Anthracite Leasing

Anthracite Leasing Company is licensed by the State of Florida Department of Financial Regulation to engage in Automobile Leasing, whose main focus is to lease expensive/exotic cars, whereby when Lessee returns vehicle, Lessor then obtains artificially inflated “wear & tear” repair estimates and then extorts and blackmails the Lessee for money once the lease concludes. In 2014, I was steered to Anthracite Leasing by Maserati of Fort Lauderdale and entered into a 48-month lease for a 2014 Maserati Gran Turismo. During the term of the lease, I spent almost $13,000.00 in servicing the vehicle with Maserati of Fort Lauderdale, even though the vehicle came with a bumper-to-bumper warranty for the entire lease. These bills were solely for “maintaining” the vehicle and were NOT for repairs. Upon returning the vehicle at lease end, Anthracite in conjunction with Maserati of Fort Lauderdale, provided an artificially inflated estimate, where at they looked for anything and everything to charge me to bring the vehicle back to “brand new condition”. In this case they presented me with a Bill for over $18,000.00, for a vehicle that was below the allotted mileage allowance. Based on The Kelly Blue Book, this service bill represented over 43% of the total value of the car. The lease allows for “normal wear and tear” but because this is basically “subjective” they can claim basically anything and shake down consumers when they return their vehicle. This is a systemic problem, which occurs with every lease return vehicle from Anthracite and has been going on for over a decade. In the lease it also includes a clause, which allows Anthracite to “claim” an exorbitant amount of service repairs that is owed to fix the vehicle WITHOUT having to ever actually spend the money to fix the car! (They demand and threaten that you have to pay this amount, when they themselves never even make the repairs they claim are necessary) Below is the clause: “The EXCESS WEAR CHARGE will be equal to the actual or estimated costs of repair, or the estimated loss in its value, because of any excessive wear (even if we do not repair the Vehicle). “ This is a masterful scam that preys on rich people who when threatened and served with a lawsuit pay the artificially inflated amount they claim is owed immediately to avoid being sued. The owner Mr. Steven Freibus is defrauding consumers into paying him money that he isn’t owed at the end of every lease in which he is NOT spending to fix any vehicles. Anthracite’s thievery of fraud and deception, in taking advantage of unsuspecting consumers, can be seen throughout the Internet with complaints by people who have been extorted by Steven Freibus.