When you return a leased vehicle the dealer's inspector is looking at it with a specific checklist in mind. Visible dents are the easiest thing to point to. They're clear, they're measurable, and they give the dealership a straightforward reason to charge you.
Getting ahead of that before the inspection is almost always the better financial decision.
A typical excess wear charge on a dented panel runs $300 to $500, sometimes more depending on the lease agreement. That number reflects dealer retail pricing on a repair that would cost significantly less done beforehand. The inspection process is set up to find these things, document them, and bill accordingly.
The person who comes in ahead of the inspection removes that leverage before it gets used. A repair done now costs less than the penalty, preserves the factory paint, and does not show up on any vehicle history report.
A repair done for a pre-sale customer and a repair done for a lease return are not the same job. The lease return has a defined bar: what an inspector would pass versus flag. I set the repair to meet that bar, not exceed it.
That means you are not paying for a concours finish on a car you are about to hand back. You are paying for a repair that removes the objection. The quality is dialed to the situation and the cost reflects that.
Normal wear and tear passes. A dent that catches light from across the lot does not. I know the difference and I'll tell you which category each dent falls into before any work starts.
Send photos of any damage you are concerned about to 865-420-3368. I'll go through them and tell you which ones an inspector would flag, which ones would likely pass as normal wear, and what each repair would cost. You decide what makes sense from there.
Most of the time it is one or two dents that matter. The rest passes on its own.
I'll tell you which dents are worth fixing before turn-in and what each one would cost. No commitment required to find out.