About Autoquake.com

What's fair wear and tear?

Tyre tread and wheels

We make sure that all the four road tyres have at least 1.6mm remaining on the centre ¾ of the tread, which is the minimum standard for an MOT. We also ensure that any spare tyre supplied meets the MOT requirements, too.

We would never knowingly sell you a car with remoulds or tyres of the incorrect size or speed rating for the vehicle. Damage to either the wheels or tyres that would fail an MOT is not acceptable, and would therefore be repaired or replaced as necessary before sale.

Scuffs to the wheel itself are inevitable with a used car and we consider this to be fair wear. We photograph each wheel for you to view on your screen so that you can make an informed decision.

Windscreen and lamp lenses

As with all used cars they are sometimes sold with relatively minor imperfections such as light surface scratches and small chips that would only be noticeable under close scrutiny. This does not mean that we would sell a car with cracked or broken glass that would fail an MOT inspection. We will replace the glass if we see any signs of this developing. We repair small stone chips using a resin harder than glass to make sure cracks don't develop.

Interior and Trim

We wouldn't buy a car with a ripped seat, cigarette burn or a missing stereo knob and we don't expect you to either! We critically assess the interior of every car including all of the driver controls, glove box, gear stick, arm rests and pedals and then decide whether any scratches, dents or wear and tear are not proportionate with the car's age and mileage.

We think it is common sense that you would expect to find more wear and tear in a four year old car that has completed 80,000 miles in comparison to a two year old 20,000 mile vehicle. A great used car will undoubtedly show some acceptable signs of ageing.

To convey the differences between what we constitute as fair interior wear and tear, you can look at the example pictures below. A seat showing this amount of wear in a relatively new 15,000 mile car wouldn't be acceptable and we would list this as a damage point for you to view. If the same amount of wear was found in a 90,000 mile car we would not list this as a damage point, although it would still be visible to you on the interior photographs.

Similarly, a piece of interior such as the door grab handle will become worn over time. The photograph below shows what we think would be acceptable on an older 50,000 mile car. Conversely, it would be clearly listed as a damage point on a newer 30,000 mile car as you would not reasonably expect this level of wear under normal usage.

Exterior Bodywork

Most of our cars have spent a lot of their miles on motorways. This means they are less susceptible to mechanical wear and tear than stop-start town driving, but this also increases their propensity to attract stone chips. It is reasonable to expect our high quality used cars to carry some minor marks.

Of course, we will draw your attention to specific areas on the bodywork or bumpers that have anything more than minor scuffs, dents or wear to the car. An obvious acceptable example would be light scuffing to the loading area on an estate car. However, a deep and long scratch that has penetrated the topcoat of paint on the driver's door is plainly not acceptable (as fair wear and tear) and would be listed as a damage point.

Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI)

Just like a new car, we perform a final check on the car before handover. This is our opportunity to ensure everything is working as it should do. We want you to be thrilled with your new purchase and not to have to worry about a flat battery or a missing locking wheel nut.