Jamie meets you at the car, wherever it is, and goes through it properly. You get a straight verdict on what it needs and roughly what that will cost, while you can still walk away or negotiate.
Found something today and need it looked at tomorrow? Call, it is often doable.
Buying a used car usually happens on someone else's timeline. The inspection has to fit around that, not the other way round.
Call 0409 977 762Give Jamie the make, model, year and where the car is sitting. He will tell you what to watch for on that particular model before he even gets there.
He arranges access with the seller and inspects it where it stands, private driveway or dealer yard. You do not need to be there, and the car never has to be driven to a workshop.
Jamie calls you and talks you through it: what is fine, what needs doing soon, what it will roughly cost, and whether the asking price still stacks up. In plain English.
A pre-purchase inspection is about finding the expensive surprises, the ones that do not show up on a test drive around the block.
Cold start behaviour, how it idles and pulls, oil and coolant condition, leaks, smoke, and the noises that point at something bigger underneath.
Suspension, steering, brakes, exhaust and the underbody. Rust, past panel repair and accident damage often show from below long before they show from the kerb.
A scan for stored and pending fault codes, including the ones a seller has cleared recently so the dash looks clean when you arrive.
Whether the logbook matches the kilometres, what is due next, and how much life is genuinely left in tyres, brakes and the other items you will pay for soon.
In a private sale you generally buy the car as it stands. If the gearbox lets go a fortnight later, that is usually your problem, which is exactly why an independent look before you pay matters most here.
Buying from a licensed dealer gives you more protection, but it does not tell you what the car needs. Knowing there is a full set of tyres and a timing belt due changes what the car is worth to you, and it is a far easier conversation to have before you sign than after.
Looking at something this weekend? Call Jamie and talk it through first.
Call 0409 977 762No. Plenty of buyers are at work, or live a fair way from the car. Jamie arranges access with the seller, does the inspection, then calls you and talks you through what he found.
Most do, and a genuine seller with a good car usually has no issue with it. A flat refusal to let an independent mechanic look at a vehicle is worth taking seriously as an answer in itself.
Yes, and they are worth inspecting carefully. Work utes and 4x4s often carry towing, load and gravel-road history that a suburban hatchback never sees, and that history shows up in the suspension, driveline and underbody.
Then the inspection has already done its job. Jamie will tell you plainly if he thinks you should walk away, and why. Finding that out before the money moves is the entire point.
No. A roadworthy is a minimum safety standard on the day it is issued. A pre-purchase inspection is a broader look at condition, wear and what the car is about to cost you, which is a different and more useful question when you are deciding what to pay.
Seymour, Puckapunyal, Tallarook, Trawool, Mangalore, Avenel, Nagambie, Longwood, Euroa, Broadford, Kilmore, Pyalong, Tooborac, Wandong, Yea, Highlands and Strathbogie.
