Before a used vehicle goes on sale it should pass the same checklist every time: safety and legal checks first, then mechanical, tyres, bodywork, interior and valet, then photos. The legal floor is simple: it is an offence to sell or even advertise a vehicle in an unroadworthy condition, so safety items come before cosmetics. And every pound spent on prep, including your own workshop's time, belongs against the vehicle, or your margin figures are wrong.
Why a written checklist beats experience
Most dealers carry a prep checklist in their head. The problem is that heads are inconsistent. One vehicle gets a full check because it came in on a quiet Tuesday, the next goes straight to the valeter because a buyer is coming on Saturday.
A written checklist does three jobs. It catches the faults that turn into comebacks. It gives you a record of what was checked if a buyer later complains. And it makes the cost of prep visible, because each line is either done for free or it costs something.
It also protects you legally. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the vehicle has to be of satisfactory quality, and a fault found within six months is presumed to have been there at delivery. The best defence is not finding the fault in the first place.
Stage 1: safety and legal checks
Do these first. There is no point valeting a vehicle you are not going to retail.
Roadworthiness. Section 75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it an offence to supply a vehicle in an unroadworthy condition, and "supply" includes offering to sell and exposing for sale. Unroadworthy covers both breaches of the construction and use rules (brakes, steering, tyres and so on) and any condition that involves a danger of injury. A trader can only rely on the defence that the vehicle was not meant to be driven if they took all reasonable steps to make sure buyers knew it could not lawfully be used on the road.
Brakes and steering. Pads, discs, fluid, any pulling or vibration, play in the steering, warning lights.
Lights, wipers and screen. Every bulb, washer jets, wiper blades, any chips or cracks in the driver's line of sight.
Tyres. The legal minimum for cars and light vans is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tread and around the entire circumference, as set out in the Highway Code. Check the spare or the repair kit too, and look for cuts, bulges and uneven wear that hints at alignment problems.
Recalls. Run the registration through the gov.uk vehicle recall checker. Recall work needs arranging through the manufacturer's network, and it is much better handled before the sale than after.
Warning lights and diagnostics. A plug-in scan for stored fault codes takes minutes and finds the things a test drive will not.
Stage 2: MOT and service
MOT. In Great Britain a vehicle needs its first MOT by the third anniversary of its registration, and Northern Ireland has its own rules. Check the expiry date and the MOT history, which shows past failures and any minor problems recorded. Many dealers put a fresh MOT on any vehicle that has only a few months left, because buyers notice and it clears up any advisories at the same time. That is a business decision rather than a legal requirement, but whatever you decide, do not advertise MOT that the vehicle does not have.
Service. Check the service record against the manufacturer's schedule. If a service is due, or close to it, do it before sale and stamp the book or update the digital record. Pay particular attention to cam belts and other time or mileage items, because a belt that fails three months after sale is an expensive conversation.
Fluids and battery. Oil level and condition, coolant, brake fluid, AdBlue where fitted, and a battery test. Batteries are one of the most common early comebacks on stock that has sat for a while.
Road test. A proper drive, not a lap of the car park. Gearbox, clutch, suspension knocks, air conditioning, cruise control, parking sensors and every electric window.
Stage 3: bodywork and wheels
Panels and paint. Dents, scratches, stone chips and mismatched panels. Decide what to fix by asking what a buyer will see in the photos and on the forecourt, not what you would fix on your own vehicle.
Smart repairs. Bumper scuffs, kerbed alloys and small dents are usually better value as smart repairs than full refinishing.
Glass and trim. Chipped screens, perished seals, missing badges and trim clips.
Signs of previous repair. Overspray, uneven panel gaps and paint depth differences are worth noting. If a vehicle has had significant repairs, your description must be accurate, and a history check will tell you whether it has an insurance write-off record. We cover that in vehicle history checks for car dealers.
Stage 4: interior and equipment
Seats, carpets and headlining. Stains, burns, tears and smells. Smoke and pet odours need specialist treatment and are worth pricing in before you buy.
Equipment check. Make sure everything listed in the specification actually works, from sat nav to heated seats. If it is on the advert, it has to be there.
Keys and paperwork. Both keys if the vehicle came with two, locking wheel nut key, handbook, service record, V5C. A missing second key is an obvious cost to price in at purchase.
Stage 5: valet and photos
The valet is the last step before the forecourt, not the first. A full valet before mechanical work is money washed down the drain when the technician leaves fingerprints on the seat.
Once it is valeted, photograph it straight away, before it collects dust on the forecourt. Our guide on how to take great photos of cars covers the shot list.
What reconditioning costs, and how to track it
There is no honest single figure for what prep costs. It depends on the vehicle, the source, the age and the standard you retail to, and published "average prep cost" numbers are rarely like for like. What you can know precisely is what prep costs on your own stock, if you record it.
The costs fall into four groups:
Parts. Pads, discs, filters, bulbs, wiper blades, batteries, keys.
Labour. Your own technicians, valeters and anyone else on the payroll.
Sublet. Smart repairers, alloy wheel refurbishers, MOT testing if you do not do it in house, specialist valeting.
Consumables and tyres. Often bought in bulk and easy to lose track of per vehicle.
Sublet is the one dealers usually capture, because someone sends an invoice. Parts and labour from your own workshop are the ones that go missing, which is why the true margin is often lower than the stock list says. We wrote about that in detail in reconditioning is not free just because you did it yourself.
Here is how it plays out, using illustrative figures. A vehicle bought at £7,400 and retailed at £9,995 shows £2,595 on a stock list that only records purchase price. Add £180 of sublet smart repair, £260 of parts, three hours of your own labour at your internal rate and a valet, and the real margin is several hundred pounds lower. If you are VAT registered and using the margin scheme, the VAT on that margin also comes out, which the VAT margin scheme calculator can show for any given vehicle.
The fix is not complicated. Every prep cost goes against the vehicle it was spent on, at the time it was spent. Then you can see which sources, makes and models are actually worth buying.
Putting it on one board
In Vehiso, the Preparation board in the DMS shows every vehicle between purchase and the forecourt as a card in its current stage. Each card gets a checklist from a template you can edit to match your own process, an assignee, days in stage, and a running prep cost that is already counted in the vehicle's margin. If you run your own workshop, internal job cards add their parts and labour to the vehicle's prep cost too, which our workshop management page covers. The board is included in every plan, including the Free plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is it illegal to sell a used vehicle without an MOT? Selling a vehicle without a current MOT is not itself an offence, but it is an offence to sell, offer or advertise a vehicle in an unroadworthy condition under section 75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Driving a vehicle that needs an MOT without one is also an offence, with limited exceptions. Most dealers retail with a valid MOT because buyers expect it.
What should a used vehicle reconditioning checklist include? At minimum: brakes, steering, lights, tyres, recalls and fault codes, then MOT and service status, fluids and battery, a road test, bodywork and wheels, interior and equipment, keys and paperwork, and finally the valet and photos. Writing it down means every vehicle gets the same checks, whoever does them.
What is the legal minimum tyre tread depth for cars in the UK? For cars, light vans and light trailers it is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tread and around the entire circumference. Many dealers replace tyres well above that, because buyers notice worn tyres and a nearly legal tyre makes for a poor first impression.
Should in-house workshop labour count as a prep cost? Yes. Your technicians' time is not free, even if they are salaried, because it could have been spent on paying retail work. Charge it to the vehicle at a consistent internal rate rather than at retail or at nothing, so both the workshop figures and the vehicle margin stay honest.
