Manheim - Inspection Services Avis 61

Had my car collected today as end of PCP, personal experience was polite and proffesional guys, i had spent the previous day prepping the car for collection, yes there were a couple of minor bits but as long as you make the effort to present the car well, i presume they take these as 2 year old car with 10k on the clock, its not going to be showroom condition. As such i had no additional charges.

I had a Nissan Juke collected recently, a lease car through RCI finance.
Derrick Boakye was the representative who came to collect, with a colleague who refused to give his name ( both representatives refused to provide ID when asked!)
Derrick rudely refused to inspect the vehicle, saying it was too dirty! It had a few leaves on the bonnet from being parked outside. He then stood and watched with his colleague ( who was smoking) whilst I struggled to hose down the car.
Derrick falsely accused me to “having work done on the bumper”, he then went on to note down scratches that were well within wear and tear guidelines- recording on his report that they were between 2.5- 10cm ( I wisely took my own photos). He exclaimed that 2 tyres were illegal and also argued with me about the service history. He finished by confirming that there was close to £1200 worth of damage!!
Derrick was rude, intimidating and extremely unprofessional. I found the whole experience deeply upsetting.
I will be taking this further, complaining to the collections company, finance company and beyond.
Having looked into this further, I understand now that Manheim representatives work on commission for damages reported. This explains a lot!!!

I had a great experience with this inspection. Jonathan MacPherson turned up on time was really professional and explained everything that would happen and went through the report in detail. I was charged for a missing service, however this wasn't their fault as I had a service plan via DS and they notified me when it was due but didn't inform me due to the low mileage it should have been done yearly and I'll be taking it up with them.

Keith arrived and took a good look around the car. The car was impeccable inside and out and it was like he was determined to find something.
On the report for 3 of the alloys, none that had been marked, curbed, scratched etc, he report 3 were “gorged”. It was actually very small marks were the lacquer had come off slightly, this is general wear and tear and absolute minimum amount. They were certainly not gorged as described, charging us £49 for each alloyed.
My partner disagreed with his findings.
Not happy at all with this

Seems the large amount of negative reviews are accurate!
Incorrect assessment report details. Returned our 4 year old for inspection. Now being charged £576 for incorrect report assessment.
Incorrect Assessment of Service History
The report marks the service history as "Partial." This is factually incorrect.
The Evidence: Citroen Maintenance Schedule for this specific electric vehicle, the required intervals are 16,000 miles or 2 years.
The vehicle was serviced at 8,850 miles (21/03/23) and 24,846 miles (29/11/24). At the time of return (34,192 miles).

NSF Tyre "Uneven Wear" Charge
The report identifies "Uneven Wear" on the NSF tyre (which had 3mm of tread).

Contradiction of Guidance: the Manheim Vehicle Return Guide (v2 2024). Section 4 (Tyres) states that tyres are only chargeable if they are below the 1.6mm legal limit, have sidewall damage, or are not of the correct specification.

Lack of Transparency: "Uneven wear" is not listed as a chargeable criteria within your own guidance document. Had this been clearly defined as a breach of return standards, I would have exercised my right to replace the tyre at a significantly lower cost prior to inspection. Applying a charge for a condition not disclosed in your primary guidance is a failure of transparency.
Charging Port Flap
The report notes a misalignment. this component was fully operational and flush upon handover. Given the inspection was conducted in the rain (as noted in your report), I contest the accuracy of this visual assessment.

With th eonly option post inspection to sign as "disputed", manheim can simply cause carnage for owners and walk away leaving me to clean up and dispute the incorrect assessment. Really, really poor way to conduct business.

Same as most other 1 star reviews, rep was confrontational from the outset before anything had been checked. Then tried to pass minor scuffs as scratches and tyre wear on perfectly legal MOT tyres checked a few days previous. Also put me off using this form of car purchase and would never deal with anyone dealing with this company. Your rep was an embarassment. Don't bother with your stock reply or reaching out - I have no interest in helping you improve your shocking customer service.

My Nissan Qashqai was inspected for return having just been MOTD and serviced by main Nissan dealer less than 8 weeks ago. The Nissan garage gave the Mot with no advisories and a full health check which was all green. The car is 5 years old and has full main dealer history and I would have said was in well above average for age. This inspection company however have somehow came up with charges of £685. Absolute joke. Obviously just a scam to try and make money at the end of agreements. Hugely frustrated and disappointed.

Dealt with Steve Singh and his colleague Nick. Steve rang me on the Friday to confirm collection the following Monday. What a lovely friendly professional man. Gave the car a good inspection, clearly told me all the details I needed to know. He was polite respectful and a pleasure to deal with. Credit to Manheim.

I honestly think this company are just out to rip people off, an 8 yr old car which i had for 3yrs 5months which i think i took good care of apart from usual wear and tear, they are trying to charge me for tiny little dents and i mean tiny in the inside door sill, a scratch on the door panel that was already there when i got the car, a small scuff not a scratch which i know for a fact can be tcut off, it just seems like every really minor thing you’d expect on a car of its age theyve tried to charge for, every scuff on the wheels its a rip off, the mileage is fine the interior and upholstery is fine, the mot, the service they are all fine, the car has been looked after. I did not expect any charge for anything if im honest. I will never get a car on pcp ever again, basically all ive done is maintain a car that was never going to be mine unless i bought it after the agreement finished which i would have spent more doing pcp and then buying it than i would have doing hire purchase, its a rip off and this company are just adding insult to injury. Gutted as the car in my opinion is in good condition and working well. Dont do pcp they’ll send these rip off people to you!

From the outset, the company was confrontational—even during the initial phone call to arrange my car's collection. I was required to clean the vehicle before it was picked up, and the person collecting the car had not been informed about servicing requirements or defects that had already been paid for. When I requested a receipt for the collection, he reacted as if I'd asked an unreasonable question. The receipt itself was written on the back of a shabby, dirty card and nothing official was provided, despite my signing on a tablet. In order to receive any formal documentation about the collection, I had to go through Ford Credit.
The service was shocking, and based on this experience with third-party providers, I will not purchase from Ford again.

Steve Singh was fantastic, really polite and reassuring. I was worried about the process, especially after having such a nightmare with ford. He reassured me whilst still being professional and explaining what he was doing and why. I knew the car was in perfect condition but so glad Steve was my inspector.

Horrendous. The inspector first of all refused to inspect the car because it was dirty. I'd had it cleaned a week previously and there was minor amounts of road dirt since. I cleaned it in front of him and he reluctantly agreed to continue. He then spent ages looking at the paintwork and found marks which he classified as scratches but were so faint that they were barely visible
Avoid this company if at all possible. They are just out to make as much money as possible and not treat the customer fairly

I had my Ford Kuga car inspected and taken away today at the end of PCP term. The date was booked about 3 weeks previously and having looked at reviews I was concerned about what the process would be like. Anticipated the inspection would be difficult.
Clive arrived ahead of schedule with a colleague. He was pleasant but professional. He spent 30 minutes thoroughly inspecting the car. The one little dint on the rear corner of the car, that happened in the first week I had it 3 years ago, came back as non chargeable. I had been concerned that this would be charged from what other reviewers had written.
This really was a stress free process, possibly partly because I really had been careful and looked after the car, but Clive’s approach added to that.
Thank you

I spent weeks worried sick about excess charges I had my car valeted, put new tyres on. Got scratches out ensured I had service history locking wheel nut and two keys. The anxiety I had after reading all these reviews actually made me ill.

I’m not sure if the negative reviews are for the right company.

I had a guy called Colin Mason. Not only was he friendly he was polite did his job fast and he was like every other polite professional leasing handback staff.

I was charged nothing. Nothing!

All the effort I made to return the car Colin said was immaculate. Make the effort. It’s worth it. A good experience from this employee of this company.

David Irvine and his colleague picked up my 2 year old Puma today
They were fair and objective and likeable guys, who did a proffesional job.

Completed a high end Mercedes lease. Inspection was done by Manheim, and it was a very fair and seamless process.

No unreasonable charges. Car had some minor alloy damage and small scratches but the bloke was very fair in his analysis and always referred to the wear and tear guide provided.

My 4 year old Peugeot 2008e was inspected today by one of their inspectors who was polite enough but his finding of 'supposed damage' to 3 of the alloy wheels at a repair cost of £195 was rediculous.
The car had done 36000 miles, below the 10000 a year contract on my PCP with Stellantis Finance.
The car was immaculate yet despite this he told me 3 of my alloy wheels where 'scuffed'. This was rediculous, there was one single, hardly visible scratch on 3 of the wheels caused by the tyre fitting company when i had new tyres fitted 9 months ago.
When i disputed this and said i wanted to take some photos of the wheels he said quote "no need to do that I will email the report to you". I assumed the report would include photos of the wheels but when it arrived after he left there was no photos included.
When I went on the Manheim website to see how to make a complaint it states they would deal with any complaints/disputes re inspections within 2 working days so I sent them an email complaining only to receive within a couple of hours I needed to contact Stellantis Finance re any dispute over the inspection which I have now done and awaiting their reponse.
Update
Further to my review on 4/11/25the response from Manheim arrived 10weeks later on 16/01/26 which was very poor.
I received a demand from Stellantis Finance for the £198 supposed cost of repairing the ‘scuffed alloys’ 3 weeks after the Manheim Inspection and contacted them immediately bitterly disputing the report. The person dealing my complaint after listening put me on hold while she went to inspect the photos taken by the Manheim inspector(photos I never received). Within a minute she was back on the phone confirming my initial comments that were hardly visible. She told me to forget about the demand for the £198 and case was closed.
I stand by my original comments on the first review and feel sorry for anyone who had been ‘duped’ into paying out unnecessarily for ‘supposed damage’ following a Manheim Inspection

Absolutely horrendous experience. I returned my 4 year old Nissan Juke in excellent condition, yet the Manheim staff member who inspected it was incredibly rude, intimidating, and nitpicked every tiny detail on a four-year-old car that was clearly well looked after. Thankfully, the lease company has since apologised on Manheim’s behalf - but that doesn’t excuse the behaviour. Avoid this company at all costs. If I could give no stars I would...

After reading the host of negative reviews I was anxious about the inspection, however I need not have worried at all. The inspector was polite and friendly and very professional. I had scuffed both front alloys and was aware that they would incur a charge. After the inspection, which took about 40 minutes, the inspector explained his findings in detail and told me the fee that would be levied, which was less than I had been expecting. He explained that I could agree and sign, which I was happy to do. He explained that I had the right to dispute the findings and penalty fee with my lease company. I had no intention of doing this as I thought the whole process and penalty fee was both fair and appropriate.
The inspector had a colleague waiting in the car they arrived in and he drove the car away after the inspection had ended.
Altogether a smooth, professional and fair process.

Poor experience when my lease car was returned after 2 years. Mainheim Inspector tried to find every possible mark on a fully valeted car which had the full benefit of ceramic paint protection. Some minor items that were not visible at walk-round were then examined panel by panel but within guidelines for wear and tear so no problem. However a minor surface scratch very hard to see was put down as going through to bare metal which was not the case. Said I had to challenge the £160 charge for a full respray which he said would need to be done on the panel. Don’t trust these inspectors as never had any problems or charges with return of previous lease cars which are always valeted back to showroom condition before return. My charge was waived by my finance Company when they agreed I should not be charged for this one mark surface scratch that had not gone through to bare metal.