Step 6 - Read this FAQ
This 'Frequently asked Questions' page should address most of your
queries about returning your car. If you have other questions, you
can ask them online by filling out the form provided at the bottom
of the page. You will have other questions which are specific to
your car, but these can be answered on the day of the inspection.
- How does this all work then?
- Who pays for the inspection?
- Who pays for the valet?
- How much does it all cost?
4b. Is there a Fleet rate?
- What is the BVRLA fair wear & tear
guide?
- Do I claim on my insurance?
- Can you give me a lift into town?
- Can you call me a taxi?
- How do I get to Clean Image?
- What are your opening times?
- Do I have to book my car in? (People turn
up without an appointment)
- Can I change my booking?
- Can you do it right now?
- Why are you charging me penalties?
- Do you fix the car or can I take it elsewhere?
- Can I leave my car with you and I take
my new one?
- You better not charge me a fortune, because
my husband has taken a look at it and says there is nothing wrong
with it.
- How do I look after my new car?
- Can I just pay you to do it and get it
out of my hair?
19b. Can you just do everything
so I'm guaranteed not to get any charges?
- What's a ballpark figure of what it will
all cost?
- Do you come to us?
- Can you do a cover-up or hide the damage?
- £79.95 just to inspect a car? Why so much?
- How do I know you are being fair and not profiteering?
- So if I spend my money on an inspection, how do I know it will
SAVE me money?
- Is my lease company out to get me?
1. How does this all work then?
You can have the work done by anybody you want - just remember that
you will pay twice for shoddy repairs! Lease companies will not
accept repairs that are badly done and charge you for them anyway.
So it is best to choose a company on recommendation. There may be
some repairs that you are able to carry out yourself - you will
be advise about these on your fair wear and tear inspection.
2. Who pays for this inspection?
You do - Your lease company will NOT pay for this for you. You have
the option to pay for us to do a fair wear and tear inspection
on your vehicle to ensure that it is ship shape before the Lease
Company's return inspection - the lease return inspection done by
the lease company is something they pay for.
3. Who pays for the Valet?
You do - Your lease company will NOT pay for this for you. If you
are having one of our inspections, a basic valet is included
in the price. If you car has particular problems which are chargable
(such as stains on seats or mild scratches on paintwork) then
there are extras that can be added to our lease return valet
-- these are not included in the price. If you car is particually
dirty or smells, then we may recommend that you sellect a Silver of Gold
valet.
4. How much does it all cost?
Our fair wear and tear inspections cost £149.95inc for normal
customers, but if you have follow this guide it's only £99.95inc
- so if you skim read this guide or skipped to the end, go back
and read it properly because you will have to pass This
Test.
The inspection includes a Lease
Return Valet so that
we can see well enough to inspect the car, but if you require
us to valet your car because it is particularly dirty, in addition
to our special lease return valet we have additional services
that you can purchase as extras - e.g. seats can be steam cleaned
at £10
each - further
details can be found here, alternatively you can choose a
valet from our normal valet menu. Remember, that excessively
dirty cars are not acceptable to the lease company and they
expect them to be returned clean. If fact, we are told that
when cars are returned dirty, it usually means that somebody
is trying to hide something and they pay extra attention to
them after they have had
them cleaned at your expense!!!
We can advise you of the likely cost of repairs once the inspection
is done, it will depend on the amount of damage, wear and tear on
your car.
4b. Is there a fleet Rate?
Yes - If you have more than 6 cars, get in touch and we will
work out a fleet rate. However, this may be dependant on your
company's willingness to co-operate in the education and preparation
of your drivers and vehicle. For example, making sure they
read this guide before arriving at an appointment.
5. What is the BVRLA fair wear and tear
guide?
This guide is the Lease Industry's standard guide for judging if
any damage to your car is acceptable wear and tear. As well as acting
as a guide for many lease companies, it also offers advice and information
to holders of lease cars. We recommend you acquire one at the time
you get your leased car - You
can buy the Fair Wear and Tear Standard Guide online here.
6. Do I claim on my insurance?
Quite possibly, just remember that you can't make one claim for
all the damage to your car! Each area of damage is a separate
accident and must be claimed for separately, and you will have to
pay excess on each. Some insurance companies will have required
you to report the accidents as they happened or within a specified
period of time.
Remember that if you claim, especially if you decide to make multiple
claims, you will lose your no-claims-bonus, maybe not now but you
will pay for it somewhere down the line. If you are covered by your
company insurance, bare in mind that you may wish to leave or insure
another vehicle and they will ask for proof of previous claims.
If you have made several claims, even for fairly minor car-park
damage, this could cost you hundreds of pounds a year.
7. Can you give me a lift into town?
I'm afraid not. Our staff are not insured to give lifts to people
either as a favour or a paid service. See below
8. Can you call me a taxi?
Yes we can. We have a special arrangement with HappyCabs and they
usually get to us fairly quickly. You will need to pay the taxi
company yourself. You can get from Clean Image to anywhere in
town, including the station for between
£3.50 and £4.50 at time of writing
- 03/10-06
9. How do I get to Clean Image?
There is a map on Page 3 of this guide. If you
have Sat-Nav you can type in the address below:-
Clean Image
Unit 1, Court Industrial Estate,
Navigation Road,
Chelmsford
Essex
CM2 6ND
10. What are your opening times?
We are open from 8:00am till 5:45pm Monday to Saturday.
11. Do I have to book my car in?
Call us on 01245 350035 - you will be required to pay a £50
booking deposit, so you will need a credit or debit card. If you
need to cancel, we need 48hrs notice. If you do cancel in due time,
we will return £30 of your deposit.
12. Can I change my booking?
Yes, but we require 48 hours notice.
13. Can you do it right now?
It takes as long as it takes! The whole process usually takes around
2 hours depending on your car and how prepared you are. Please
allow yourself plenty of time.
14. Why are you charging me penalties?
We are not charging you penalty charges - we are not part of the
lease company and your Fair Wear and Tear inspection with Clean
Image is NOT your lease return inspection.
15. Do you fix the car or can I take it
elsewhere?
You can get the work done anywhere as long as it is done to an acceptable
standard. You may even wish to do certain jobs yourself - A stone
chip touched in could save you money, and you may also wish to roll
your sleeves up and do the valet. For more serious jobs such as
bodywork damage, we suggest that you choose a company on recommendation
rather than on cheapest prices! The lease company inspectors will
not accept badly done repairs.
We will point out badly done repairs that will not pass inspection.
We have found that some parts such as wing mirror covers and wheel
trims can be cheaper to replace than repair. Shopping on eBay is
quite good, as is buying from reputable companies like GFS.
Dealerships can be reasonable too, for example, a wheel trim for
a Peugout is around £14 while the charge for a damage wheeltrim
from the lease company could be around £40. As long as you
get the correct size (which will be written on the tyre) they are
fairly easy to fit.
16. Can I leave my car with you and just
take my new one?
Yes you can. Although we have no association with any lease companies,
they may be able to inspect and collect from any location (check with your lease company first), so it is possible
to have them see your car here. You can also have your new car delivered
here so that you can drive it away... however, you must make all
the arrangements and any car left here for longer than 3 days after
we have finished working on it will be charged storage at £6.50
per day.
17. You better not charge me a fortune,
because my husband has taken a look at it and says there is nothing
wrong with it.
Clean Image only tell you what damage a lease company is
likely to charge you for according to the BVRLA guidelines (we are
not the lease company! See No.14). If you disagree
with their assessment or think that likely charges are unfair, you
will have to take this matter up with your lease company - if your
lease company is a BVRLA member, they have a conciliation service
for settling disputes between company and customers. More...
18. How do I look after my new car?
Please see page 3
of our lease car guide.
19. Can't I just pay you to do it and
get it out of my hair?
Yes - but we suggest we go through it all with you when
you are here. We can then take the car from you, do the work, and
then the lease company picks the car up from our premises. See
No.16
19b. Can you just do everything so
I'm guaranteed not to get any charges?
You can, but sometimes there are areas of damage that
are borderline fair wear, especially small areas of damage.
If this is all there is, they might not charge you, then again,
they might... so we like to have your input as to what you want
to take a chance on. It is often the case that cost of the penalty
is less than the cost of repair, for example, if you have damage
on the door, they may only charge you the cost of repainting
that door, but in the reality, to repair the car properly you
would need to paint the whole side of the car to get a good
colour blend. You may decide to accept such a penalty... however,
you may want to swallow the cost so that you have a clean record
so that you get a better deal on your lease car next time. There
are often options that we would rather not decide for you.
20. What's a ballpark figure of what it
will all cost?
That's what we are here to find out. Our Fair Wear &
Tear inspection costs £149.95 or £79.95 - we could charge
less and make the money back on any repairs, but then we would have
to inflate the cost of repairs and while doing the inspection we
would be looking to create work for ourselves, buy paying us a fair
price for our time you ensure the inspection is unbiased.
The inspection will find the damage and we will be able to tell
you how much the penalties are likely to be, and what your alternatives
are... it all depends on the condition of your car.
21. Do you come to us?
No - we are not a mobile service.
22. Can you do a cover-up or hide the
damage?
No - Please don't ask us! We only carry out good quality repairs.
Although you are passing the car back to the lease company, we will
only carry out the same standard of repair that we would provide
if you were keeping the car. We believe that if a job is worth doing,
it's worth doing properly.
There are cases, for example on dents, where we can improve a dent
so that it is acceptable and won't incur a penalty, even though
we can't remove it completely. However, once the repair is done,
it is permanent.. it is not a cover-up.
23. £79.95 just to inspect a car? Why so much?
This isn't just a quick look around, it normally takes us around
2 hours.
You may be thinking "Why
can't i just give my car a wash, look it over myself and send it
back".
You are welcome to do so, we even have a check sheet as a download
that you can use, however we recommend you take this extremely seriously
-- it's not as simple as you might think!
Firstly, to inspect a vehicle properly, it needs to be really clean.
Running it through a car wash is just not good enough, in fact,
it doesn't even come close!
The car in the photos above was run through a car wash before
being brought to us. This lady certainly got £5 worth! But seriously,
the first photo shows that the sill is dirty, but this is one of
the most improtant places to inspect... you may not think so, but
a Lease Return Inspector will certainly be down on his hands and
knees to examine it. The sills often suffer large dents or scratches
if the driver has run over an obstruction in the road. Damage in
this area will typically cost you a penalty of £90-£350. We asked
Kraftwork Vehicle Refinishing how much they would charge to repair
a dent or scuff on a sill, they quoted us £150-£200 as long as
the damage wasn't too severe... of course, if it were severe, you
would probably notice it despite the dirt. (It's worth noting that
dents on sills can never be done with paintless dent repair because
they are sealed metal sections.)
So as you can see, we have a bit of an issue about people cleaning
their cars. Even those people that have brought cars to us properly
cleaned, often find that when they get here, the car is dirty again
after driving through the wind and the rain and the snow... and
thats just in the summer! We have tried various different ways
of doing things, but it seems the only way we can ensure that a
car is clean enough for inspection, is to clean it ourselves. This
in it's self takes us about an hour to do inside and out.
Next we do the actual inspection. We have to be as well trained
as the BVRLA inspectors who are working on behalf of the lease
companies. But unlike them, we also need to know all the answers
to the problems we might find. It takes our staff several months
of training before they are ready to be able to inspect cars without
supervision, but we are always still learing. New problems arrise
every day which we haven't seen before, these may be specific to
a certain vehicle type and require us to call upon our contacts
within the industry to fine definite answers... because we don't
like guessing.
Despite all this, we do recommend giving your car a good clean,
buying the
BVRLA guide, or getting your lease company's own guide,
downloading
our checklist and doing an inspection yourself. If
you then find problems, we have put a HUGE
amount of information on our website about what is acceptable
and what is not... but if you are still unsure, then bring your
car to us.
Because we do charge for the inspections and all our costs are
covered, we don't feel the need to pressure you into buying our
repair or valet services so that we can make the money back. In fact,
we will often recommend that you order parts yourself, fit them
yourself (i.e. wheel trims), and we will often refer you to other
companies. See Question 24.
24. How do I know you are being fair and not profiteering?
You make the decisions on what work needs to be done, not us. We
just make recomendations. We do not pressure you, we professionally
help people to buy. You don't have to make a decision right there
and then, you will be given an inspection sheet to take away with
you which lists all our recomendations. Feel free to check this
out yourself against the BVRLA Standard or the fair wear and tear
standard set by your lease company.
If you do decide to have work done, then feel free to
shop around... there may even be things that you can do yourself.
25. So if I spend my money on an inspection, how do I know it
will SAVE me money?
If there is nothing wrong with your car, then we won't be saving
you money.
If you are reading this, then chances are you already know there
is something wrong with your car such as scuffs or dents. This
kind of damage is obvious, you pay us to find the damage which
isn't so obvious.
As an example, if you know you have a scuff on your bumper, you
could just get it repaired, and you will save money. A dent on
a panel could cost you £50-£220 in penalties (depending on the
size of the panel and the lease company - you can ask them for
a list of charges), having this repaired could give you a huge
saving... but don't take the money and run. Invest it in a lease
return inspection and have the peace of mind of knowing you haven't
missed anything. If we do find anything else, you will make an
even bigger saving on subsiquent repair. Often a second repair
cost you less anyway!
On top of this you get a valet included in the price.
What we do know for sure, the more damage on your car, the more
savings you make.
26. Is my lease company out to get me.
On the whole, we think they are fair ... read more about it here.
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