In a recent article, we reported on the emotionally charged topic of returning a vehicle. The central question we addressed was: Are damages (reductions in value) assessed fairly or unrealistically by lessors?  A controversial topic—depending on whether you ask the lessor or the customer, you might run into widely divergent opinions, to put it mildly. In any case, the decidedly emotional reactions of our customers and employees who negotiate these situations were unequivocal. Everyone had an example that had caused him or her to wrestle with the situation—and again, this is putting it mildly.

Whenever there are two opinions, a discussion is called for. This is how our society works. That’s why we have decided to choose the Return of the Month from among all the submissions we received on this topic and publish it without revealing any personal details. Of course, these are usually particularly juicy examples, but they come from real experiences. You can then decide for yourself whether the situation was handled fairly or unrealistically.

The very first prize for the Return of the Month is being awarded to four commercial vehicles leased by one of our customers. The supporting documentation is on file. The customer had drilled small holes into the dashboards of four commercial vehicles in order to mount something. We were not told whether this was to attach a bobblehead to motivate employees or a practical mobile phone holder, and for our purposes it actually doesn’t matter. The important point was that the lessor wanted to charge between €1,600 and €2,000 for this. Per car.

And so the speculation in our department began. A lot of money for a couple holes. But who knows, maybe drilling the holes caused oil wells in the glove compartment to run dry or the dashboards were rare designer pieces by Luigi Colani. You never know. And why were different costs assessed for the same holes in vehicles of the same make and model? We didn’t understand it either.

That’s why we wrote an e-mail to ask why the holes in the dashboard were valued at the same amount as an old, but fully roadworthy, used car. Surprisingly, our contact person immediately agreed with us and reduced the charge to €200 per vehicle. Lesson learned—when push comes to shove, one zero isn’t all that important. Now you get to decide: fair or unrealistic? Until next month’s Return of the Month. If you have a story of your own to share, please send it to us.  Maybe yours will soon be the Return of the Month.