You are about to hand over R100,000 to someone you have never met, for a car you have driven once.
Most buyers make that decision on a twenty-minute test drive, in the afternoon, with the seller talking the whole way. It is the largest purchase many people make outside a house, and it is made on less information than they would want before buying a phone.
We look at the car before you pay for it, and we tell you what is there. Good and bad.
Pre-Purchase Inspection — R550
Visual inspection and road test. We come to the car, wherever it is standing, across Johannesburg and Pretoria. The seller does not have to drive anywhere — which removes the most common reason these inspections never happen.
Written report the same day.
What we check
Exterior and body
- Paint condition, colour match and texture across panels
- Panel alignment and gap consistency
- Indicators of previous accident repair — overspray, repainted bolt heads, non-factory welds
- Rust: sills, wheel arches, boot floor and spare wheel well
- Glass and windscreen, including chips in the driver's line of sight
- All exterior lighting
Wheels and tyres
- Tread depth on all four tyres, measured, plus the spare
- Wear pattern — uneven wear points to alignment or suspension problems
- Tyre age from the date code
- Mismatched brands or sizes
- Visible wheel damage
Under the bonnet
- Oil level and condition
- Coolant level and signs of loss
- Visible leaks and residue around hoses, gaskets and seals
- Belts — cracking, glazing, fraying
- Battery condition, terminals and age
- Anything suspiciously clean in an otherwise used engine bay
Suspension, steering and brakes
- Visible leaks from shocks and struts
- Play, knocks and noise over uneven surfaces
- Steering behaviour and tracking
- Brake disc and pad condition where visible
- Braking performance under load during the road test
Interior and electrics
- Every warning lamp checked at ignition — including whether any have been disabled
- Windows, central locking, mirrors
- Air conditioning, tested properly
- Instruments and infotainment
- Seatbelts, including evidence of water damage
- Wear on wheel, seat and pedals against the odometer reading
Road test
- Cold start where the seller has not run the car beforehand
- Idle quality
- Acceleration and response through the range
- Gearbox through every gear, including reverse
- Clutch bite point and any slip
- Braking, tracking and steering under real conditions
- Suspension noise
- Engine temperature behaviour
- Hot restart
Documentation
- Service history read against the odometer for consistency
- Whether the mileage is plausible for the car's condition
- VIN and chassis details checked against the paperwork
- Maintenance and repair records where the seller produces them
What is not included — read this before you book
We would rather you knew this now than found out afterwards.
This inspection does not include an electronic fault-code scan. We do not yet own diagnostic equipment we would be willing to put our name to, so we do not offer it. That means we cannot read faults stored in the car's computer, and we cannot tell you whether a warning light was cleared shortly before we arrived.
If you want that covered, a workshop will run a scan for a few hundred rand, often while you wait. Send us the results and we will read them for you at no charge — what the codes mean, what they do not mean, and whether anything there should change your decision.
We also do not:
- Dismantle any part of the vehicle
- Put the car on a lift or work underneath it
- Guarantee that intermittent faults will appear on the day
- Value the vehicle or advise you on what to pay
Whatever we could not check, the report says so. That section is there in every report and it is never left blank.
What you get
A written report, the same day, with photographs of every significant finding.
It ends with one of three things:
- Buy it — nothing here would stop us
- Buy it with conditions — fix the price or fix the car first
- Walk away — not worth the risk at any price
And the reasons, in plain language.
The report also lists what needs doing and roughly what it costs. If we find R4,000 of tyres and R3,000 of brakes due, that is R7,000 the seller has not priced in, and it is yours to negotiate with. "It needs seven thousand rand of work" is a far stronger position than "I am not sure about it".
How it works
- Send us the car. Make, model, year, the advert if there is one, and where it is standing.
- We confirm a time. Inspections run on Saturdays across Gauteng. If your timing is tighter, tell us — used car deals move quickly and we would rather work something out.
- We inspect it. At the seller's address. You are welcome to be there, and most people are.
- We test it. Full physical inspection and a road test from cold where possible.
- You get the report. Same day, with photographs, findings, severity and a clear recommendation.
Why independent matters
We do not sell cars. We have no interest in whether you buy this one.
We do not carry out repairs. Nothing we find turns into work for us.
We take no commission from any workshop. When we say a repair is needed, there is nobody paying us to say it.
We tell you what we could not check. Every report has that section and it is always filled in.
Every significant finding is photographed. You get evidence, not an opinion.
Most people who inspect or diagnose a car also profit from repairing it. That is not a conspiracy, it is just how the money usually works. We are built the other way round, and it is the entire reason to use us.
Coverage
Johannesburg and Pretoria, and the corridor between them. Outside that by arrangement — ask us.
We inspect common passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles. Send us the make, model and year before booking and we will tell you plainly whether it is a car we are comfortable assessing.
Book an inspection
We are currently taking a limited number of bookings each week while the business is being set up properly. Message us with the car and the date and we will confirm availability.
WhatsApp or phone: +27 69 696 1070
Payment on completion, once you have the report in your hands.
And if you are not happy with the report, do not pay us. We would rather earn the next job than argue about this one.