Skip advert
Advertisement

Trust Auto Express car product tests

Just as we are with car reviews Auto Express is the leading authority on the testing and rating of car and motoring related products. Here’s why. 

The Auto Express website includes a huge library of in-depth product tests on car and motoring related products of all descriptions. From car tyres to dash cams, wipers and wax, we cover it all and we do it in greater detail than anyone else. 

In most of these tests, how we go about assessing products is, for space reasons, restricted to just a paragraph or two. However, you can be sure that all our tests are thorough and independent, and not influenced by commercial pressures in any way. Every rating we give on a product is based on the result of detailed testing, with no exceptions.

Advertisement - Article continues below

Testing is only of merit if it is valid and repeatable. Our tests have been developed in several ways. For items such as tyres or headlamp bulbs, we rely on the expertise of a test host, who has developed techniques and facilities over many years. We either use these criteria or adapt them to a consumer rather than a producer point of view, but our assessments remain independent and are based on how the professionals in each field operate.

The second main way of developing a test is from the end-user’s view or the car owner in the accessory shop. Essentially it answers the question: what do I want from this product and how should it perform? Our test team – which has decades of experience in assessing products, and even longer using them in anything from restoration to motorsport or just keeping an ageing fleet on the road – then comes up with a way of getting the answer.

Product awards

This is often done by listening to experts in each field and making our own decision on the key factors. Our car care tests were developed after many visits to the industry’s leading players and time spent in their R&D departments to see how they develop their products and benchmark them against those of rivals.

In the tools sector we use the same international standards that producers benchmark against when looking at new products or ensuring quality control.

These tests take the top products in a particular sector and test them all back-to-back in controlled conditions. They would not happen without the help of the manufacturers supplying samples of their products. And if the companies making the products thought our tests were not independent or not carried out professionally, that vital support would not continue.

Auto Express product tests are respected and trusted within the industry and you can trust them to recommend the best ways to spend your car accessories, parts and tools budget. 

Skip advert
Advertisement
Products editor

Kim has worked for Auto Express for more than three decades and all but a year of that time in the Products section. His current role as products editor involves managing the section’s content and team of testers plus doing some of the tests himself. 

Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

Used Volvo C40 (Mk1, 2021-date) buyer’s guide: a second-hand bargain that's cheap for a reason
Used Volvo C40 - front

Used Volvo C40 (Mk1, 2021-date) buyer’s guide: a second-hand bargain that's cheap for a reason

A full used buyer’s guide on the Volvo C40 that’s been on sale in the UK since 2021
Used car tests
25 Jan 2026
Audi Q3 vs Cupra Formentor: premium meets sporty in SUV battle
Audi Q3 vs Cupra Formentor - front tracking

Audi Q3 vs Cupra Formentor: premium meets sporty in SUV battle

Audi’s new Mk3 Q3 faces stiff competition from within the VW Group. How does it fare against Cupra’s Formentor?
Car group tests
24 Jan 2026
Long-term test: BYD Sealion 7
BYD Sealion 7 - header

Long-term test: BYD Sealion 7

First report: Will the large SUV buck the trend and demonstrate that Chinese cars come with a soul?
Long-term tests
24 Jan 2026

Find a car with the experts