Its always good to get a used car inspected by your mechanic before buying it. Its also known as a pre-purchase inspection (PPI).
What depth of inspection is needed to know the car is good?
There's 'courtesy inspections' for $0 - $70 and 'bumper-to-bumper inspections' for $130 - $200. What is needed?
I just moved to a new place so when asking for "pre-purchase inspections" some places say yes they do it, and describe that its a visual inspection, and some places say yes they do it and its super thorough. The place my friend recommends said they do a courtesy inspection for their PPI's. Meanwhile a couple other places I looked at say they do a complete inspection.
Thoughts and recommendations on this topic? Any fun stories are also always welcome. Thanks.
I would want a complete inspection.
I figure there’s no point in paying for a basic inspection I can do myself (visual inspection, fluids, OBD read).
Beyond that, it’s proportional to the risk. A low mile car with low risk of problems (think Camry) probably doesn’t warrant the same level of inspection as an older car with known problems (especially a car where repairs are $$$, like a Jag or something).
Also depends on my repair budget. If money was tight and I was gonna be really dependent on the car, and the payment wasn’t gonna leave me room for repairs, I’d definitely want to spend a couple hundred (at least) for a good inspection up front. For a second car or weekend toy, not so much.
You would want a mechanic to not only check the car over visually and for worn chassis components, you'd want them to be able to do a full scan of the car's modules as we frequently see Scotty doing. Merely checking for codes is not sufficient. Sellers will frequently try to hide faults but as Scotty says - you can't hide from the computer!
As deep as possible.
2080 fathoms deep?
all of the fathoms
What the hell is a courtesy inspection?!
often when you get an oil change, they will include an "inspection". It's really basic.
Something like this?
That is an example of a very sloppy inspection. His entire focus is on the rear end. He's completely missing the headlights, suspension, grill, and blinkers.
... although maybe he shouldn't be greedy, and appreciate the reliable daily driver he already has in his driveway.