# How to get a used car checked by a mechanic?



## Justin1980 (Feb 23, 2013)

First off, i apologize if this is in the wrong forum.

When the discussion of buying a used car comes up, you often hear people say to _"Make sure you get a mechanic to check it out first..."_

What exactly is meant by that?
I understand that *it means exactly what it says it means*, but i've never done this before and I am just hoping for a little clarity and wisdom from those who have.



> Background Info:
> I live in Ottawa, as does my mother.
> She's currently in Windsor visiting her sister (my aunt).
> My aunt has a 2007, V6, Automatic, Ford mustang. The car has no OBVIOUS rust except inside - where the seat moves back. Looks perfect otherwise from the inside and out. No scratches. No accidents.
> ...


Where would i go to get this done? (It's in Windsor currently). 
Is Canadian Tire even remotely advisable for this sort of thing?
Does this _service_ have a name that i would request at the counter without sounding like a moron? ie "I'd like a _*'Used-car Pre-purchase Diagnostic investigation'*_ performed"?

Basically, I want someone who knows their stuff to look at everything and be able to tell me:
- Does it look like she's been doing oil changes?
- How's the rust under there?
- Am i 200 kms from a $4,000 transmission that hanging from a thread?
- Those belts and that fluid have never been changed...This tire needs changing...
- The water pump looks good... etc....

So my question, in a nutshell:
1) What is this sort of service called?
2) Where should i have it done?
3) Is there something else that should be done that "people do these days" that you recommend instead of and/or in addition to this service?
4) How much money does this type of service typically cost?

Also, Is anyone particularly familiar with common "known" issues i should pay particular attention to, regarding this make and model etc?

She's only asking for $5,000.  2007 V6 Ford Mustang with 80,000 kms.

Man i type way too much.

Thank you in advance!


----------



## Getafix (Dec 29, 2014)

It's called a pre-purchase inspection & where i live most independent garages will do it for $50-60. The mechanic should be able to tell you if there's any accident damage, whether there are any oil leaks, suspensions problems etc. All said, 80k isn't much mileage, so if regular maintenance has been done there shouldn't be any problems. Mileage seems a little low for the car's age though. If possible ask for a car-proof report as well to check out accident history.

Google 2007 Mustang problems to see if there are any things you should be particularly looking out for.


----------



## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Getafix said:


> It's called a pre-purchase inspection & where i live most independent garages will do it for $50-60. The mechanic should be able to tell you if there's any accident damage, whether there are any oil leaks, suspensions problems etc. All said, 80k isn't much mileage, so if regular maintenance has been done there shouldn't be any problems. Mileage seems a little low for the car's age though. If possible ask for a car-proof report as well to check out accident history.
> 
> Google 2007 Mustang problems to see if there are any things you should be particularly looking out for.


Good advice. Sometime abbreviated to PPI. Dealer will also do it, but a Ford is so common, any good independent should also be able to do a good job. But you could call dealer - they should have a standard price and should be able to tell you what it covers. An independent may not do a full inspection.

I recently had one done for my daughter in law. Because they found a radiator leak ($1000!), they did not charge for the PPI.

Forget about Canadian Tire!

This might help: http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/...hase-inspection-10-things-to-get-checked.html


----------



## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

Most important thing, find a mechanic you can trust .... normally by word of mouth from friends, family, etc
And for a car that old you can expect some failures anytime within the next few years, unless parts have been replaced already.


----------



## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

I have done this for 37 years

I charge 1 hours labour,for my honest open

For an honest opinion,than you will be my customer for life


----------



## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Your local branch of the CAA can advise you- if I'm not mistaken, I think they even offer this service.


----------



## sags (May 15, 2010)

As new car dealerships routinely take cars in as trade ins, they have a vested interest in being thorough.

Any good mechanic can do it. The hard part is to find someone you trust.

Look for a busy garage, as it indicates a lot of customers are happy with the service.


----------



## Justin1980 (Feb 23, 2013)

Wow. Fantastic information thank you, truly everybody. you're right though, I suppose the biggest problem will be finding a mechanic I can trust - I wouldn't even know where to begin on how to assess trustworthiness... it's difficult for a fellow who knows so little about cars


----------



## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

To find a good mechanic, you can read review sites like Yelp, just search for 'Auto Repair' or mechanics (there are also review sites out there for most professions- doctors etc, so I'm sure they exist for mechanics). You can also look to see if your local newspaper has a 'best of' in your city every year- in Vancouver, it's the Georgia Straight paper which is how I found my mechanic- he's won it every year for ages and it's a public readership voting process so there is no way for it to be biased. Also ask people in your circles to recommend someone- we all have store of either great service or perceived rip-offs.


----------



## fraser (May 15, 2010)

You might want to check the VIN for insurance claims/accidents.

Just be aware that some rental companies self insure for certain damage. A rental can be in an accident, be repaired, and never show up as an accident vehicle. At one point a number of previously flood damaged US cars were showing up in our market.

Last time we bought a low mileage late model car ( in 2010) it took four tries to get an accident free vehicle. Of the first three, two were private, one was a dealer. All claimed no accidents. We did these checks on line through the auto club.

As an aside, I would not even take my car to Canadian Tire for an oil change.


----------



## Zoombie (Jan 10, 2012)

Depending on what area you are in, you may be able to find a shop that does inspections only and NOT repairs. This way, you know they aren't going to invent problems with the car that they are hoping you will pay them to fix. 

Dealer inspection is often more costly than other places but typically more thorough, as they will know the model better.


----------



## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Don't go to Canadian Tire, a car dealership or any chain garage, tire store etc. Go to a good independent garage.

Have a Vehicle Inspection done. You must have a Vehicle Inspection Certificate to register the vehicle. No use paying for 2 inspections.

They will inspect body, tires, steering, brakes, lights, windows, etc etc etc according to government regulations and they won't miss anything. If they do, and a car gets in an accident, they can get in serious trouble and they know it.

This covers all safety related systems, they will not check engine, trans, or non safety related things. 

You will also need an emissions certificate, if the engine is in bad shape it will not pass. So, if you have both those things, you can be sure the car is in good shape mechanically.

There is no guarantee, but if it passes safety and emissions standards there is unlikely to be anything serious wrong with the car.


----------



## Justin1980 (Feb 23, 2013)

indexxx said:


> To find a good mechanic, you can read review sites like Yelp, just search for 'Auto Repair' or mechanics (there are also review sites out there for most professions- doctors etc, so I'm sure they exist for mechanics). You can also look to see if your local newspaper has a 'best of' in your city every year- in Vancouver, it's the Georgia Straight paper which is how I found my mechanic- he's won it every year for ages and it's a public readership voting process so there is no way for it to be biased. Also ask people in your circles to recommend someone- we all have store of either great service or perceived rip-offs.


Amazing thank you, i will!


----------



## Justin1980 (Feb 23, 2013)

fraser said:


> You might want to check the VIN for insurance claims/accidents.
> 
> Just be aware that some rental companies self insure for certain damage. A rental can be in an accident, be repaired, and never show up as an accident vehicle. At one point a number of previously flood damaged US cars were showing up in our market.
> 
> ...


hehe, i hear you on the cdn tire. But much like stocks, (for me anyhow), "car guys" may as well be speaking in spanish. When I open the hood, and i have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what is happening in there. Everyone has their "thing(s)", i need to touch up my car knowledge...

But as a microbiologist, hey, if some guy in a dark alley sneaks up to me and tries to pull a fast one, and tries to tell me: 
_"Hey buddy, what would you say if i told you that i could get you a strain of Escherichia coli that can produce an extra molecule of ATP through it's usual method of intra-plasma membrane electron transport, but in the complete absence of ANY cyclic AMP?"_
I'd reply:
_"What would I say? What can i call you? Saturn? Mr Saturn? Rata-tat-SA....*LIAR?* I'd tell you that unless you planning on having one of you "diamond rainstorms" in my backyard anytime soon, you can save your non-sense for someone that still thinks vaccines cause autism"_ (Oh ****, no i didn't, here we go... hhahaha jk). 

Anywho, it's my aunt, and turns out i was a bit incorrect about some of the info of my original post, it had actually been driven about 40,000 kms during these past 5 years (and was bought by my aunt in 2010 when it has 38,000 kms approx). It was also stored in a heated garage apparently.

Fraser, is there anywhere i could check that VIN online that you recommend? My mom brought it in to be safetied and it needed new tires and brakes first...

Thanks everyone.


----------



## Justin1980 (Feb 23, 2013)

Zoombie said:


> Depending on what area you are in, you may be able to find a shop that does inspections only and NOT repairs. This way, you know they aren't going to invent problems with the car that they are hoping you will pay them to fix.
> 
> Dealer inspection is often more costly than other places but typically more thorough, as they will know the model better.


Oh that would be PERFECT.... Though im sure they'd be heavy on a discounted "recommendation" shop afterwards.

Do these places exist? Im located in Ottawa.


----------



## Justin1980 (Feb 23, 2013)

Rusty O'Toole said:


> Don't go to Canadian Tire, a car dealership or any chain garage, tire store etc. Go to a good independent garage.
> 
> Have a Vehicle Inspection done. You must have a Vehicle Inspection Certificate to register the vehicle. No use paying for 2 inspections.
> 
> ...


Thank you my friend. Thank you everyone for taking time out of your day to help a stranger. Hopefully i can return the favour one day.

Rusty:
When you say things like: "Don't go to CDN Tire, or other chains" etc, i completely agree and understand. The problem is (for me personally, and im sure a lot of other people), that my method of finding a garage is google, and google is always going to give me Canadian Tire and the biggest chains because they have the money and resources to be highly ranked by the search engines etc.

I understand all this.

So, if i might ask, you, or anyone else in my shoes...assume you don't know anyone ( i don't), how would you go about finding one of those small independent garages?

Thank you everyone, so much. I really mean that.


----------



## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

That's a crazy low price. It's not a rebuilt/salvage, is it? (If so, avoid unless you really know what you're doing.)

There shouldn't be any serious rust on an 8 year old car, especially if it really was garage kept.

Don't be afraid if it needs some work, though. You'd be lucky to find a 2007 with that kind of mileage for under 10K, so even if you have to spend a few grand, you're still scoring a bargain.


----------



## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

The best ones are busy all the time from word of mouth and referrals by happy customers. They don't advertise. Best is to ask around. I wish there was a better way.


----------



## fraser (May 15, 2010)

We live in Alberta. We were able to check the vehicle history on the Alberta Motor Assoc. website. There is a fee. I think it was $25. per. It cost me a few bucks to run the checks on the cars but it was well worth it. We finally bought one from a dealer who provided us with a report. We still paid $25 and did our own check.

The check lists all previous jurisdictions where the car was registered plus any insurance claims. On one car, a low mileage late model Acura that we liked, we discovered an insurance claim for $15K worth of front end damage on this supposed clean car.


----------



## OurBigFatWallet (Jan 20, 2014)

I'd recommend Inspecta Car. They do vehicle inspections but don't do the repairs so there is no obvious conflict of interest there


----------



## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Rusty O'Toole said:


> You must have a Vehicle Inspection Certificate to register the vehicle. *No use paying for 2 inspections. *


*
You raise a good point. If there is an existing vehicle safety check certificate, it is good for 30 days after which it expires and MOT will probably require another safety inspection.
The vehicle emission test must be in effect for the vehicle. they are good for one year and every second year (depending on the year of the vehicle) the vehicle has to pass another
emission test. 




They will inspect body, tires, steering, brakes, lights, windows, etc etc etc according to government regulations and they won't miss anything. If they do, and a car gets in an accident, they can get in serious trouble and they know it.

Click to expand...

Exhaust components too. There can be no holes in the exhaust or the floor of the car for it to pass saftey. Tires have to be within acceptable wear standards..not down to the wear bars.
Glass has to be crack free. There can be some minor body rust, but no rust holes showing. 




This covers all safety related systems, they will not check engine, trans, or non safety related things.

Click to expand...

So here is the big question. What shape is the engine and transmission and transaxle in? There could be some issues, but only a road test will determine how the engine performs and the transmission shifts..and how the car steers and holds the road. How the brakes/and ABS works on fast stops. The mechanic doing the safety cannot do this on the hoist.




You will also need an emissions certificate, if the engine is in bad shape it will not pass. So, if you have both those things, you can be sure the car is in good shape mechanically.

Click to expand...

The engine would be as the O2 sensors and catalytic converter have to be working to pass e-test. 




There is no guarantee, but if it passes safety and emissions standards there is unlikely to be anything serious wrong with the car.

Click to expand...

There is a 30 day 50-50 warranty, if you get it from a used car dealer lot..and you should insist on that before you buy.

Buying a privately owned car, you are on your own when you drive the car away, and you should also to get the optional CARPROOF report (at additional cost to you to be safe) as this will tell you if the car has been repaired from an accident, or even stolen and resold based on the VIN of the vehicle,
but the seller should be showing you the lien certificate that the seller has to get from MOT
and show to the prospective buyer first. If no Lien certificate is available, don't buy the car until the seller goes and gets it and shows you.*


----------



## GreatLaker (Mar 23, 2014)

carverman said:


> Buying a privately owned car, you are on your own when you drive the car away.


That's what is known as a "tail-light warranty". The car is under warranty for as long as the seller can see your tail-lights as you drive away. After that there is no warranty!


----------

