Used car inspection before you hand over the money

A used car inspection is the cheapest hour anybody spends on a car, because it is the only one that happens while you can still walk away.

• Joe goes to the car, so the seller never has to agree to a trip
• The underside gets looked at, which is where brine damage hides
• You get told what it needs and roughly what that costs
• A dealer will almost always allow this. A seller who will not is telling you something

Every used car has a story and the seller knows more of it than you do. An hour with somebody who fixes these for a living closes most of that gap.

In Colorado the underside matters more than the paint. Joe looks at the brake and fuel lines, the subframe and the exhaust hangers for the corrosion that years of road brine leave behind. A tidy interior tells you nothing about any of that.

He also reads the computer for stored and pending codes. A pending code is the one a seller cannot clear the night before, and it is often the most honest thing on the car.

You get a plain list at the end. What is fine, what needs doing now and what needs doing within a year, with rough costs. Take it back to the seller or take it as a reason to leave.