Across four hundred inspections last year the same two cosmetic points came up on nearly a third of the cars. Neither is expensive to correct. We still hand the car over with both still there.
What the numbers say
Of 412 cars inspected between January and December, 128 carried at least one stone chip on the front apron and 96 had kerb rash on one or more rims. Ninety-one had both. That is not a supplier problem or a regional quirk — it is what happens to a car that gets driven, and every one of those 412 had been driven.
We record both, photograph both, and price both. What we do not do is fix them before you see the car, and the reasons are worth setting out because buyers ask about it every week.
Fault one: the stone chip
It is almost always in the same place: lower left of the front apron, two to four millimetres across, down to primer but rarely to metal. On a motorway car it arrives within the first two thousand kilometres.
A resprayed bumper on a two-year-old car raises a question we cannot answer for you: what else was done at the same time? An unfilled chip is a smaller problem than a paint reading that does not match the rest of the panel.
Fault two: kerb rash
Usually one rim, usually the rear nearside, usually a single scuff along the outer lip. Refinishing a wheel is a two-hour job and around two hundred and forty euro. We quote it in the report and leave the wheel as found.
The reason is simpler than the paint argument: wheel finishes vary, and a refinished rim rarely matches the other three exactly. Most buyers who care about it want all four done to their own standard, and would rather not pay for one they will have redone.
“Every fault we hide is a conversation we have at the handover instead of on the listing. The handover is a worse place to have it.”
Why we leave both
Three reasons, in the order they matter. First, a published fault is checkable: you can see the photograph, read the measurement, and decide. Second, correcting cosmetics before a sale removes evidence a later buyer might want. Third — and this is the commercial part — the cars sell anyway. Faults published in words have not slowed a single sale we can measure.
What we would fix
To be clear about the limits of this position: anything that affects how the car stops, steers or holds the road is corrected before it reaches the floor, without asking. Pads under four millimetres, tyres under four, a fault code stored anywhere in the car — those are not cosmetic and they are not your decision to weigh.
The line is simple. If it changes how the car drives, we fix it. If it changes how the car looks, we photograph it and let you choose.
COMMENTS
Fourteen comments, three of them arguments.
THE AUTHOR REPLIES HERE
Andreas K.BOUGHT A 718 CAYMAN2 DAYS AGO
This is why I bought from you twice. The chip on my Cayman was exactly where the report said and exactly the size — I filled it myself in an afternoon for eleven euro of touch-up paint. Would have paid four hundred if a dealer had “handled” it.
Marco D.TAYCAN OWNER4 DAYS AGO
Disagree on the wheel, honestly. If I am spending six figures I do not want to collect the car and immediately book a refinish. Quote it as an option at checkout and most people would take it.
Sofia Marchetti · author3 DAYS AGO
That is fair, and we are testing exactly that — refinishing offered as a line item before handover rather than after. The one thing we will not do is have it done and stay quiet about it.
Elena F.LOOKING AT A 9925 DAYS AGO
Question rather than a comment: does the published fault list affect the twelve-month warranty at all? I assume cosmetic points are excluded but it would be good to see that written down.
Marek Vogel · head of inspection5 DAYS AGO
Correct — cosmetic points recorded in the report are excluded from the warranty, and that is stated in clause 7 of the terms. Anything mechanical or electrical we inspected is covered for twelve months regardless of what the report says about the paint.