I am a licensed Auto Mechanic, which means that I have an Safety Inspection License to inspect cars in my home state. My home state has mandatory vehicle safety inspections on a yearly basis. Once your vehicle is inspected you get a special sticker that proves your vehicle passed inspection. You cannot drive on the road or get tags or insurance without a valid inspection sticker. Not all states or countries have mandatory inspections. Not all inspected cars are worthy of their sticker. There's alot of time in between inspections. That is why I am writing this article to tell you the buyer how to inspect a car before you buy it.
First, you want to check the fluids. Starting with the oil first. Is the oil up to below or past the full mark. It should be dead on. What color is the oil anything from dark brown or black to golden yellow is acceptable. The golden yellow is new oil so you know the oil has just been changed but a good question to ask is why has it just been changed? The owner may be attempting to hide something. Black or brown is well used oil ready to be changed. What you do not want to see is oil that is milky or looks like a milk shake this oil has water and antifreeze in it. This means that the engine is leaking internally. Usually in these cases, it's a cracked head or blown head gasket. That can be expensive to repair. Also the engine could be damaged for having contaminated oil running through it because it does not lubricate as well when contaminated.
Second look at your transmission fluid if the car has a dipstick for it. The dipstick will usually be colored red. When you examine the fluid is it up to the full mark past it or below it? If past it this is bad because this can overload the pump in the transmission and cause bubbles to be created in the fluid which will not lubricate the transmission properly. If it is below this could also be a problem because the pump will run out of fluid to lubricate the trans with. Dead on is what you need for a no worry level. Now is the fluid Cherry red or is it brown and gritty? If it is brown and gritty the grit is from the clutch disks and bands in the trans and this means they are abnormally worn. The trans may fail within the next 6 months or so if not rebuilt before then. The clutch disks and bands are worn because the trans wasn't lubricated properly either over or under will do it. The reason the fluid is brown is because it is burnt. You should smell it if it is brown it should have an unpleasant acrid smell to it. Any color other than Cherry red means the transmission has internal problems that no amount of TRANS FIX fluid can every change. If someone tells you that changing the trans fluid and screen can save the trans when the fluid is brown and gritty you know they are lying to you. Once damaged, a trans only has about 6 months until total breakdown.
Third you should check your antifreezze preferably when the engine is cold. Does the antifreeze, if green, have a good green color? Is it muddy looking or rusty looking if so the antifreeze needs to be changed and the system pressure tested for leaks. Is there antifreeze in it or is it just water? If it is just water then you need to add antifreeze to it no matter where you live. They use plain water a lot down south cause it's warm there but your car only runs properly when you use antifreeze because it protects from over heating as well as freezing.
Fourth is to check the brake fluid and see what level it is at and the overall color should be gold. You should also check where the master cylinder meets the vacuum booster and see if there are any leaks.
The fifth step is to check the struts or shocks. You simply jump onto the car, preferably the hood or the rear bumper and then jump off. When you jump off you must count how many times the car bounces up and down. If it bounces more than once then you have suspect shocks and struts. If you bounce on the car in the front and it bounces 2 times then the struts or shocks are partially worn and are borderline. If it bounces 3 or more times you definitely need new shocks or struts for the front. If you bounce the rear and it bounces 3 times then the rear struts or shocks need to be replaced. The borderline pair can go bad at any moment and the general rule of thumb there is always to replace on the side of safety and to replace the borderline struts or shocks once they are discovered. So remember if the car bounces more than one time new shocks or struts may be needed depending upon how many bounces past one it is.
The sixth step is to insepct the tires for wear. Loooking a the rubber of the tire up close: does it have many small fine cracks in it? If so it has dry rot and needs to be replaced. A dry rotted tire can blow for the force of even a small bump and cause you to potentially loose control of your vehicle. Dry rotted tires will not pass safety inspection. Next are the tires worn evenly. looking at the tread is the outside corner more worn than the inside corner or vice versa? If the inside corner of the tire is worn you need an alignment. If the outside is worn it could be due to cornering or due to the tires not being rotated at reguilar intervals. If the rear tires are worn evenly or flatly accross the tread of the tire then the front wear is probably due to corneriing and poor maintenance. Are the treads worn in the center or at the edges. This too can be caused by poor inflation. If the treads are worn in the center they are over inflated if at the edges they are under inflated. Sometimes the wear on the corner of the tread is choppy like it was cut off unevenly this is caused by an alignment problem as well. Are all the tires the same size? Are they all evenly worn? Are they the proper kind for the vehicle? Also look for any nails or plugs. Slashes, gouges or cracks in the sidewall could cause the tire to blow and so it needs to be replaced.
The seventh step is a visual inspection of the body, glass, and the interior to see if it matches your expectations then a test drive to see how it handles. How well it stops, starts, and handles. If you are still not certain whether you want to buy the car, you can always get a more in depth inspection from a mechanic of your choice. In buying a car, most states have a law saying that you may have your own mechanic inspect the car prior to buying it. This I highly recommend. You will get a report form your mechanic about everything mentioned in this article and much more. Like what wear is on the brake system? You cannot measure the brakes without a special tool and you need to remove the wheels to do so but your mechanic can do all that and that's what he's there for.
The eighth step is to get in the car and turn on the lights and the wipers and blow the horn. If the wipers skitter across the windeshield or make any noise crossing the windshield they need to be replaced. Walk around the car and check all the lights this means having the emergency flashers on so that you can check the turn signal bulbs too. If the horn does not work, you need to get it fixed if you buy the car.
The ninth step is to pump the brake pedal. If you pump it and get a firm pedal the brakes are in good shape hydraulically meaning they won't loose pressure. If you get a spongy feel from the pedal like you are stepping on a sponge in the shower then you have air in the brake lines. They need to be bled or they could fail upon you. If the pedal starts to fade by slowly going to the floor and lossing pressure then you have a leak in the system somewhere and it needs to be repaired or the brakes could fail upon you. If you master cyulinder is obviously leaking then you need to replace that immediately.
The tenth step is too look at the outside of the engine and into the engine compartment. What you want is a fairly clean engine comparment and a messy if not dirty engine. The dirt on the engine can be an indicator of it's life and how well it is maintained. All older cars should have messy if not dirty engines. Depending on the age of the car, the mileage and whether the engine has been cleaned or not can be big factors. An older car with a dirty engine can be "READ" as far as a maintenance history is concerned. You can see where others before you have either spilled things or replaced things such as gaskets and seals. You can see if the engine is leaking anything now. Now you might think the opposite that a clean engine is what you want. Well that would be nice if you were the one who cleaned it and you knew there was nothing wrong with it but the seller may be hiding something as big as a cracked cylinder head or something as small and as difficult to replace as valve cover gaskets. Big as in serious damage, small as in routine maintenance. An extremely dirty, grease or oily engine compartment means this car has had or still has issues.
The best thing you can do when buying a car AS IS. Is to ASK QUESTIONS use this article and any other information you can get about the car in question as a check off sheet when you go to buy it and ASK QUESTIONS. The seller is by law required to answer them truthfully if not you can proceed with legal action to get your money back if sold a lemon.
If you are not picky and trust your mechanic you can have him look for a car for you for a small fee. This saves time for those who are busy and you can talk to your mechanic about the pros and cons of buying the car.
A general rule of thumb of buying any used car is that you can buy a used car with about 100,000 miles on it for about $2,000.00 and then you usually wind up spending another $2,000.00 fixing what is wrong with the car or that goes wrong with the car when you first buy it. 100,000 miles is as far as American quality control goes - it's not exactly planned obsolesence, but things usually start breaking down at about 100,000 miles. A lot of the work is simple routine maintenance required at about 100,000 miles. Like replacing the timing belt in some cars. If you choose to do this. Once you have bought the car for $2,000.00 and sunk about another $2,000.00 into it you'll have a car good for another 10 years or so barring accidents.
If you want to spend more money on a car or buy a newer model, Kelly Blue Book is a good place to look for a car and even if you decide to get your mechanic to find you a car, the Kelly Blue Book is a good place to get an idea about what a good car would cost and what constitutes a good car.