Will wheel-painting affect my vehicle car truck lease?
If you own a vehicle, you can customize it in every conceivable way, until your little heart sings with the sheer joy of your uniquely glorious car or truck. Sadly, the same is not true with a leased vehicle. At the end of the lease, you’ll have to pay for any changes the dealer has to make to return the vehicle to its original configuration. And we mean ANY.
Some people reason that, since their vehicle’s wheels have gotten all scuffed and scratched up during the lease period, the dealer won’t charge them for excess wear if they make the wheels look like new with a coat of paint or powder-coating. While this reasoning seems perfectly logical in the real world, most car dealerships live in the world of ‘charge-as-much-as-you-possibly-can-for-everything-under-the-sun-and-a-few-things-that-aren’t’. You will absolutely be penalized for having your wheels painted during the lease term.
If your wheels have been damaged during the lease and you want to avoid paying through the nose for them, DON’T get them painted. This absolutely will count as a modification, and whether or not you know the dealer could charge extra for the car with its beautifully-painted wheels, they will act like what you’ve done is a travesty and the car will need to be restored to its original state in order for them to sell it. Whether or not they actually do this, they will charge you as though they will.
The easiest and cheapest way to avoid dealership penalties on a damaged wheel is to have them repaired and restored to their original, unpainted state by a professional. This might seem like a more expensive route, but trust us, it isn’t. The dealer will turn around and get the same work done if you don’t, only they will charge you a premium on top of the actual fees for ‘administration’ and the sheer hassle of them having to initiate the work.
The bottom line is, if you want to have customized wheels, buy the car, or be prepared for some serious fees when you turn in your lease.
If your leased vehicle has damage on the wheels, save yourself money at turn-in by having them professionally repaired and refinished.
Salt City Wheels are the Utah-based experts at wheel repair and refinishing. Yes, we can paint your wheels in an endless array of gorgous, pigment-dense colors with the most fabulous finishes known to man, but we also restore and repair naked wheels to their former glory. Which, if you’re coming to the end of your lease, is an absolute God-send and just what the doctor ordered. I’m not exactly sure what’s with all the authority-figure analogies, but in this instance, they’re entirely apropos!
Give Salt City Wheels a call today at 801 425 3044 to schedule your FREE leased vehicle wheel consultation. We’ll take a load off your mind and the scratches off your wheels in one fell swoop!