A simpler way to distinguish wear and tear from damage

22 Jun 2020

While your car’s out living a useful life, it may get some wear and tear along the way. Under the Car Next Door community rules, wear and tear is treated differently from damage. It’s not covered under the insurance policy (just as it wouldn’t be under your personal comprehensive insurance). And while Borrowers are charged for repairing any damage to your car, they won’t be charged for repairing wear and tear.

From time to time, Owners and Borrowers have been unsure whether certain scratches, scuffs or dents were ‘damage’ or ‘wear and tear’. To reduce confusion and make it easier to resolve discussions, we’ve updated and clarified the description of wear and tear in the Damage Policy.

The new wear and tear policy is deeply informed by the Code of Practice for the car rental industry, with adaptations to reflect the peer-to-peer nature of our sharing community.

We’ve spent the past couple of months reviewing and refining the policy with Car Next Door owners in the Facebook group. With over 1,300 Owners participating in that group, it’s a great forum for us to have transparent and direct discussions about issues that affect our Owner community. We’d like to thank the Owners who have given extensive feedback and comments on the three versions of the policy that preceded this final version.

The new Wear & Tear Schedule, which takes effect from 26 June 2020, is as follows:

Area of Vehicle	Wear and Tear Includes
Any surfaces not specified below	Any minor: dent less than 25 mm in diameter, scuff less than 50 mm in diameter, scratch, crack or other wear less than 1 mm wide where the paint is not penetrated past the clear coat; or scratch, crack or other wear less than 3mm wide and also less than 25 mm long where the paint is not penetrated through to the metal / body panel. Any minor: paint chip, provided that there are fewer than 5 per panel and each is less than 3mm in diameter (e.g stone chips) where the paint is penetrated up to the metal / body panel.
All cargo areas	Dent, scuff, scratch, crack, or other wear less than 50mm in diameter
Underbody - including ground-facing bumper surfaces	Cosmetic damage not affecting the car’s function
Windscreen, windows, lamps and external mirrors	Minor scratching and/or minor chipping to any windscreen, window glass or lamp that does not affect roadworthiness, electronic elements or watertightness
Wheels and wheel trims/rims	Minor scratches and scuffing less than 25 mm in diameter
Surfaces, adhesives, mechanical (movable), and electrical parts.	Malfunction, failure, dislocation, or cracking due to age and normal use Change in appearance, including surface cracks and threadbare fabric, due to age, normal use, elemental exposure or contact with other substances (e.g. cleaning solvents). See “Responsibility for Damage to Mechanical Components” section of the Damage Policy for more details.