GM Vehicle Lease Disposition Fee is Chevy dealers fault

[pneumatic man]

I'm stuck with an auto lease disposition fee because the dealership neglected me.

Having leased Chevrolet vehicles for the last 5 years the current lease was ending in June 2020. GM Customer Loyalty offered me an additional $1,200 discount to buy or lease another Chevy SUV and my current Chevy dealer advertised an attractive $0 down payment new lease. While I tried to get 2 different salesman and a sales manager to put together a contract on this SUV it was a futile effort. After 3 weeks of visits & phone calls I still had no contract or vehicle to replace the old leased SUV.

At lease end I would be left without a vehicle therefore I was forced to shop elsewhere. The end result was a new lease with a new dealership. This prompted GM Financial to demand payment of the lease Disposition Fee upon return of the old leased vehicle. In addition to the FEE they added a sales tax onto the fee which may not be legal in PA.

I've spoken to numerous GM Financial customer service reps and supervisors about this issue but I'm getting no help from them. One supervisor said she would forward the case to Customer Loyalty and another supervisor said there is no Loyalty Department. Because GM Financial will not work with me on this hey have now reported me to the three major credit bureaus as being past due on payment.

I want GM or the Dealership to get involved and eliminate or reduce the fee as well as to repair my credit.

Any solutions to this issue are appreciated.

 

[Neil Maley]

Don’t rely on someone else advocating for you. We have company contacts and you can appeal yourself.

General Motors - Elliott Advocacy

www.elliott.org

This is how to write:

Resolving Consumer Complaints and Developing a Paper Trail

If you are reading this posting, then there is a good chance you are looking for suggestions or advice on how to address a consumer complaint or issue. The very first thing you should do is read the below-linked stories by our very own Christopher Elliot, founder, and publisher of...

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[pneumatic man]

I wasn't sure how this worked. I understood the word advocate to mean a person who pleads on someone else's behalf. I'll put together my case and use the contacts provided. Thanks

 

[jsn55]

I'm stuck with an auto lease disposition fee because the dealership neglected me.

Having leased Chevrolet vehicles for the last 5 years the current lease was ending in June 2020. GM Customer Loyalty offered me an additional $1,200 discount to buy or lease another Chevy SUV and my current Chevy dealer advertised an attractive $0 down payment new lease. While I tried to get 2 different salesman and a sales manager to put together a contract on this SUV it was a futile effort. After 3 weeks of visits & phone calls I still had no contract or vehicle to replace the old leased SUV.

At lease end I would be left without a vehicle therefore I was forced to shop elsewhere. The end result was a new lease with a new dealership. This prompted GM Financial to demand payment of the lease Disposition Fee upon return of the old leased vehicle. In addition to the FEE they added a sales tax onto the fee which may not be legal in PA.

I've spoken to numerous GM Financial customer service reps and supervisors about this issue but I'm getting no help from them. One supervisor said she would forward the case to Customer Loyalty and another supervisor said there is no Loyalty Department. Because GM Financial will not work with me on this hey have now reported me to the three major credit bureaus as being past due on paymen

I want GM or the Dealership to get involved and eliminate or reduce the fee as well as to repair my credit.

Any solutions to this issue are appreciated.

This is certainly annoying. What was the reason your usual dealership wouldn't write up a new vehicle? Did you speak with the dealership owner at the time? I've certainly never have come across anything to do with car dealers even remotely close to your experience. The outcome will be determined by the terms of your original lease. If you agreed to pay this fee and taxes, then you want the lessor to make an exception to the policy. If you didn't agree to this, then you'll need a different approach.

 

[Neil Maley]

I wasn't sure how this worked. I understood the word advocate to mean a person who pleads on someone else's behalf. I'll put together my case and use the contacts provided. Thanks

We teach you how to advocate for yourself. If your efforts don't result in a response, then our advocates will look at the case and see if they think they can help. With the number of cases we receive it is impossible to advocate every case. If you follow the information about creating a paper trail, in most cases the case is resolved.

 

[pneumatic man]

jsn55
in response to your questions, one salesman said there was no such deal, and he "was" the sales manger who put together my old lease. No, I did not speak with the dealership owner as it is a conglomerate but as i stated I spoke with the current sales manager. Also, my issue is not with the agreed upon terms of the lease but rather the fact that the dealership put me into a financial loss that they could have prevented had they contracted with me again.

 

[pneumatic man]

Neil
I do have documented names, dates, & times of all communications in this case. I have forwarded all of that to GM Financial but it appears I'll have to proceed to contact higher powers. Before coming across Elliott I was tempted to contact a GM Executive. How far up the tree should I nark?

 

[Dwayne Coward]

jsn55
in response to your questions, one salesman said there was no such deal, and he "was" the sales manger who put together my old lease. No, I did not speak with the dealership owner as it is a conglomerate but as i stated I spoke with the current sales manager. Also, my issue is not with the agreed upon terms of the lease but rather the fact that the dealership put me into a financial loss that they could have prevented had they contracted with me again.

Your problem is going to be that the dealership has no obligation to contract with you again, any more than you were obligated to contract with them. Unfortunately, if the contract allowed them to collect this fee and you didn't pay it they may not be required to reverse it or fix your credit if you didn't pay it as required.

If appealing to the executives doesn't result in some type of resolution or goodwill gesture, you may need to have your contract reviewed by an attorney to determine if you have any legal options. Another alternative, if you feel they are not following the contract or there was some obligation on their part to lease you another vehicle, is to take the dealership to small claims court.

 

[pneumatic man]

Your problem is going to be that the dealership has no obligation to contract with you again, any more than you were obligated to contract with them. Unfortunately, if the contract allowed them to collect this fee and you didn't pay it they may not be required to reverse it or fix your credit if you didn't pay it as required.

If appealing to the executives doesn't result in some type of resolution or goodwill gesture, you may need to have your contract reviewed by an attorney to determine if you have any legal options. Another alternative, if you feel they are not following the contract or there was some obligation on their part to lease you another vehicle, is to take the dealership to small claims court.

Thanks Dwayne
What you're saying is true, there's no obligation on either part, but it seems that if a retailer advertises a product for sale and a customer wants to purchase that product there's an unofficial obligation/contract to sell. I'd have to check with Judge Judy on that one. Unfortunately, if the seller doesn't like your looks (or whatever) then the buyer may get ignored.

 

[Dwayne Coward]

Thanks Dwayne
What you're saying is true, there's no obligation on either part, but it seems that if a retailer advertises a product for sale and a customer wants to purchase that product there's an unofficial obligation/contract to sell. I'd have to check with Judge Judy on that one. Unfortunately, if the seller doesn't like your looks (or whatever) then the buyer may get ignored.

Unfortunately, we see submissions on this quite often with airlines, hotels, department chains, and home-sharing sites. As long as the reason they don't want to do business with you isn't for a reason protected by law, they are basically free to decide not to. Again an attorney would be able to give you more information specific to your situation.

 

[BittyBoo]

It is not clear in the first post but, presumably, the lease disposition fee would have been waived had the OP leased another GM vehicle before the current term expired. If the dealership was unable to provide you with a new lease, for whatever reason, then you wouldn't qualify for the offer, and thus the disposition fee on the current vehicle would not be waived. Therefore, you would still be responsible for paying it when the lease ended. The dealership is not responsible for your unpaid lease disposition fee since it was in your original lease terms to pay it. As was stated in post #8, the dealership was not obligated to provide you with a new lease (which would have waived the disposition fee) just as you were not obligated to shop there.

 

[pneumatic man]

It is not clear in the first post but, presumably, the lease disposition fee would have been waived had the OP leased another GM vehicle before the current term expired. If the dealership was unable to provide you with a new lease, for whatever reason, then you wouldn't qualify for the offer, and thus the disposition fee on the current vehicle would not be waived. Therefore, you would still be responsible for paying it when the lease ended. The dealership is not responsible for your unpaid lease disposition fee since it was in your original lease terms to pay it. As was stated in post #8, the dealership was not obligated to provide you with a new lease (which would have waived the disposition fee) just as you were not obligated to shop there.

You are correct, the fee is waived if a new vehicle from the manufacturer is purchased or leased. My fight here is that the dealer could have prevented the fee by not being as lackadaisical, or the 1st salesman knew what he was doing (he confused himself reading the ad), or the 2nd salesman would prefer dealing with in store customers rather than phone orders (too busy), or the sales manager cared enough to put the deal together. All I asked of them was to get the deal together and I'd be in to sign the papers and drive away.

This all transpired during the height of COVID-19, business was not as usual so a quick sale should have been appreciated!

 

[Neil Maley]

You are correct, the fee is waived if a new vehicle from the manufacturer is purchased or leased. My fight here is that the dealer could have prevented the fee by not being as lackadaisical, or the 1st salesman knew what he was doing (he confused himself reading the ad), or the 2nd salesman would prefer dealing with in store customers rather than phone orders (too busy), or the sales manager cared enough to put the deal together. All I asked of them was to get the deal together and I'd be in to sign the papers and drive away.

This all transpired during the height of COVID-19, business was not as usual so a quick sale should have been appreciated!

And you should include that in your letter to the contacts we gave you.

 

[pneumatic man]

And you should include that in your letter to the contacts we gave you.

Neil
The contact info for customer service is getting me no where. They have no idea about leases and keep referring me to GM Financial where I've had no previous luck. I'm currently trying to get the dealership general manager to return my call and I'm about to call GM HQ for a better contact.

Are you suggesting I include my complete statement above or just the COVID sentence?

 

[Carrie Livingston]

@pneumatic man if you read the whole page there are executive contacts for GM. Start with the primary contact, wait at least a week. If no response or not the desired response, move to the next contact. Do NOT email all the contacts at once as if could cause one to think another is handling and if you go to the top first, you have nowhere else to go.

 

[msmayor]

Doing a little poking around, I see that GM has a department called the Lease End Experience Team...and on their FAQ page for leases provides a phone number to reach them:


You indicate you spoke with various customer service folks...but did you speak to someone on this specialized team?

 

[pneumatic man]

Doing a little poking around, I see that GM has a department called the Lease End Experience Team...and on their FAQ page for leases provides a phone number to reach them:
View attachment 4007

You indicate you spoke with various customer service folks...but did you speak to someone on this specialized team?

Thank you for this info. No I have not contacted that department, and it's unfortunate that GM Financial managers didn't suggest that.

 

[pneumatic man]

@pneumatic man if you read the whole page there are executive contacts for GM. Start with the primary contact, wait at least a week. If no response or not the desired response, move to the next contact. Do NOT email all the contacts at once as if could cause one to think another is handling and if you go to the top first, you have nowhere else to go.

Thanks for the guidance.

 

[pneumatic man]

OK the letter is off to GM exec. primary contact Will update if any reply shows up.

I tried calling the Lease End Experience Team twice....on hold over 30 minutes.....gave up!

 

[Neil Maley]

OK the letter is off to GM exec. primary contact Will update if any reply shows up.

I tried calling the Lease End Experience Team twice....on hold over 30 minutes.....gave up!

If you don’t hear anything in a week, send an email to the second contact and tell them you write to so and so on xx/xx haven’t had a response. Repeat weekly if needed.