What a test note is
A test note is a record of what we measured on one example of a car, on one loop, on one or two days. It is not a certification, not an engineering report and not a guarantee about any other example of the same car. Build variation is real, and a rattle we found on the gravel may be absent from the car you buy.
How to read our figures
Measurements are taken with the instruments described on the method page and are repeatable within the tolerances of those instruments. Decibel readings are comparable with each other and with nothing else, because a meter on a centre armrest is not a laboratory. Fuel figures come from brim-to-brim fills at one pump and will differ from yours by a reasonable margin.
Every price on this site is indicative. Fuel, parts, tyres and fees all move, and we would rather publish a figure marked indicative than publish nothing.
Decisions remain yours
We give measured information and the occasional blunt opinion. We do not sell cars, arrange finance, broker insurance or hold any licence to advise on financial products. A decision to buy, sell, hire or keep a vehicle is yours alone, and the responsibility for it stays with you.
Paid sessions
A session is booked by telephone or through the form and confirmed with a figure before any work starts. That figure is the figure you pay unless you change the scope. If we cannot complete a session because the car is unavailable or unsafe to drive, we say so and charge only for what was done.
A written sheet follows within the period given on the fees page. If we find something we cannot explain, we will go back and measure again rather than publish a guess, and we will tell you that the sheet is late and why.
Our writing and photographs
The text and the photographs on this site are ours. Quote a paragraph with a link back and we have no complaint. Republishing a full note, or lifting our measurement tables into a commercial listing, is not something we agree to.
Links and other people's sites
Where we point you to somebody else, we have no control over what they publish or how they handle your information. Read their own notices. A link is not an endorsement of anything beyond the specific thing it was given for.
Limits
This site is offered as it stands. We take care with the figures and correct errors as soon as we find them, but we cannot accept liability for a commercial decision taken on the strength of a note, nor for any loss arising from the site being unreachable. Nothing here limits any right you have that cannot lawfully be limited.