Vehicle Inspection - Anyone have any ideas?

Threepints

I'm looking to buy a second hand vehicle and as its quite a distance away, I'm going to arrange for a vehicle inspection from either DEKRA (AA approved) or the RAC.

Prices are £199.00 or £206.95 respectively. Does anyone know of any companies that carry out similair inspections for a lesser cost.

Oh yes both prices also include a HPI check.

Many thanks for any replies

Pink.

Hi Threepints,

You may get more replies to your thread on the motoring board, so I hope that you don't mind if I move it over there.

Pink

tomstickland

Hmmm, before spending £200 maybe you could spend £40 and drive up and have a look yourself. Would be a real waste spending that sort of money if the car had obvious faults.

Threepints

tomstickland wrote:

Hmmm, before spending £200 maybe you could spend £40 and drive up and have a look yourself. Would be a real waste spending that sort of money if the car had obvious faults.

I could yes, however the car is about 250miles away. I have seen several photogrphs and spoken with the seller on the phone (appears genuine).

As I know nothing about cars and will be spending 4.5k the idea was to get the check done prior to travelling. If I were to travel there and then decide to get the check completed it would entail several journeys.

I hope I'm making sense here :wall:

vansboy

OK, firstly - FIND ONE CLOSER TO HOME!!!

Then forget the inspection companies, but get your local reapair garage - the one you use currently, or whoever will be doing the maintainence, on it - let them carry out a check/inspection & even MOT.

It'll be less costly & more reliable, without paying for call centres/advertising & so on, of a big company.

Then, if you're reall looking for peace of mind, https://www.warrantydirect.co.uk will put a reasonable warranty, monthly payments, on the car for you. The saving from your original cost, will go towards this expense.

Personally, I'd not go warranty route.

& as Quinten Wilson, the tv car guy said, rough cars & rough people go together, so do check out the seller, whatever car you buy!!

VB

Threepints

A nice idea, unfortunately this was a limited edition motor and they are few and far between.

Otherwise I would - FIND ONE CLOSER TO HOME!!!


PS thanks for the advice and do not be so rude in future.

boogiemaster

Its worth getting an inspection done by the Rac or the AA as it saves you from getting ripped off.
You can always ask a garage to look at the car and ask them what they think? If they say leave it then dont touch it.
Darren

Wig

Curious, what's the model? reg and mileage?

Re the check, I wouldn't trust 'em to do much more than an MOT (of course they will do a wee bit more like rust, and engine noises/checks, but you can do the rust/body check yourself, and there's some basic engine checks you could do yourself too, like oil dipstick, coolant resevoir, brakefluid level, belt inspection, sparkplug lead inspection etc, put a vlt meter across the battery measure what it's reading see if it's strong, then start the car up & volts should rise to about 14V turn on lights and rear heater volts should not drop) so if you really want it why not ask him to agree to an MOT test when you arrive and to get it booked in in advance.

vansboy

Threepints wrote:

A nice idea, unfortunately this was a limited edition motor and they are few and far between.

Otherwise I would - FIND ONE CLOSER TO HOME!!!


PS thanks for the advice and do not be so rude in future.

OOOPPS!! Not sure why you thought I was being rude - certainly NOT my intention!!

Always awkward to type something & know how it'll appear to the people reading it!!

VB

Wig

I'll agree with Vansboy on that, it was threepints who decided it was rude when in reality there was nothing rude in the post, just some helpful suggestions.

Text is un-emotive and should always be read in the best light possible.

boogiemaster

You can normally tell if a car has been looked after by the condition and the service history.
Look at the body work and see if its in good condition, look carefully to see the gaps between the doors and the wings are differnt indicating a smash at some point.
look at the interior and see if its in good condition. Look at the stearing wheel and see if its realy shiny? If the car says 40.000 miles adn the stearing wheel has no grip then its doen a lot more than 40.000.
Feel the carpets and see if they are damp wet? indicatign a leak. Dose it smell funny?.