Excess wear and tear, and what gets charged
An inspector will walk around your car with a clipboard at the end of the lease. It helps to have seen the clipboard first.
Below is a made-up inspection sheet. It is not any lessor's form, and it is not a standard. It collects what lessors' wear guides commonly separate into "normal" and "excess", so you can walk around your own car with the same eyes. Your lease agreement, and the wear-and-tear guide your lessor publishes or sends near the end of the term, are the only documents that decide what you will be charged. Where this sheet and yours disagree, yours wins.
Commonly normal
- Light surface scuffs on the rim edge
- Brake dust and ordinary discoloring
- Small chips in the finish away from the rim lip
Commonly excess
- Deep curb gouges or rash along the rim lip
- Bent, cracked or dented wheels
- Missing or broken center caps or wheel covers
- Wheels that are not the original type or size
Check your contract: whether aftermarket wheels must be swapped back for the originals before return.
Commonly normal
- Tiny pits from road grit
- A small chip outside the driver's line of sight
- Light haze on older headlamp lenses
Commonly excess
- Any crack in the windshield, especially in the driver's view
- Star breaks and larger chips
- Cracked, broken or fogged-inside light housings
- Broken mirrors
Check your insurer: whether glass repair is covered under your comprehensive coverage, and at what deductible, before paying out of pocket or accepting a turn-in charge.
Commonly normal
- Minor door dings that have not broken the paint
- Light scratches that polish out
- Small stone chips on the hood and bumper
Commonly excess
- Dents beyond the size the guide allows
- Scratches through the paint to primer or metal
- Rust, bumper cracks or tears, misaligned panels
- Visible prior repairs of poor quality, mismatched paint
Check your guide: lessors often define an allowable dent or scratch by a size gauge or template. Measure against that, not against your own sense of "small".
Commonly normal
- Ordinary wear on the driver's seat bolster
- Light carpet wear and stains that clean out
- Small scuffs on door panels and kick plates
Commonly excess
- Burns, tears or cuts in upholstery or headliner
- Permanent stains and strong odors, including smoke and pets
- Cracked dash or broken trim
- Missing items: keys and fobs, manuals, cargo cover, floor mats
Check your contract: the list of equipment the car came with. A missing second key fob is one of the easier charges to avoid and one of the more annoying to pay.
Commonly normal
- Even wear with tread remaining above the guide's minimum
- Replacement tires of matching size and a comparable grade
Commonly excess
- Tread below the minimum depth the guide sets
- Sidewall cuts, bulges or plugs in the sidewall
- Mismatched sizes, or a spare in service
- Uneven wear pointing to alignment damage
Check your guide: the minimum tread depth and whether replacement tires must match brand, rating or both. Do not rely on a figure from a forum.
How the charge is usually worked out
Once an item lands in the right-hand column, lessors generally bill it in one of two ways: by an estimate of what the repair would cost, or from a schedule of set amounts per item. Some combine the two. Some contracts cap total wear charges or waive a set amount; others do neither. The lease agreement states the method, and the inspection report you receive should itemize each charge. Ask for the itemized report if it is not offered.
Mileage is a separate line with its own rate and its own arithmetic, and it is covered in going over your lease miles. The two together make up most of what a return can cost beyond any disposition fee in your contract.
Using the sheet before it is used on you
Do your own walk-around early. Sixty to ninety days before turn-in, go zone by zone in good daylight and tick the boxes honestly. That leaves time to act on what you find.
Ask about a pre-inspection. Some lessors arrange an inspection ahead of the return date, occasionally at your home or office. It turns a surprise at turn-in into a list you can act on. Whether yours offers it, and whether the result binds them, is worth confirming.
Price the repair against the charge. A paintless dent repair, a wheel refinish or a professional interior clean may cost less than the lessor's charge for the same item. It may also cost more. Get a quote and compare it with what the guide or schedule suggests. Poor repairs can themselves be flagged as excess, so a cheap fix is not automatically a saving.
Gather everything that came with the car. Both keys, the manuals, the cargo cover, the original floor mats, the charging cable if it is an electric car. It is the easiest zone on the sheet to pass.
Photograph the car on the day you return it. Every panel, every wheel, the interior, the odometer, with a date on the images. If the final bill lists damage you do not recognize, those photos are your evidence.
Know what you are exempt from if you buy. Wear charges generally attach to returning the car. Purchase the car when the term finishes and the inspection usually falls away, though the damage is still yours and still affects what the car is worth. Your options at lease end sets out how each exit works.
Some leases were sold with a wear-and-tear protection product, which may cover some charges up to a limit. If you bought one, find the paperwork now and read what it excludes. If you did not, the sheet above is your protection plan, and a free one.
Keep reading
Further reading
- Car leasing guide Edmunds
- Tire safety NHTSA
- Appraise your car Edmunds