Before The Pocket Car Inspector And Quick,
Easy Used Car Inspecting, I Did My Pre Purchase Car Inspections and Determined The True State Of Used Cars The Hard
Way, I Didn't Hire A
Service, I Just Crossed My Fingers And Hoped For The World's Best Car To Find Me!
I remember a time when all was not so well
with the state of the used car inspection world. A time when cars were considered by myself and many I knew as great
big mystical and magical hunks of metal, with very elaborate mechanics and systems that only mechanics could
understand. I mean I just used to look at them for hours, in a dream state, wondering how such a magnificent object could
exist. I loved cars, and wanted to know everything about them. However, there was no doubt in my mind that I was not
qualified to judge the safety of an automobile, nor did I possess the skills necessary to do a proper pre purchase car inspection
and determine the true state of any used automobile anywhere. After all when I first got into cars I was only 14 years old
and I wanted one so bad I just couldn't wait.
That's when I decided that even though I knew
nothing about inspecting used autos or more specifically pre purchase car inspection, I would get a car anyway, after all,
I could always's just have a service perform a pre purchase vehicle safety check to determine the true state of the car,
before I purchased it, from a mechanic at a local safety inspection station in my neighbourhood.
However, there was one major problem I was
underage to drive and didn't really know if I was allowed to buy a used car in the first place. I mean I had no problem
trying my hand at vehicle inspection
and determining the state of the auto myself, without hiring a used car inspection service from the local
safety station, but the truth is I was so excited I didn't even care if I skipped all that. I basically just wanted a car,
and I was determined to get it.
That's when I decided to buy a used car through an older friend of mine who had his licence.
We made a deal that I would pay for the car and he would legally own it. But we could ride in it together and we more or
less shared the car. As bad of deal as that sounds for me, because I couldn't drive it I was in a state of extacy and ready
to purchase a used car immediately.
My First Shot At Pre Purchase
Car Inspection & Why I Decided Not To Go With The Used Auto Inspection Service At The Safety Station Up The Street
Picture it. A 14 year old boy in a state of
bliss, with stars in his eyes, $400 in his hand, no used car buying experience and begging his older friend to help him
buy a used car. Actually I was very lucky to have such a great friend and it was good that I could trust him with the world.
The problem is, I also trusted him with pre purchase car inspection and determining the true state of this car, and it
turned out, he actually knew less than I did about it, (which I wouldn't have thought possible).
Now I had mentioned to him that maybe we should
just take the car to a car inspection safety service station in the neighborhood, but amidst all the excitement, that
suggestion didn't go very far. I mean here we were, a couple of kids, wide eyed and optimistic, we didn't exactly have all
the money to have the vehicle inspected by the service at the safety station up the street, but thinking back we really
could have got it if we really wanted to, but we didn't. At that time it cost about $60 to $120 to have used automobile
inspection services performed, but it wasn't the money that caused us to skip this very important step. It was the
excitement of it all.
So what did we do? We looked over the vehicle
quickly (in a state of pure bliss) and after about 5 minutes of the worst excuse for pre purchase car inspection ever
performed by a couple of kids, we bought a 1978 Toyota Celica for $300 as is. However as we found out, wasting some money
on a pre purchase car inspection actually would have saved us a lot more money in needed repair costs in the upcoming months.
Although the car we got was no jem, I'll give
it a little credit, it was in a good enough state to make it to my friend's driveway, which was only about 2-3 blocks away
with no problem at all. Then something that at first seemed terrible happened... No, the car didn't stop running or explode
or anything like that. The seemingly terrible thing that happened was, my friends father came home.
How My Friends Father Opened
My Eyes About Used Car Inspection, Determining the True State Of A Car And How To Simplify Pre Purchase Auto Inspection
So It's Easy
I still remember my knees knocking together
and my hands shaking with fear as my friends father pulled into the long driveway. I was in a pretty nervous state of
mind because I was worried he may tell my parents about our new purchase. But he didn't.
Actually, my friends father was very cool
about it, he wasn't mad, he didn't yell, he kept a relatively calm state of mind, but what he did do at that time, I'll
never forget. He walked over to the car that we had just bought, looked at the front and back of it, and he said "I hope
you didn't pay too much for her, she's been in an accident you know". Still shaking, I said I paid $300 bucks. He said ok,
walked over to the car and opened the door. He then started to lift the door up vertically. He then said, "And she sure has
been driven a lot". I stood silent as he opened the hood and removed the oil cap. He looked inside the oil cap and
said "Well one things for sure, this baby in a bad state and has not been properly maintained". At this point I was in
a state of pure awe, but to be honest I couldn't believe what this person was saying. I hadn't seen this man perform any
kind of pre purchase car inspection, so far, yet he was somehow getting this information and getting it fast, almost
like he knew as much about cars as the used cars inspection safety service station up the street.
He then went on to tell me that the car's
alignment was bad, it had been repainted, it needed a windshield, and that it's frame may not be in a safe enough state
to certify as road worthy. I was crushed, but more importantly, I was curious. Curious to find out exactly how he was
getting this information. It didn't look like he was performing any kind of used car inspection, yet he was literally
proclaiming that my car was in a bad state when it came to safety. So finally I worked up enough courage to asked him:
How the heck do you know that all these
things are wrong with my car? Do you work down at the dmv safety service
station or something? Do you perform state car inspections for a living? What qualifies you to make theses assumptions?
The Day I Realized Used Car
Inspection Can Be Made Quick & Easy and You Don't Need To Be A Mechanic To Perform A Great Pre Purchase Auto Inspection
As I boldly challenged my elder, I released a
fury equal to that of a sore loser in a friendly game of tennis. My friend's father just laughed and said:
At that moment, my pre purchase car inspection
knowledge building had officially begun and I was completely enthralled with every word this man had to say.
He went on...
-
"And when I lifted the door up, there was a
lot of play and looseness in the hinges, which means that it's been opened and closed a lot, thus the car has been driven
a lot. Strangely enough this was not consistent with the car's low odometer reading which indicated odometer fraud.
-
"And when I looked in the oil cap is wasn't clean,
there was a white glue-like substance in it, which means this engine has allowed some water to enter it".
-
"And the rubber on the car's tires is worn
more on one side, which means there's an alignment problem".
-
"And the car's paint didn't match the color
under the hood, which means it's been repainted".
-
"Also the car's windshield had many pits
and breaks in it which indicated that this car had been driven a lot".
-
"And the car's frame rails are creased and
krinkled which indicates a previous accident and possible frame damage and safety compromise".
And finally he said, "No I don't work down at
the used car inspection safety station, and I wouldn't pay some pre purchase vehicle inspection service to inspect this
used car for me ethier. Why would I pay for a complete pre purchase auto inspection when the car doesn't even pass the
visual test? Why would I pay full price for what I can so easily do just by quickly looking at the car. And he was right!
He didn't take hours to perform a complete
inspection like I initially thought they did at these professional used car
checking services. He basically took a quick look around and knew fast enough, that this car had problems, that it
would require some real money to fix, and because of it's overall history
and shape, it's probably not worth it.
Why Pre Purchase Vehicle
Inspection Doesn't Need To Be Done By A Used Car Inspection Service Station, And Doesn't Need To Take Long At All.
My eyes were opened that day to a new kind of
used car inspecting style that has completely fascinated me and left me in a constant state of curiosity ever since. One
that comes from experience and is so seldom revealed in car inspection text books or in print, yet is so easy to do if you
just know what to look for. A pre purchase used vehicle inspection procedure that allows you to check out what's most
important first and then based on some quick results decide whether you should waste any more time on this used car.
Basically, decide if it's even worth it to keep looking over this used auto.
Thank's to my friend's dad, I ended up selling
the automobile to a neighbour who had the same model car and wanted it for parts, for the same price I bought it for and my
parents never found out.
That was about 20 or so years ago, and since
then I have done a massive amount of research on the subject of "motor vehicle inspection", as well as accumulated enough
experience to know exactly what to look for when inspecting a used car. I hired used car inspection services and watched
them closely. I v'e researched and studied services in houston, maryland, pennsylvania, atlanta, baltimore, boston,
philadelphia and denver and absorbed every bit of auto inspection info I could squeeze out of them.
I've interviewed mechanics who operate
pre purchase car inspection services for a living and who's job it is to make sure used cars pass the safety test and are
in a good state, when their customers buy them. Iv'e picked the minds of every authority and even regular people who have
experience on this subject, and collected and organized everything into what I call - the quickest easiest way to inspect a
used car and quickly uncover the hidden problems within just minutes of looking at it.... The result is the "Insider
Secrets" Pocket Car Inspector. Enjoy.
Click here to enter
The "Insider Secrets" Pocket Car Inspector's
main page and see what all the hype is about.
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