Consumer complaint received 2015-09-15
Company: HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA
State: CA
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I went to XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX to return my leased XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX and purchase a new XX/XX/XXXX XXXX. I was about two months ahead of when the lease expired and was told that if I financed a new vehicle purchase that I would pay nothing to return the leased vehicle early ; XXXX would cover all the costs and all I would be paying for was the new vehicle. I was excited, signed my lease, got set up with a loan, and drove off with my shiny new car. 

About two months after purchasing my new car, I received a notice in the mail about an outstanding balance of {$1800.00}. Apparently I was being charged with {$880.00} in unpaid lease payments, {$400.00} in early termination fees, {$79.00} in taxes, and {$440.00} in excess wear and tear fees. The unpaid lease payment, early termination fees, and taxes were all supposed to be waived according to my dealership, so I contacted them to get everything squared away. After some back and forth they agreed to pay for everything but my excess wear and tear fees. However, the original contract I signed when leasing my first XXXX ( the XX/XX/XXXX XXXX ) showed that I had paid up-front for excess wear and tear protection. In fact, I paid {$600.00} for the protection, which is more than what the actual fees came out to. Instead of the dealership or XXXX finance resolving the matter, I was directed to file a claim with some XXXX-party company, have my case looked at, and hope I got a resolution before Hyundai Motor Finance put out a collections on this obviously bogus charge. 

The dealership eventually agreed to pay off even the excess wear and tear fees, after more than a month of back and forth conversation. When I attempted to check on the status with Hyundai Motor Finance they told me they had applied the first check but apparently they apply these payments in an almost random manner. My unpaid lease payments were at a XXXX-balance but I suddenly had a disposition fee, whereas on my original invoice it said {$0.00}, and no early termination fee, less taxes, and only about {$25.00} for excess wear and tear. The total of the new charges came out to {$440.00}, which is exactly how much I owed for the excess wear and tear in my original invoice. Instead of sanely applying the payment where it was meant to go they used a shotgun solution, not caring about consumer understanding of the line-item reductions as long as the final total was correct. 

Although the dealership was awful at handling my case, they eventually attempted to correct things. They also messed up on my DMV papers, causing me to receive a registration renewal payment notice for my old car ( which I no longer had at that point ) and delaying my new car 's registration until XXXX XXXX which meant I did n't have a properly registered vehicle, or license plates, for more than 3 months. But Hyundai Motor Finance is absolutely atrocious. They refuse to apply any kind of customer service to any situation, basically saying " go have someone else fix the problems we created. '' Which is extra upsetting because XXXX of the charges - excess wear and tear - was a bonafide illegal charge, in direct conflict with the contract XXXX and I had signed, and they still did n't attempt to correct the situation personally.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation