Well it was time to put my money where my mouth is. I had taken over a short term lease on a Pontiac Vibe and before you knew if I was receiving the mail from GMAC that I had only a few weeks until it was time to drop it off. Luckily the friendly place where I leased the vehicle gave me lots of notice that my lease was due. I had checked the tires, windshield and exterior paint of the car. There was a small scratch on the driver’s door but I was able to get a cleaning company to buff out the scratch and it was as good as new.

I had found another car on Leasebusters that looked to be a great deal. It was a Chrysler 300 for $300 a month with only 15 months left on the lease. Now I live in Toronto and the vehicle was located in Kitchener (about a 90 minute drive). You can drop your vehicle off at any GM dealer so I was able to find a great Pontiac store that said it was no problem if I dropped the Vibe off there. The reason they had no problem doing this for me is I provided them with everything they needed in order to do the lease termination. A few simple emails and they had my account and VIN making the paperwork a breeze. If I had just stopped in on a busy Saturday and expected them to drop everything they were doing to accommodate me that would be very rude in my opinion. Dealerships do not make any money at all when they take a lease return; they are just simply the location the leasing company will pick it up from. The least we can do as the consumer is give them the required information and set up an appointment to do the paperwork. Why should a commissioned sales person waste and hour on a busy Saturday to do the administrative work for a customer they didn’t even originally sell the vehicle to.

In the end it was a very simple and painless process dropping off my leased car and taking delivery of a new vehicle. I had already inquired about what could be charged damages on my car and wasn’t able to find anything. I was allowed 96,000 km’s and drove 72,000 (should have went on a road trip!!). After searching for a good hour I was even able locate the second set of keys which I never did use once. Do your homework, call the dealership if you have any lease end questions, and make an appointment to have your lease terminated. This will make your life a lot easier and will assure you get the quickest and most efficient service from the dealer handling your lease end obligations.

Do you have any good or bad stories about what happened to you when you returned your leased vehicle? Let me know and I’ll share it with my readers; put your thoughts in the comments box below.