Hi
Has anybody used the used car inspection services of the AA/RAC/ABS?
I see ABS (www.abscarchek.co.uk/) offer an Experian history check an inspection report for £140...
Any good/bad experiences of any of these?
cheers
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I used the RAC to inspect a Nissan 200sx that i wanted to buy.
They are very thorough and cover every bit of the car (they should do for £175).
The conclusions / recommendations were not too good though, simply that:
"the car had now reached an age (10 years old) and condition which will require considerable money to be spent to maintain".
What that meant, I was not exactly sure. Perhaps I should have listened to him, the turbo blew one week later (oil blockage, not something he could have foreseen), cost a fortune, sold it again as soon as I could.
X-(
Jonathan
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I've had an inspection from the RAC and FTA. The FTA's inspection was very detailed, the RAC's was not that detailed did not offer much more than a MOT and a chat with the MOT inspector at a trusted garage.
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I do an inspection service for existing customers at cost as part of an overall service. I will not attempt a complete AA/RAC type inspection because I know well how you can hide faults from such a check. Also it is likely that only the first month of use with the new owner will bring out the true condition of the car with regard to in-running faults.
Years of experience will tell you what a car is like from a casual inspection in a few minutes, and that is just why HJ and his pals can buy at auction in a few minutes and get it right most of the time.
I went to inspect a ten year old Escort (private sale) the other night for a young girl's first car. As I approached the neat detached house, met the pleasent family couple who had owned it for three years, saw their new replacement car and finally a full file of service records/V5/MOTs/etc there was almost no need to see the car. Of course I did check it and there were a couple of minimal jobs required but I'd advised the buyer to keep £100 - £150 back for the "first month" repairs anyway which more than covered these.
I'm not knocking the AA/RAC inspections as they will find major faults, but with a fairly genuine car their summary may well be quite vague. Bit like the £600 survey on an older house that will end up with a sort of disclaimer phrase about hidden services plus a requirement to have an independent damp/timber check. If I pulled out the surveys on all the (pre 1960) houses we have bought I think the conclusions all read the same.
David
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It's after I saw 'Deal on wheels' last week I realised how few of us actually look under the car for e.g. dodgy welding - if a dealer takes the car in as a trade-in he may not know either. How many dealers examine underneath a trade-in - very few I'd wager.
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