Pre-Purchase Inspections

A pre-purchase inspection is the cheapest insurance available in a used car transaction. You are spending a small amount to find out whether the vehicle you are about to buy has problems the seller did not mention, or did not know about. Either way you find out before the money moves rather than after.

We inspect vehicles for buyers at All Motors Center, and our report goes to you rather than to the seller.

What we check

Mechanical. Engine condition including compression where warranted, oil and coolant condition and any sign of the two mixing, evidence of leaks and where they originate, belts, hoses, mounts, and the transmission through the full range of gears.

Structural. Frame and unibody for evidence of accident repair, panel gaps, paint thickness variation, weld and sealant that does not match factory work, and corrosion. Vehicles that have spent winters in a road-brine climate deserve careful undercarriage attention, and this is a region where that applies.

Brakes, tires and suspension. Pad and rotor measurements rather than a glance, tire tread depth, age and wear pattern, and every suspension and steering joint checked for play under load.

Electronic scan. Every module, including stored and pending codes and readiness monitors. This is worth stating plainly: if the readiness monitors have recently been reset, it often means someone cleared codes shortly before showing the car. That is a meaningful finding on its own.

Road test. Cold start behaviour, how it drives at temperature, braking, steering, noises, vibrations, and how the transmission behaves through every gear.

What a report is worth

You get a written report of what we found, sorted by what needs attention now, what will need attention soon, and what is merely worth knowing. In practice that gives you three outcomes: walk away, negotiate with specifics rather than a vague sense of unease, or buy with confidence and a maintenance plan.

The negotiating case is the one people underestimate. A report saying the vehicle needs tires and rear brakes within a few thousand miles is a concrete, evidenced number to discuss, and it very frequently pays for the inspection several times over.

Diesel and heavy-duty inspections

Used diesel trucks warrant extra scrutiny, and we look at the items that matter. Emissions equipment must be present and functioning — a deleted DPF or EGR is a federal violation, will fail a DOT inspection and destroys resale value, and it is something a buyer absolutely needs to know before purchase. We also check regeneration history and soot load, injector balance rates, turbo condition, and evidence of the head gasket and cooling issues that are known concerns on particular engines.

If you are buying a commercial truck, we can carry out an inspection against DOT criteria so you know whether it would pass.

Buying from a private seller or out of the area

Bring the vehicle to our East Trent shop, or ask about our mobile service if the seller will not release it. A seller who refuses an independent inspection has told you something useful, and we would treat that as an answer rather than an obstacle.

Call (509) 655-7715 to arrange one — ideally before you have agreed a price.