Dealer Tried Pulling a $40k Battery Claim on My EQE Lease Return?
I recently returned my EQE lease in New York and had a really strange experience with one Mercedes dealer.
I’ve returned multiple leased cars before and usually it’s simple — odometer reading, paperwork, plates off, done. This time, even though the car had already passed the official Mercedes lease-end inspection, the dealer wanted to do additional checks and said they needed to inspect the EV battery by opening the undercarriage.
When I asked why, they claimed it was “required by Mercedes.” I called Mercedes-Benz Financial Services while I was there, and they said they had no idea what the dealer was talking about.
After that, the dealer changed their wording and said it was “their own process.” They also started telling me stories about other EQE/EQS cars where they supposedly had to involve insurance over minor battery scratches and that some claims were around $40k. They made it sound like this had happened multiple times before.
Honestly, the whole thing felt really off, almost like they were trying to find a reason to create a battery damage claim on the lease return.
I ended up taking the car to another Mercedes dealer who simply checked the odometer and accepted the return with no mention of any battery inspection. I also asked a few other dealers afterward and none of them had heard of this process either.
Has anyone else experienced something similar with an EQE/EQS or other EV lease return?