Lease buyout failed safety inspection: shady dealer tactics?

[toxaris71]

Hi Everyone,

Last year, my 230i's lease expired, and I wanted to buy out my car. It was a no-brainer decision because the used car market was still pretty crazy, my car only had 32,000 km (20,000 miles) after 4 years, and the buyout price was only $20,400 (~15k USD). Obviously the dealer would have preferred if I left the car with them since they could have easily gotten ~35k CAD (~25K USD) for it (manual, M-sport, fully loaded, low mileage) at the time. This is why I think the following experience I had with them was intentionally done to get me to not buy out the lease.

To buy it out, I had to do a safety inspection. However, to my surprise, my car didn't pass. They stated that there was too much surface rust on the brake rotors. There was ~45% surface rust, but their limit was ~20% (see pictures attached: one is of the rear wheels, which happens to show the brakes, and one is from the invoice). I know rotors rust, especially since it was early spring and very rainy, but, to my knowledge, all you need is to brake hard a few times to remove the rust. However, they told me all rotors and pads must be changed (even though the car had 32k km/20k miles, and the rotors were not even half worn out). My service manager was very adamant that all rotors (and by extension, all pads) must be changed ($2000). Moreover, one of my rims (BMW OEM) had a slight bend, therefore, I apparently also needed a new set of wheels to pass inspection.

Needless to say, I took my car to a reputable independent BMW shop, who told me the brakes were indeed corroded because I didn't drive often enough. He recommended I change the brakes and rotors, however, if I didn't want to, he could pass me anyway, since they weren't that bad. I opted to be safe and change the rotors/brakes, but the rims turned out to be perfectly fine. They were not bent or curbed (I'm very careful with my rims).

With the safety certificate in hand, I was able to buy out my car from the dealership. I was lucky that they accepted an independent shop's safety certificate, because only a few months later, they reversed this policy.

I feel like these two issues were superficial (or even non-existent in the case of the bent rim). I think they just wanted to either:
a) squeeze out a few thousand dollars from me before I bought out my lease, or
b) for me to give up on buying out my car, so that they could sell it to someone else for $15k+ more than the lease buyout price.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Am I being overly suspicious of them, or do you think they just wanted to take advantage?

In any case, I am never leasing a car that I know I will want to buyout. Luckily it did work out in the end, and I'm still enjoying the 230i, but I never thought buying out the lease would be such a hassle.

Thanks for reading.

[DanG]

I am betting that it is not option b. If you turned it in I bet they would still hit you up for the brake rotors and pads before they accepted it back.

[AWDtoRWD]

#3 don't lease

#4 buy your car you've been paying for already

[toxaris71]

Originally Posted by DanG

I am betting that it is not option b. If you turned it in I bet they would still hit you up for the brake rotors and pads before they accepted it back.

I'm not sure if that's true, because if I did not buy out the lease, there would not have been a safety inspection because the car's ownership would not have needed to be transferred.

[DanG]

Originally Posted by toxaris71

I'm not sure if that's true, because if I did not buy out the lease, there would not have been a safety inspection because the car's ownership would not have needed to be transferred.

At least my dealer would inspect it for any kind of damage. The lease return in the US has to be in good condition.

[x622]

Originally Posted by AWDtoRWD

#3 don't lease

#4 buy your car you've been paying for already

I love leasing through my business and writing off the entirety of the payment and insurance versus section 179ing and depreciating it. Sometimes I still have to buy stuff at the end of the year and take that depreciation, but I think that went away. Have to ask my accountant.

[MJBO]

Feels like you’re being overly suspicious

[10"]

Be less paranoid and drive more.

[chad86tsi]

I was going to say you were getting ripped till I scrolled and saw that rotor. Those rotors do appear to be sub-par, so it's not a blatant lie.

It's still safe to drive, and 10K miles of steady driving with a good mix of hard breaking events would have likely warn that rotor back into propper spec. You would then be rolling in at ~30K miles with in-spec rotors.

The bent wheel? How can they even tell? Irregular wear pattern? bad vibration while driving? Did they do a road balance test on them? That does seem a little sketchy.

Your experience may have been a little of both.

[ZL9M2]

Seems like somewhat normal wear and tear. I'd throw a cheap parts store set of rotors on it and take it back in.

[toxaris71]

Originally Posted by chad86tsi

I was going to say you were getting ripped till I scrolled and saw that rotor. Those rotors do appear to be sub-par, so it's not a blatant lie.

It's still safe to drive, and 10K miles of steady driving with a good mix of hard breaking events would have likely warn that rotor back into propper spec. You would then be rolling in at ~30K miles with in-spec rotors.

The bent wheel? How can they even tell? Irregular wear pattern? bad vibration while driving? Did they do a road balance test on them? That does seem a little sketchy.

Your experience may have been a little of both.

I ended up changing the rotors and pads at an independent shop (Zimmerman rotors/pads) just to be safe, though, I didn't think the old ones were bad enough to warrant a failed safety inspection.

As for the bent rim, my service advisor had told me that they took the wheels off, put them on a spinner, and one of the wheels had a slight wobble. It wasn't noticeable from inside the car though, and the car passed the dealer's road test just fine (good alignment, no wobble, no unusual noise, etc.). The independent shop didn't find any evidence of a bent rim.

[LuvMyE92]

Originally Posted by toxaris71

I'm not sure if that's true, because if I did not buy out the lease, there would not have been a safety inspection because the car's ownership would not have needed to be transferred.

Actually, that's not true because the leasing company owns the car, and when you buy out the lease, the ownership is transferred to you.

This safety inspection nonsense must be some kind of Canadian thing.

Originally Posted by 10"

Be less paranoid and drive more.

Originally Posted by toxaris71

I ended up changing the rotors and pads at an independent shop (Zimmerman rotors/pads) just to be safe, though, I didn't think the old ones were bad enough to warrant a failed safety inspection.

Glad it all worked out for you.

I do not think the dealership service department gives a large crap if you buy the car or not - they are a separate revenue center for the dealer from sales. Probably they err on the side of caution when it comes to anything safety (tires) or brake (also safety) related issues for liability, etc.

And of course, to maximize profit, they need to sell you stuff.

[itrocks4u]

Good job! You handled it well.

You should complain with BMW Canada for sure. Although the fact that an independent company said your brakes had an issue might be in favor of the dealer?

[pshep138]

As someone who works in sales at a non-BMW dealer, I would assume this was more something to do with CPO eligibility? If they took the car back, they'd almost definitely want to CPO it, and they may not have been able to with the rotors the way they were. They probably just wanted you to pay for it if they ended up with the car, so they could slap CPO on it.

It also might've be an issue with transferring the car from the leasing company to your ownership? That would make sense, at least in the US, with having to do a safety inspection, as most dealers in most states require a safety inspection on any used vehicle before it's sold. Not sure if buying the lease out counts on the dealer side as selling you a used car or what, but it's something to consider.

Either way, I don't think you were being robbed or cheated.

[Raimo5]

The biggest ripoff is nitrogen in those tires.

[Bongoxxx]

Originally Posted by tdott

Why are you dealing with the dealership?

You deal directly with BMW Finance Canada.
You send them the money, they release the lien on the title.

Get out of there asap. If they are saying you need a safety certificate, it means they are probably doing title transfers or pulling some kinda of funny business.

Wrong, BMW Finance Canada will direct you to a dealer. You can not deal direct with BMW Finance Canada.

Leases in Canada are registered to BMW Finance Canada. The ownership (title in the US) is in their name and the plate portion of the ownership is in the leaseholder’s name.

Safety is required for buying out any lease in Ontario as the ownership is being transferred from the leasing company, in this case BMW Finance Canada, to the person buying out the lease.

I’ve been leasing for years and have bought out a few. I’d prefer to deal direct but every one l’ve bought out from BMW, Honda or Acura it had to be done through a dealer.

The funny thing is BMW only gives you a photo copy of the ownership, they keep the original. Honda/Acura give you the ownership

The BMW dealer I deal with actually told me to get the safety done elsewhere as “we charge more than everywhere else” when I bought out my 340. Their only stipulation was if I wanted to extend the warranty they wanted to do an inspection prior to extending the warranty.