Every leasing company publishes a wear-and-use standard, and every one of them draws a line between normal wear (no charge) and excess wear (charged). Your job before turn-in is to find the items that sit just over that line and cost less to repair than to be charged for.
Start by reading your own agreement
Standards differ between captive lenders, and yours is written down. Most publish a wear guide with specific thresholds — a common one is a credit-card-sized template for dents and scratches, where damage that fits inside it is normal wear and damage that does not is charged.
Get that document. Everything below is general; your contract is specific.
What commonly gets charged
| Item | Usually charged when | Worth fixing first? |
|---|---|---|
| Dents and dings | Larger than the guide's template, or on multiple panels | Almost always — paintless repair is typically well under the penalty |
| Scratches | Through the paint, or longer than the stated limit | Often — light scratches polish out |
| Windshield chips and cracks | Cracks, or chips in the driver's view | Yes — chip repair is inexpensive relative to glass replacement |
| Tyres | Below the stated tread minimum, or mismatched brands | Yes — replacement is cheaper than the charge, usually |
| Wheel damage | Curb rash beyond the stated allowance | Depends on severity |
| Interior stains, burns, tears | Anything that will not clean out | Yes — professional extraction removes far more than people expect |
| Odour | Smoke and persistent pet odour | Yes — this is one of the largest single charges |
| Missing items | Second key, cargo cover, headrests, charging cables | Yes — replacements cost a fraction of the charge |
The four-week countdown
Four weeks out
- Read your wear-and-use guide and find the dent and scratch threshold.
- Walk the vehicle in direct sunlight and photograph every panel. Sunlight finds what garage lighting hides.
- Find the second key. This is the most commonly forgotten charge and one of the most expensive.
- Check tread depth against the guide's minimum.
Three weeks out
- Get dents and dings quoted. Paintless repair is usually well under the excess-wear charge for the same damage.
- Get windshield chips repaired before they run.
- Order any missing cargo covers, headrests or cables.
Two weeks out
- Have the repairs done.
- Book a full interior detail — extraction on carpet and upholstery, not a vacuum and a wipe-down.
- Address any odour properly. Masking it does not survive an inspection.
The week of
- Full exterior wash and decontamination.
- Photograph the entire vehicle, inside and out, on the day you hand it over. Date-stamped photos are your record if a charge appears later that you do not recognise.
- Remove personal items, toll transponders and garage remotes.
- Keep a copy of the inspection report.
What not to bother with
Do not repaint panels to beat a scratch charge — refinish work typically costs more than the penalty and shows up on the vehicle's history. Do not replace worn floor mats with cheap aftermarket ones; the originals, cleaned, are what the inspector expects. And do not chase stone chips on a lower bumper, which are usually accepted as normal wear.
If you are trading instead of returning
Same logic, different chart. Dealers price reconditioning into their offer, and their internal number for fixing a door is not built to be generous to you. Get the visible damage handled before the appraisal walkaround, not after you have heard their figure.