Most disputes at the end of a lease or subscription come from the same place: the agreement said normal wear and tear was fine, and nobody wrote down what normal meant. Two reasonable people can look at the same door ding and disagree by four hundred dollars.
The thresholds
- Dents and dings: acceptable up to two inches across, provided the paint is not broken and the panel is not creased.
- Scratches: acceptable up to four inches long if a fingernail does not catch and the scratch has not reached primer.
- Stone chips: up to four per panel on forward-facing surfaces. The bonnet and front bumper get more latitude than the doors.
- Tyres: 4/32 inch minimum tread across all four, matched brand on each axle, no sidewall damage. We replace at 4/32 rather than the legal 2/32 because that is where wet braking falls off.
- Windscreen: chips smaller than a US quarter and outside the driver's primary viewing area are acceptable. Cracks of any length are not.
- Wheels: kerb rash up to one inch of arc per wheel. Bent or buckled rims are chargeable.
- Interior: normal soiling is expected. Burns, tears, permanent staining and pet damage to trim are chargeable.
- Missing items: both keys, the charging cable where applicable, the parcel shelf, the jack and the tools.
How it is checked
The car goes on a lift in good light. A technician photographs every panel, the wheels, the tread depth gauge in the tyre, and the odometer. Anything flagged is photographed twice, once wide and once with a rule in the shot. You get every photograph whether or not anything is charged, which means the evidence exists before the invoice does.
Charges are capped at $1,500 per return. That cap is not generosity, it is discipline: it stops a return turning into an open-ended bill and it means the standards above have to be realistic rather than aspirational.
The self-check that saves money
Two weeks before your return date, walk the car in daylight with a quarter and a tread gauge in your pocket. Chips and kerb rash are cheap to fix independently and expensive to be charged for. If you find something borderline, send us the photograph and we will tell you in advance whether it will be charged, which is the point of publishing numbers in the first place.
Thresholds and the charge cap described here are the sample standards used in this demo. Your agreement governs.
