Pre-purchase inspection / At the seller’s

You’ve seen the advert.
We’ll see the car.

We go to the seller with a paint gauge, a diagnostic scanner and questions. You get the findings, photographs and our advice: buy it, negotiate, check further or walk away.

Send us the listing See the report →

Based in Austria. Send the car’s location; we’ll confirm availability, the scope and the full cost before booking.

The black Range Rover Sport from our inspection, parked on a Vienna street — One of our inspections. Range Rover Sport, Vienna.Excellent paint. A sale that still needed explaining.What happened with this Range Rover?

01 / On the ground

What we actually check.

At the seller’s we check the body, accessible mechanical parts, electronics, interior and records. Driving checks depend on the permitted test drive; a lift inspection is arranged separately.

01
Body & previous repairs
- Paint thickness across accessible panels; changes that suggest repainting or filler.
- Panel gaps, corrosion, glass and visible signs of repair.
- Whether the physical findings support the seller’s account.
02
Engine & gearbox
- Cold start if the car has not been warmed up: smoke, idle, noise and warning lights.
- Visible oil and coolant leaks, fluid levels where accessible.
- Pulling away, gear changes and drivetrain behaviour on the permitted test drive.
03
Electronic diagnostics
- Active and stored faults in accessible control units.
- Available mileage counters and relevant live data, depending on the model and scanner access.
- A saved fault is a finding to explain. It is not automatically a failed component.
04
Brakes, tyres & suspension
- Visible brake-disc wear, tyre tread, age, uneven wear and wheel damage.
- Steering, suspension noise, pulling and vibration during the permitted drive.
- Anything that needs a lift or workshop test is identified separately.
05
Interior & equipment
- Seats, steering wheel and controls: does the wear fit the claimed mileage?
- Moisture traces, unusual smells and visible damage.
- Climate control, windows, lights, seats and fitted equipment we can operate.
06
VIN, records & the seller’s story
- VIN against the available vehicle documents.
- Service entries, invoices, dates, mileages and gaps in the evidence.
- Who is selling, what paperwork they can provide, and explanations for the findings.

02 / Inside the report

Repainted. Not automatically rejected.

Two panels on this Focus had been repainted. The useful question was what had happened, how well it had been repaired, and what else still needed checking.

Open the web reportFord Focus Active · Real inspection · Public extract

25.09.2026 / Vienna

Ford Focus Turnier 1.5 EcoBlue Active

2022 · Diesel · Manual · 97,693 km recorded

A shortened, anonymised extract from our client report. Inspection date: 25 September 2026.

The recommendation at this stage

Keep it as the primary candidate. Finish the checks before buying.

The inspection did not identify signs of substantial accident repair. The short parking-area drive was positive. Neither observation replaced the outstanding road test and service-history checks.

01 / Body and paint

The tailgate and left rear quarter had been repainted; the repair was assessed as cosmetic. No signs of substantial accident repair were identified. The photographs below show three of the paint measurements.

02 / Electronic diagnostics

The scanner found stored, inactive intake-related faults. A full road test and another scan were still needed before buying, to see whether the faults returned.

03 / The repair record

The history recorded a turbo seal/gasket repair. Rear discs and pads had been replaced about 12,400 km earlier. Two oil-service entries still needed confirmation.

04 / Before a final yes

Obtain the outstanding oil-service confirmations.
Clarify front brake-disc wear and any replacement needed.
Review the latest full §57a inspection report.
Complete a road test and repeat the fault scan.

The visit included accessible areas and a parking-area drive. There was no lift inspection or completed public-road test at this stage.

03 / From our inspection files

−€20,000

Range Rover Sport
Autobiography · 2024

Perfect paint. €20,000 too cheap.

The Range Rover’s body looked excellent. Under the bonnet, damaged fixings told us someone had been there before. The sellers did not supply the records needed to explain the work or the car’s acquisition.

We could not establish why it was so cheap. That was enough to advise the client against proceeding. His money stayed in his account.

Read the Range Rover inspection story

Silver BMW i8 Roadster at the dealership during our inspection, with both doors raised — BMW i8 Roadster · 2018 · About 26,400 km at inspection. Photograph from this inspection.

04 / A different kind of inspection

On an i8, the paint gauge is only the start.

Carbon fibre, composites, aluminium. A folding roof. A hybrid drivetrain. This BMW i8 Roadster needed more than the usual walk around with a paint gauge.

Structure & body: We inspected accessible structural areas, panel fit, hinges and fixings. Paint measurements were limited to suitable metal panels. No obvious major structural repair was identified in the areas we could inspect.
Roof & visible damage: The roof completed an opening cycle and the doors held open. A roughly 20 cm windscreen crack, wheel damage and body marks went into the report. The dealer’s promised repairs still needed confirmation.
Battery & the missing drive: We could not retrieve a usable high-voltage battery health or capacity result. We requested an official BMW battery report. The dealer did not permit a test drive, so behaviour on the road remained unverified.

Before a buying decision: obtain the BMW battery report, arrange a road test and confirm the promised repairs.

Dark BMW 740d parked at the dealership during our inspection — The BMW 740d at the dealer. Photograph from our inspection.

05 / Low mileage, real inspection

4,000 km. Still room to negotiate.

A year-old BMW 740d from Sixt’s rental fleet. Just 4,000 km and no diagnostic faults found. The job was to check how rental use had treated the car — especially its bodywork, wheels and interior.

The dealer had helpfully decided not to wash it. On dark paint, dirt made the cosmetic inspection harder. We checked the surfaces, measured the paint and documented the marks we found.

The outcome

The cosmetic issues were minor and could be addressed with polishing. We gave the client the findings. He negotiated the price and bought the car.

Two moments from the inspection

Across borders

The car is here. You don’t have to be.

Buying locally, from another European country or from the United States? Send us the listing and the car’s location. We are based in Austria; inspections elsewhere need availability confirmed first.

Transport, registration and export need their own arrangements. Tell us where the car is going, so the buying plan takes that into account.

Your next step

Send us the one you’re looking at.

A listing and a location are enough to start. If something about the car bothers you, tell us that too.

Listing or vehicle details
Where the car is
Anything you want us to investigate

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No link? Send the make, model, year and location.

We confirm the scope, inspection price and any travel costs before you book.

You’ve seen the advert.We’ll see the car.