[yvl]

So I turned in my e46 this week end.

To my untrained eye, the car looked pretty flawless, except for some minor curb rash on the rims. But by the time the inspector was done with it, he wrote me up for 3k of damage: scratches/scuffing underneath the front bumper and both skirts (you literally needed to lay flat on the ground to see it), scratches on the rear quarter panels (barely perceptible, nothing like getting keyed), scratches on the door handles, stitching coming undone on driver seats, rim scuffing, etc...

I had safe lease so thankfully I wasn't out of pocket any $ (and didn't need to throw a fit). This was my first lease (I financed my '02 m3 prior to this '06), so now I am worried about not getting safe lease on my new '11 e93. Living and driving mostly in LA, these seem to be somewhat unavoidable over the years.

Do you guys think the inspector wrote up all these charges precisely because I had safe lease and could offset some of the car's reconditioning costs?

What have been your experiences turning in leases, with or without an excessive wear and tear insurance? What are you usually out of pocket if you don't have the insurance?

My ED is in customs now so I could still add it on...