When inspecting a vehicle that you are interested in buying it is a good idea to have a strategy of how you will go about the inspection. By having a plan or order of items to inspect you’re less likely to miss something important.
Most sellers list their vehicle “as-is,” which means you agree to buy the car in its present condition and that they provide no warranty or guarantees. When I sell a vehicle I do the same thing. In my opinion it’s completely reasonable, and you have to understand that is part of the reason private party vehicles are cheaper than at a dealer.
My approach of inspecting a vehicle is to go from the outside in. What I mean is that I begin by reviewing the following items in order:
- I look at the condition of the body and general exterior of the vehicle. I look at it as a whole but also at the individual components.
- Paint – is it faded, mismatched, clear coat peeling?
- body panels – wavy, body lines mismatched, larger gaps between some body panels than others?
- bumpers – cracked or misaligned?
- headlights/taillights – cracked, broken, moisture inside, hazy?
- Tires – good tread or worn out?; uneven wear leads into the next section
- I look at the control arms, steering linkages, brakes, suspension, frame, and subframes.
- Does everything have the same patina or do some parts look cleaner/newer? Grease all over anything? Anything look bent? Grab onto things firmly. Nothing should be loose.
- I pop the hood and look underneath, checking the engine oil before starting it. I look over the engine bay for anything that appears out of place. I crawl underneath and look at the transmission, transfer case, and differentials.
- Newer vehicles shouldn’t have any wet looking regions on the exterior of any drivetrain components. Light residue (somewhat darker areas appearing to hold onto dust better than surrounding areas) are not of concern. Pooling fluids or components that show fluid droplets hanging indicate some degree of a leak and are worth noting. Is there a wet spot on the ground below this? The bigger the puddle the worse the leak.
- Older vehicles or high mileage vehicles are prone to have more fluid residue and/or wet areas on the outside bodies of the drivetrain components. (Jeeps and Harley’s don’t leak, they just mark their territory)
- Once I open the vehicle doors I look for tears in seats, stains in fabric, condition of consoles (broken hinges/latches), trim condition, air vents, and rearview mirror. I open all doors and look at the panels of each door.
- The last series of things I go through are all the interior controls on the dash: radio, heat, air conditioning, etc.
The test drive is of course important. I didn’t list it in the order above because sometimes I do it last and other times I do it after I check the oil. It kind of depends on the situation. During a test drive I do a lot of listening and feeling. The steering wheel can tell you a lot about the vehicles condition as it will transmit vibrations, clunks and sloppiness of the vehicle. I also listen to the various sounds emanating throughout the drive. I don’t use the radio during the test drive for this reason, it’s just extra noise that could mask noises I need to be able to hear. Usually the owner of the car is riding along with me and most people aren’t comfortable with silence. It’s a good time to ask them questions about the car as they are usually motivated to talk so there isn’t any awkward silence. The drawback is that you still need to be listening for odd noises of the car. Whenever I hear a noise that I don’t think ought to be there I will ask the owner something like, “when did it start making that noise”? This question is twofold: either they say, “It’s always been like that” or they say, “Oh, it started doing that about a month ago”. In either case I have learned something. It’s either nothing, just a noise the car makes when hitting a bump, or there is in fact something worn/loose that needs to be addressed.
It’s highly likely that if you decide to buy the vehicle, once you get it home and spend time with it, you will notice that you missed something during your initial inspection. Don’t worry about it. I pretty much always miss something, too. Usually, these are minor things. That is why they were missed because they don’t stand out. The key is that during the initial inspection you focus on the important items that you can’t afford to miss.
The car won’t tell you what’s wrong with it; you’ll have to figure it out. In order to figure it out, you have to look, listen, feel and observe. Pretty much any vehicle can be fixed, repaired, corrected and put back onto the road. It only takes money and effort. So the question to ask yourself is this: Is this vehicle worth the time and effort?
If you’d like to see how I go about determining whether or not to buy a vehicle, take a look at the following post; this will help you determine if a vehicle is worth your time and effort.