Lease return - maintenance performed at dealer required?

Hello,

 

My lease will end in December and I will most likely return my Legacy - maybe will get a new one or an Impreza.

 

My car has 33k miles now and I plan to perform the 30k maintenance review at a shop, not a dealer since they are charging north of $600.

 

When returning a lease, were you asked to provide maintenance records? If so, were they required to be performed at a Subaru dealer?

 

Thanks!

They have never asked to do any maintenance on any of the lease returns that I’ve turned in. If you plan on getting another Subaru you can work out a god deal and most of the times they buy your car back with three to four months left on your lease.

Never leased a Subaru but have leased cars from Toyota, Acura, Nissan and Hyundai. I have never been asked for any maintenance records and I never got regular service done at the dealerships. Most companies use a 3rd party company to evaluate the car for excessive wear and tear. I've never had an issue with it.

The only thing a dealer has ever checked on lease return was tread depth and walk around for body damage. They couldn't care less about mechanical issues.

When returning a lease, were ...you asked to provide maintenance records? If so, were they required to be performed at a Subaru dealer?

What does your lease say? The terms of the lease contract will generally rule.

 

However, one on-line legal reference site states:

Most courts have held that the [Magnuson-Moss] Act applies to consumer leases, but a few have disagreed. The [Federal Trade Commission’s] rule announcement states its unequivocal view that the Act applies to consumer leases, and specifically identifies the contrary decisions as erroneous.

The general rule under Magnuson-Moss is that while a manufacturer can require reasonable preventive maintenance to maintain a warranty, they cannot require that it be performed using proprietary materials or facilities. The owner (or lessee) does need to keep records adequate to document timely performance of any required maintenance.

When a family member returned their Nissan an inspector came out to check it out. The car a a fairly bad dent on the fender. The inspector said that it was less than $500 and forgiven. He never asked about anything mechanical except maybe for tire depth.