Pre-purchase car inspection

A pre-purchase inspection is a mechanic looking over a car you’re thinking of buying, before the money changes hands. It suits a private sale, a dealer car, or something you’ve found online and are about to drive across Sydney to see. Like any job here, you get a quote first and nothing happens until you’ve agreed to it.

When to get one

• You’re buying privately, so there’s no dealer behind the car if something turns out to be wrong.
• There’s no service history, or the logbook has gaps in it.
• The test drive turned up a noise, a shudder or a warning light you want identified.
• It’s a first car for someone in the family and you want a second opinion.
• You’re about to travel a long way to see it and want it looked at before you commit.
• The car is older, or it has done big kilometres, and you want to know what’s coming up.

What a pre-purchase inspection involves

The car goes up on a hoist so the underside can be seen. Brakes, tyres, steering and suspension, the state of the fluids, leaks, rust, and any sign that something has been patched up to get the car sold.

Under the bonnet it’s the engine and the cooling system, the belts and hoses, and the battery and charging. On anything modern enough to have them, stored fault codes can be read as well. Qualified motor mechanics do the work, with the workshop’s engine diagnostic equipment behind them.

You get told what we found and how urgent each thing is, in plain words. What you do with it is up to you. Some people walk away and some go back to the seller with the list.

Buying the car: the first service and the pink slip

If you go ahead and buy it, the first service is the time to clear whatever the inspection flagged. On a newer car that’s a logbook service, done to the manufacturer’s specifications so the new-car warranty holds. When the rego falls due, the eSafety check can be booked at the same time, and anything mechanical goes through as ordinary car repairs.

What to tell us when you book

Give us the make, model, year and roughly how many kilometres are on it, and say where the car is. If the seller can bring it to Annandale, that’s the simplest arrangement, so it’s worth asking them early. Mention anything you noticed on the test drive: a noise, a smell, a warning light, or a panel that doesn’t quite line up. Small things like that tell us where to look first.

Questions about pre-purchase inspections

Where does the inspection happen?

At the workshop, 208 Parramatta Road, Annandale, with the entrance on Mathieson Street. Either you bring the car or you ask the seller to. Directions and a map are on find us.

Do you inspect cars you haven’t seen before?

Yes. A pre-purchase inspection is nearly always the first time the car has been near us. It’s all makes and models here.

Will you tell me whether to buy it?

We’ll tell you what we found and how serious each thing is. The call is yours. We have nothing riding on the sale either way.

Is a pre-purchase inspection the same as a pink slip?

No. A pink slip is the eSafety check for renewing registration, and it covers a set list of items decided by Transport for NSW. A pre-purchase inspection is broader,.