Wear is what happens when you use a car normally. Damage is what needs repair to restore condition, safety, or resale value. Your lease charges you for the second one, and the boundary between them is written into your contract rather than left to judgement.

Bills of $1,000 to $3,000 are common at return, particularly where mileage was also exceeded. Most of it is avoidable.

What is normally acceptable

  • Minor scratches and stone chips from ordinary driving
  • Small dings under the contract threshold, commonly one to two inches
  • Light interior fading and normal seat wear
  • Tyre tread above the stated minimum, usually around 4/32"
  • Ordinary underbody marks

Many contracts also carry a wear allowance, often the first $500 of assessed wear, written off automatically. Check yours. It changes whether small repairs are worth making at all.

What gets charged

Dents and dings over the threshold. Measured with a template. Consistent hail damage across a roof or bonnet is expensive.

Cracked or chipped glass. A chip may be repairable cheaply. Left alone it spreads, and then it is a full windscreen.

Kerbed or damaged alloys. One of the most commonly charged items. Frequently $150 to $300 a wheel from the lender.

Tyres below minimum tread, or mismatched. Also charged if they are not an approved specification, which catches people who fitted budget replacements.

Interior tears, burns, and stains. A cigarette burn in a seat runs roughly $100 to $200. Upholstery tears cost more.

Odours. Smoke, pet, or mildew smells can be assessed as requiring professional remediation. This is one of the larger surprise items and it is entirely preventable.

Missing equipment. Second key, charging cable, load cover, parcel shelf, headrests. A replacement key alone is often $300 to $500.

Aftermarket modifications. Anything not factory usually has to come off, and the car has to be returned to standard.

Keep the bill down

Book the pre-inspection. Free, and it tells you the list while you can still act.

Repair anything cheaper than the charge. Tyres, chips, kerbing, and small dents are all much less expensive through a normal independent shop than through the lender's contractor.

Do not do major bodywork. A full panel respray usually costs more than the wear charge for the damage.

Clean it properly, including the interior. Odour removal before assessment is far cheaper than remediation after it.

Find the missing bits. Keys, cables, covers, manuals. Cheapest possible saving.

Photograph the handover

At return, photograph every panel, all four wheels, the interior, and the odometer, with a date stamp. Get a signed condition report before you leave.

Charges that appear weeks later are much easier to challenge with your own evidence. Without it, you are disputing a report you never saw.

Two ways to make it all go away

Buy the car. Wear charges apply only when you hand it back. If the assessment is large, a buyout can be cheaper overall, and you can then repair what actually bothers you at normal prices.

Trade it. A dealer taking the car may absorb the condition into the trade value instead. Get that in writing, and compare against the wear estimate.

Wear and tear protection

Sold at signing, and sometimes available later, these products cover wear charges up to a limit. Whether it is worth it depends on you: valuable if you have young children, park on the street, or drive a lot of poor surfaces, and often not if you garage the car and drive carefully.

Read the exclusions rather than the headline. Tyres and glass are the two things people assume are covered and often are not.

If you are approaching return and unsure whether to fix, return, or buy, send us the details and we will tell you which is cheapest.