RAC advanced inspection or a full service. Which is more thorough?

premiumz

Pretty much as the title says. I'm looking at buying a used motor. An emission light is on. The seller said I am more than welcome to take it for a service or get someone to check it. So I am taking up that offer. If a full service from a main dealer more thorough than say the RAC's advanced inspection service? Thanks

Arunmor

Well one's a service and the other's an inspection.

Have you checked the fault codes?  How is the car running?

How old is the car?  If it is quite young you have to ask why the guy is selling it with a light on? (Fair enough if it is say over 7-10 years old.)  

born_again

How much is the car & how old?

So you are going to pay for a full service before buying the car, has dealer said that if you do not buy the car, they will refund the cost of the service?

Mark_d

The seller is clearly selling a vehicle with known issues.  You could an RAC inspection - which isn't cheap - and the money is wasted if you don't by the vehicle.  If you're going to buy the vehicle anyway and want to restore it, then you should probably go for a full service and pay the main dealer the £1000s for the work they recommend.

premiumz

Arunmor said:

Well one's a service and the other's an inspection.

Have you checked the fault codes?  How is the car running?

How old is the car?  If it is quite young you have to ask why the guy is selling it with a light on? (Fair enough if it is say over 7-10 years old.)  

It's 6 years old. It's just had a service and so I am aware it needs a few things doing to it. The emissions light has come on after that service though. It could just be something small. But I didn't want to chance that, hence why I told them I'd feel better if I took it to somewhere of my own choosing for a service. But I'm wondering if an RAC inspection is more thorough than a main dealer service.

premiumz

born_again said:

How much is the car & how old?

So you are going to pay for a full service before buying the car, has dealer said that if you do not buy the car, they will refund the cost of the service?

It's 6 years old and around 23k. It's just had a service and so I'm aware of a few things that need doing. (I have taken it off the asking price to get these fixed) But the engine light came on after that service and so it could be something small or it could be something else. This is a private seller. He said I could take it to a place of my choosing. So for the sake of a few hundred extra quid I could possibly avoid something major wrong with it. It's a good spec vehicle which is why I don't want to walk away if it's something small. But I DO want to get it properly checked out before purchasing. So I was going to get it fully serviced myself at a main dealer. But now I'm wondering if the RAC inspection might be more thorough?

CliveOfIndia

Are you buying from a dealer or privately?  I'm guessing it's a private sale - if it's a dealer, then they should sort out the issue before selling the car to you.

That aside, I'd be getting it checked out beforehand by someone who knows what they're doing.  A standard service likely won't fix the fault.  It's possible that it may, if the engine is running too rich, for instance.  But it's more likely that it's either a faulty sensor, or else an engine component needs to be replaced - an emissions fault can be caused by any number of different things.

It could be a relatively cheap fix or it could be fairly expensive - there's no way of knowing without reading the fault codes properly and understanding what they mean.

My gut feeling would be that a proper inspection would be more useful in this scenario than just a service.  If you have a trustworthy local independent mechanic, that may be a better bet than the RAC/AA inspection.  They'll likely charge less for the actual inspection, but more importantly they'll be able to give you a realistic estimate of what it'll cost to fix, once they're read the codes and had a look at it.

born_again

Which car?
How long have they been using car since light came on & as it's only come on just after the last service, why did they not take it back.. Questions to ask them & might give a hint as to just how expensive this could turn out to be.

I would search out a forum on the brand/Model & ask questions there.

I would say RAC inspection will not tell you the issue, just point out that light is on. Dealer might give you a idea. 

Bigwheels1111

Hang on, you think a service will sort it. Not a chance in hell.
Get a OBD2 fault code reader for £20 off Amazon etc.
Scan it and get a rough idea what’s wrong. ie the code it gives up.
Codes are misleading at times.
So unless he gets it fixed I would avoid.
A main dealer scan will cost £150 ish but should lead to the issue that need fixing, but at a high cost.

Or plan B after purchase when it’s cost you an extra 2k to fix.
Please place head 3 inches from brick wall, bang your head against it until the fault is fixed.
Newer car are a pain.

EssexExile

A "service" is just a list of maintenance actions, change bits, inspect bits, etc. There's no point in taking a car somewhere else for another service, they'll just change and inspect the same bits again. You need the fault diagnosed which, as others have mentioned, will cost somewhere between nothing and a lot, depending where you go.

victor2

If the seller will pay for it, take it to a main dealer to check and fix the emission warning. As has been said, could be a cheap fix, like a faulty sensor, or something much more expensive.

Otherwise, walk away...