Vehicle Inspections

Associate
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20 Dec 2010
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Greater London
I've always bought cheap cars, sub £1000 and check them out myself using various guides I find online. I'm not particularly mechanically minded and just do my best but I'm about to spend between £3000-4000 on a motor for work which is a lot of money to me and don't wanna take any chances.

AA, RAC and Dekra do vehicle inspections for around the same price, anyone used them, are they worth it, are there better alternatives and which is best?
 
Don
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18 Oct 2002
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Wargrave, UK
What car is it? I usually find someone who knows about the model of car I'm looking at and take them along.

The AA, RAC etc inspections are usually pretty good at spotting MoT fail type issues but less good at spotting common weak points related to a specific model.
 
Soldato
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11 Sep 2013
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12,300
Bike Trader magazine has a newbie's guide on 'What To Look For' when buying second hand at the beginning of each issue. I'd hazard a guess that Auto Trader has the same.
Add to that a bit of time researching the models online, perhaps owners forums or a Google for "common faults [insert car model here]" and go from there?
 
Soldato
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Near Northants / MK
Bike Trader magazine has a newbie's guide on 'What To Look For' when buying second hand at the beginning of each issue. I'd hazard a guess that Auto Trader has the same.
Add to that a bit of time researching the models online, perhaps owners forums or a Google for "common faults [insert car model here]" and go from there?

Yes it does and I'd do this personally.
 
Soldato
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Monterrey, Mexico
I had an RAC inspection done on my car when a client was thinking of buying it. Personally, I don't think it was worth the money: it was a fairly comprehensive check, but the guy didn't have any knowledge about the particular weaknesses of the model of car and seemed to favour checking the easier stuff (electric seats etc) rather than the mechanics.

The potential buyer paid for the inspection so it wasn't an issue for me, but I think if I'd have paid the £300ish that I believe it cost him, I wouldn't have been too pleased.
 
Associate
OP
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Greater London
It's about £160 from what I've seen and while I'm not entirely sure it'll be worth it I do need
a second opinion given how much money it is to me.

I'll still do my checks as I always have and follow the various guides I find but really I have no idea what I'm doing.
 
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