> "I think we’re very familiar with the usual two- to three-year cycles that are extremely popular in the UK, [...] Toyota will take vehicles back to the factory after their first use cycle (ie a typical lease contract) and refurbish them
This article isn't about "remanufacturing" cars at end-of-life - it's about three-year-old cars.
That sounds so ridiculous to anyone living in the UK. The second hand market here dwarfs all other routes to obtaining your own vehicle. I've never bought a car less than 10 years old.
It would seem that of new car sales, 93% are leased[2]
> The percentage of private new car sales financed by FLA members in the twelve months to October 2021 was 93.0%, a similar level to the same period in 2020.
[1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/299841/market-volumes-of...
The car is used, often just off-lease, but it's inspected by the dealership and minor repairs are done so it can be resold with the original warranty essentially reset as if it were new.
It is much more like how Apple, for example, sell refurbished devices that have been put back down a production line for remanufacturing.
I think the intention is for the remanufactured cars to be almost indistinguishable from a brand new car (as an Apple refurbished device is).
Make it look as new as you can, sell it at a premium as a "certifed" car, with maybe a 2-year warranty. Profit.
Even a 5 year old car is very unlikely to have any major mechanical issues unless it has been abused.
- Car starts
- Windshield wipers present
- Door locks work
- Key fobs work
...etc
Typically, what happens post-lease is that the inspection will help determine whether the vehicle is of the correct 'quality' to be Certified Pre-Owned (i.e. sufficient quality or fixing whatever's wrong and selling as CPO is worth doing) and that's kinda the first decision gate.
After that, I would assume that the dealer getting the lease back has some pull as to whether they keep it, but that might be contingent on a few factors like what your agreement with the leasing company is and what your current floorplan is like. (Many dealers in the US don't own most of the inventory on their lots, so any car you keep on your lot eats into that line of credit.)
Oh, also the agreements between the financing companies and the auctions themselves. In some cases the agreements are extremely tight, and there are only small windows where someone doesn't already have the 'rights' to sell a vehicle. (That was a fun project.)
(Which is amusingly the cheapest way to buy your car at the end of lease... just ask the pick up driver where he's taking it...)