Methodology

Where the checks come from

Each check is tagged with a source category rather than a vague claim of authority. Some come from the owner manual, some from published manufacturer delivery guidance, some from roadworthiness requirements that apply in the markets covered, and some from established delivery inspection practice.

A check is included only if it is observable on the day, by one person, without tools beyond a torch, a cloth and a tyre gauge. Anything that needs a lift, a diagnostic interface or a paint depth gauge is out of scope, because a check you cannot actually perform is worse than no check at all.

Applicability rules

Equipment differs by model, model year, market and options. A rear fog light is mandatory equipment in European market vehicles; a rear wiper exists on the Model Y and not on the Model 3; a tow hitch check is meaningless if you did not order one.

Rather than showing one absolute list and creating false defects, each check declares which models, markets, model years and options it applies to. The checks you see are the ones that apply to the vehicle you described, and the ones filtered out are recorded separately rather than silently dropped.

Severity and the decision banner

Every check has a default severity: cosmetic, functional, safety or administrative. You can change it per issue, because the same item can be trivial or serious depending on what you actually found.

The report opens with a recommendation derived from those severities. Safety or administrative issues produce a stop and discuss banner. Functional or cosmetic issues produce a document and agree banner. An inspection with no issues but unchecked items is reported as incomplete rather than clean.

These are recommendations about a conversation, not legal conclusions. This tool does not tell you to refuse a vehicle and does not certify that one is free of defects.

Honest counting

The completion figure is the share of in-scope items you have given a status to. Marking an item not applicable counts as giving it a status, but it never removes the item from the denominator, and the report lists those items separately.

The five counters — checked, conforming, issues, not applicable, not checked — are always shown together. There is deliberately no single score that can be improved by excluding items.

Content versioning

The checklist content carries a version number and a last-reviewed date. Every inspection records the content version it started against.

When the content is updated, an inspection already in progress is not rewritten. You see a notice explaining that a newer version exists and that it will apply to your next inspection. Item identifiers are stable and are never reused, so an answer can never silently move to a different question.

Limits we are explicit about

This is a visual and functional inspection by a non-specialist. It will not find a fault that only appears under load, over months, or on a diagnostic tool. It does not assess paint thickness, structural repair, or battery state of health.

National rules on acceptance, documentation and defect remedies differ, and they change. Check your own contract and your national consumer rules, and use the manufacturer service channels for anything you want repaired.