When someone buys their car at the end of a lease can the dealership who handles it charge whatever they want in fees?

Call back and ask the salesman to list the “other fees” and how much they are. Write them down. Then you can do your due dilligence. Don’t allow him to be vague.

There will be a title fee which gets paid to the County – from the lessors name to your name. In my county, that’s $18.00

Your state/county may vary.

Go over the car’s interior and exterior with the salesman and you both sign something about the condition of the car. You don’t want to be accused of dents and dings and issues that are not there.

Bring your contract with you when you are at the dealer so you can be prepared to argue about what the salesman is talking about. Like @gailcalled said, write it all down and then, armed with your contract, you have your fight.

I never leased a car for this reason. Plus I drive too much, and I’d pay more in mileage than if I just owned the car.

All excellent ideas. Get a list of the fees they want to charge, then call your state’s Attorney General and get a contact name. Review the fees with them as opposed to your contract. No business really wants their name to be brought to the attention of the AG.

The dealer here did break down the fees for me. I just called the salesperson at my dealership in TN where I bought it and the fees are half what they are here.

@JLeslie: Maybe you can return it in TN?

I was saying if I buy it. What a racket. The contract has the residual price and a $350 fee. Then I come to find out in addition to that the dealership can charge a fee to process the paperwork. I think that is just wrong. I should be able to write a check to the leasing company period in my opinion.

I certainly can do the transaction through TN, it’s just paperwork. I can turn it in in TN too to do a trade if I wanted to buy a car from them.

FYI, for anyone who is interested’ the dealership here wants to charge around $900 to do the paperwork, TN is just under $500. That’s a lot of money for some paperwork in my opinion.

That seems like a hell of a lot for paperwork they are probably legally obligated to do. You could also check with your DMV.

What does your lease contract say?

IF it has an open “any fees or charges” clause you maybe SOL.

That is a lot of money for a clerical worker or the salesman to fill out some forms and sign some stuff. What does your contract say, @JLeslie?

I’m going to look over the contract. I have a feeling they are within their right. I hate stuff like this.

@JLeslie: Please post an update as to what happens. Good luck!

This is just one reason why you never lease a car.

Can you not take in the paperwork from the other place and ask them why they feel they can charge so much more for the same things? I don’t suppose you can tell them to ‘stick it’ if you want to buy the car.

@earthbound I could just do it with TN, it’s just paperwork. Or, I could negotiate the fee.

I was only thinking of buying it because the residual is much less than what I can sell it for. The car held its value well. It would be worth buying and keeping, but my husband wants a new car. It’s why we usually lease one of our cars, so he can change it every three years by just turning it in.

The dealership here said they would take the car now and I get out of my last payment and owe nothing. I might just do that. They will do great selling it, probably make just under $3k, but if I buy it and sell it, I need to pay the taxes (around $800) and if I register the car pay $300 to move the tags, and then the fee for the paperwork assuming I am obligated to pay a fee, so the profit is dwindled and probably is not be worth the time and effort. I probably won’t sell the car for quite as much as the dealership will. I still might make $1,000. While I have the car I need to keep paying insurance, another added expense. My husband leans towards just turning it in.