Editorial Policy

This page sets out how content on CarQuill USA is produced, where our information comes from, how we stay independent of the companies we write about, and what we do when we get something wrong. It applies to every page on this site: car overviews, reviews, comparisons, buying guides, news and city pricing pages.

Where our data comes from

Vehicle specifications (engine capacity, power, torque, transmission, seating, dimensions, fuel economy and equipment) are compiled from publicly available manufacturer information for the market in question. Specifications are facts about a product; we present them in a single consistent format so that two cars can be compared without translating between three different brochure layouts.

Prices are starting msrp figures unless a page says otherwise. They are indicative. Manufacturers revise pricing through a model year, dealers apply local charges, and taxes vary by state and city. Where we show an on-road or out-the-door estimate on a city page, we show the tax rate and the components we used so you can check the arithmetic.

How the written content is produced

Every overview, review, verdict, pros-and-cons list, FAQ and buying guide on this site is written for CarQuill USA. We do not republish manufacturer press copy, and we do not copy text from other publications.

We use AI language tools as part of our drafting process, in the same way a newsroom uses research assistants and style checkers. Those drafts are built from the specification data described above, are edited by our team before publication, and are the responsibility of CarQuill USAregardless of how the first draft was produced. We disclose this because we would rather tell you than have you guess.

Some of what we publish is opinion rather than fact: that a car rides well, that a variant is poor value, that you should wait for the facelift. That is editorial judgement, and you should treat it as such.

About the vehicle images

The vehicle images on this site are illustrations created for CarQuill USA using image-generation tools. They are not manufacturer photography, not press images, and not photographs of the specific vehicle described on the page. We took this route deliberately so that we are never republishing someone else's copyrighted photography.

The practical consequence for you as a reader: use our images to get a sense of body style and colour, and use the manufacturer's own configurator or a dealer visit to judge exactly what a specific trim looks like. Brand logos shown in our directory are the trademarks of their respective owners and are used for identification only.

How we rate cars

Ratings are expressed out of five across a fixed set of categories so that scores are comparable between cars in the same class. A rating reflects the car relative to its segment and price, not against every car on sale. A four-star budget hatchback is not claiming to match a four-star luxury saloon. Ratings are editorial judgement informed by the specification data, segment context and published safety results. They are never influenced by any commercial relationship.

Independence and advertising

CarQuill USA is independent. No manufacturer, dealer, importer or finance company pays for a review, a rating, a placement or an inclusion in a comparison, and none of them sees our content before it is published.

We intend to fund the site through advertising. Advertising is served by third-party networks and is labelled as such; it is separated from editorial content and has no bearing on what we write or how we rate a car. If we ever publish sponsored or affiliate content, it will be clearly marked as sponsored on the page itself.

Corrections

We publish a large catalogue and we will sometimes be wrong. If you find a wrong specification, an outdated price, a broken calculation or a claim you believe is unfair, email cars@carquill.com and tell us what is wrong and, where you can, what the correct figure is.

We check reported errors against the manufacturer's current published information. If we were wrong, we correct the page. Where a correction changes the substance of a review or a recommendation, we note the change on the page rather than editing it silently.

What this site is not

• We do not sell cars, broker finance, or pass your details to dealers. No account is required to read anything here.
• We are not a substitute for a test drive, a mechanical inspection or professional financial advice.
• Figures produced by our calculators are estimates for planning. Your lender's quotation is the number that counts.

Contact

Editorial questions, corrections and complaints all go to the same place: cars@carquill.com. We read everything sent there.