Buying my first car what checks should I do

kiemeg62

Hiya I'm going to buy my first used car tomorrow to learn how to drive in.
I will be paying cash so no finance.
Should I be doing checks on the car myself? I saw on auto trader about hpi checks but unsure which checks I would need to do myself and where I would do these.
Any help would be fab

System

Take someone who knows something about vehicle mechanics. There are lots of things to be checking for such as checking all the fluid levels, the tyres, the oil and seeing if there is any signs of "mayonnaise" which can indicate a faulty headgasket, taking the vehicle on a test drive to check the steering, brakes, clutch, gearbox.

longwalks1

Search online for a checklist for the specific car you are buying, for example

'buying checklist for Ford Escort(insert car here) common faults' etc. Someone on a forum dedicated to that car may well of generated a list of common faults etc

sevenhills

Check out how much the insurance will cost before you buy it.

Check the oil, a little dirty is ok, but and not black or milky.

F1F93

sevenhills wrote: »

Check out how much the insurance will cost before you buy it.

Check the oil, a little dirty is ok, but and not black or milky.

This is ridiculous. Oil turns black rather quickly - especially on a diesel. Unless you want to change the oil after every journey, you need to accept that it will turn black.

A good service history, on the other hand, is very beneficial.

macman

Buying it tomorrow?
Then telling us the price, make, model, year and mileage would be helpful. Unless you are just planning to buy the first car you see. Since you are a cash buyer, what is your budget?

sevenhills

F1F93 wrote: »

This is ridiculous. Oil turns black rather quickly - especially on a diesel. Unless you want to change the oil after every journey, you need to accept that it will turn black.

My oil is not black; petrol or diesel, so black oil is ok 50% of the time.

F1F93

sevenhills wrote: »

My oil is not black; petrol or diesel, so black oil is ok 50% of the time.

Well, the oil on my diesel is black. I changed it myself earlier this month, maybe 500 miles ago. Are you saying that I should he changing it already?

My point is that oil colour is not a recognised measurement of the quality and cleanliness of oil. Without sucking out a sample and sending it off to the lab to be analysed, the most reliable way of determining the age of the oil is to simply check the service book.

kiemeg62

Thanks for all your replies
I will be taking my dad and son with me but don't want to be stood useless haha
I hpi checked car and all ok
It's 2006 toyota yaris, 5dr, 1.3L, with 64000 miles.
Has service history until December 2016
Advisory on mot are
Number plate deterioration, front headlights deterioration and brake pipes.
All other mots passed
Car is listed for £1999

thescouselander

There's the usual visual checks like tyre depths, fluid levels and condition, leaks etc. Don't forget to use your ears too - does the engine sound right, are there any knocking noises when driving etc.

It takes a tuned ear but often you can tell a lot more about a car by listening to it that you can find out by just looking.

System

kiemeg62 wrote: »

It's 2006 toyota yaris, 5dr, 1.3L, with 64000 miles.

Ouch, low mileage. So it has either spent a lot of time stood or mostly done short journeys, either of which are not good for a car.

So in addition to normal checks, check things like the exhaust which is going to be quite rusty compared to one doing average mileage, make sure that the steering isn't slack and that the shock absorbers do their job. Check for sounds of knocking over bumps. Listen for any sign of rattling at all from the engine. It uses a timing chain so any sign of a rattle, walk away.

In regards to servicing, make sure it was done to the time limits, not just the mileage. On low mileage like that it actually comes under an abnormal service schedule so should have been serviced once a year before it reached the 10,000 mile service intervals. Its last service should have been a major service.