks!

Also, since we returned the FFE, might as well share that we replaced it with a Chevy Bolt. Ended up with a monthly payment only a few bucks more (mostly due to increased taxes) and no money out of pocket. I opted to go this route instead of waiting on the Model 3 mainly due to the Model 3's lack of leasing options and likely poor lease rates. Click the link below for more details on how I came to the decision.

http://www.eastwestbrothersgarage.com/2017/10/long-term-test-2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev.html

That must have been an incredible deal you got on a Chevy Bolt Premier to have a monthly payment similar to that of the FFE!

 

[EastWestBrothers]

Well, I leased the FFE in 2014 before they dropped the prices, so despite the generous discounts available at the time, it probably was not the best monthly payment I could have gotten had I just waited another couple of weeks, but we were constrained by the need to eliminate a car we had in our possession at the time.

With the Bolt, I pretty much calculated a smoking deal and shopped it to the dealers. Got one to bite so I took it. My total cost of ownership on the Bolt will end up being over $1000 than it was on the FFE over the course of a 3-year lease and this is despite the Bolt having an MSRP of nearly $9k more than the FFE. Deals for the Bolt are out there to be had since inventory has been building up for months, especially in CA.

 

[EastWestBrothers]

Comparing the FFE to our newly acquired Chevy Bolt.

http://www.eastwestbrothersgarage.com/2017/10/comparison-2014-ford-focus-electric-vs.html