Pre purchase inspection in Coburg North
You have found the car and it drives nicely around the block. An inspection is the step between that and handing over the money.
A used car can look right and still be a month away from a timing belt, a clutch or a set of tyres. None of that is visible in a carpark, and none of it is the seller's problem once the transfer is done. Book it in at 1/87 Newlands Road, or call 0451 109 786.
This is not a roadworthy certificate
AutoworkX is not a licensed vehicle tester and cannot issue a roadworthy certificate. A roadworthy is a minimum legal safety standard issued by a licensed tester, and in Victoria the seller is normally the one who provides it.
A pre purchase inspection is a different thing and, for a buyer, usually a more useful one: a mechanic telling you the condition of the car, what it will need soon and roughly what that will cost.
If the car needs repairs to pass a roadworthy, we can carry out that work here. The certificate itself comes from a licensed tester.
What we look at
The inspection is a road test plus a proper look over the car on a hoist, with a scan of what the car has recorded about itself.
- Road test for how it starts, drives, steers, brakes and changes gear
- A scan for stored and pending fault codes across the car's modules
- Engine and gearbox from underneath: leaks, mounts, exhaust and heat shields
- Brakes, discs, pads, lines and handbrake
- Suspension, steering, bushes, shocks and wheel bearings
- Tyres, including age, wear pattern and whether they match
- Cooling system, belts, hoses and battery condition
- Panel gaps, paint finish, glass and evidence of past repair
- Service history and where the car sits against its logbook schedule
How to organise it
Ask the seller first
A seller with nothing to hide will agree to an independent inspection. One who refuses has told you something useful for free.
Book a time and get the car to us
Either the seller drops it here or you drive it in with them. Send the make, model, year and kilometres when you book.
We inspect and road test
The car goes on the hoist and out on the road. We look at it the way we would look at it if you already owned it.
You get the findings
What is good, what needs doing now, what needs doing soon, and what it is likely to cost. Enough to walk away, or to negotiate.
What the report is worth to you
Two things. The first is the walk away. A service history that stops three years ago, a gearbox that flares on the test drive or evidence of a repaired collision all point at a car you are better off not buying, and finding that out costs far less than owning it.
The second is the negotiation. A sound car that is due for tyres and a major service is still worth buying, at a price that reflects what you are about to spend. An itemised list is the most useful thing you can take into that conversation.
What it costs
It depends on the car and how long a proper look takes. A ten year old hatch and a European SUV with a long options list are not the same inspection. Call 03 7054 8232 with the make, model, year and kilometres and we will tell you the price and the soonest slot.
We have no stake in whether you buy it
The report has one job, which is telling you what is actually in front of you. We are not selling the car, we are not the seller's mechanic, and nothing we find changes what the inspection is worth to us. So you get the good news and the bad in the same tone, including the cars we would buy ourselves. If you do go ahead, you already have a workshop that has had it on a hoist and knows what it needs next.