Husband very angry I would like an AA PRE PURCHASE INSPECTION. AIBU?

How about the friend check the car and if he gives it the okay, then you send the AA inspector?

The modern mini doesn't have a timing belt.

For all the cars on sale, why bother with this one if it's going to cost more money to buy it or would you do this for any car you were thinking of purchasing?

It isn't unreasonable. I am a business and will sell to the person with the money.

Why would I want to wait and see if you will buy or if you want a discount. The cars I sell are all roadworthy, have been given a good long road test, have been inspected. But they are also in most cases around 20-30% of their original price.

The consumer rights act is not black and white when it comes to used cars. It is only in very limited cases you could return. The law does allow for wear and tear, age and price to be taken into consideration.

I deal in cars and have potential customers ask for an AA inspection in the past. I'd suspect the dealer will tell you the same as I did. The vehicle remained on sale until the deal is completed. So if you order an inspection and the inspector turns up while I'm selling it to somebody else, not my problem.

Secondly, these AA reports are not representative of what you are actually buying. They will rip the car to shreds on the report to cover their arses re post sale issues. They do not give a fair representation of the age, miles or price of the car.

@borettacar Was the car with the white smoke a diesel? If so, the white smoke might have just been the diesel particulate filter doing a regeneration cycle. It's fairly common and I sometimes see it happening on the motorway.

The head gasket is a massive financial issue, which is why people talk about it. But it's not a common failure, and it's far less likely to immobilise the car than any of a hundred other issues. 🙏

There are two main ways you can check if you might shortly be in for a head gasket issue. One is to look for "mayonnaise" under the oil and radiator caps, and the other is to look at the exhaust while the engine is running. But if those are clear, nothing will tell you if the problem is likely to develop next month. To a large extent it's the luck of the draw.

Something I always ask when buying a car is when the timing belt was last changed. Unlike the head gasket this has a maintenance schedule and you can change it pre-emptively (indeed, you are supposed to). It's a cheap part but an expensive service because lots of things have to be removed and put back. If the seller doesn't know when it was last changed (ask to see the invoice from the garage) that can be a red flag because if the timing belt breaks, then depending on the engine design, either the car will stop running, or the pistons will smash into the valves and you will need a new engine (look up the make/model and "interference engine"). Many cars now have a timing chain rather than a belt, which fixes this problem, but a lot of smaller cars in the "first car for a 17yo" range still have belts.

I bought a car from a friend, no doubts about her at all but had an AA inspection because I'd never bought a car before and gave us both peace of mind.

Everyone should get one tbh when buying a pre owned car. Last time I used it was for a minibus and cost about 180 quid. They're very thorough. I've bought 2 duds from dealerships in the past, 1 was ruddy Jennings. Lesson learnt.

I second what @Caroparo52 has said. Search check mot history and you'll get a .gov site that lists previous passes and if any fails, what on. This gives you a general view of how well kept the car is and how many miles it did each year. If there's a lot of work required to pass, it suggests that the car only sees a garage when it's legally required to.

Ghost MOT is where a dodgy dealer gets a fake MOT from a dodgy mechanic that's never seen the car. They're so brazen. They'll send a list of 40 cars and they'll be passed.

Garage told me the 100 point AA Inspection is almost same as a MOT. I asked for new MOT by garage before purchase and car needed new brake pads and discs which garage paid for... look at latest MOT on gov website. MOT is legal requirement but AA inspection is not

I wish we'd had a pre inspection on a car we brought;we're now pretty sure they'd had a friends garage ghost a mot on it.It was 4.5k down the drain and we had to take out a loan to buy another car as we had to sell it at scrap value.

Our current car is my DH's former company car so we knew that was sound went purchasing it from my DH's former employer.

You say the car you’re looking to buy is four hours away … so if you have any problems you’ve got to get it there for inspection/repair even under warranty?

This is the problem for me. You buy from a corporate giant and you know they don't care but you buy from a small garage that may even be AA approved and you see the obvious faults and wonder what else they're hiding.

It's honestly potluck nowadays and there's more dodgy than aren't. I'd also put a post on the local Facebook about reliable garages.