Pre purchase inspections.

[HungusMaximist]

Any thoughts on it who does it best?

For cars and bikes.

Through AA or VTNZ, or just your local mechanic?

*edit just need to know if there are any differences between AA or VTNZ, or VINZ. VTNZ seems cheaper for $99 bucks... plug in a laptop.

[onearmedbandit]

I have used the AA hundreds of times when I was a dealer, they were my preferred independent inspectors, as they are not very accurate. I used to hate it when customers took a car for an inspection at their own mechanic or an independent inspector, as they would find all the small niggly stuff.

That should answer your question.

[hellokitty]

I have used the AA hundreds of times when I was a dealer, they were my preferred independent inspectors, as they are not very accurate. I used to hate it when customers took a car for an inspection at their own mechanic or an independent inspector, as they would find all the small niggly stuff.

That should answer your question.

The AA tested a car that I was interested in and found all these stupid things wrong with it and told me not to buy it = I bought it and had 7 years of reliable hassle free driving, the only thing I ever did was a service, brakes and tyres. They were talking our of their arse....... I sold it to a friend 2 years ago and it is still going strong...

[onearmedbandit]

The AA tested a car that I was interested in and found all these stupid things wrong with it and told me not to buy it = I bought it and had 7 years of reliable hassle free driving, the only thing I ever did was a service, brakes and tyres. They were talking our of their arse....... I sold it to a friend 2 years ago and it is still going strong...

I have sent vehicles to the AA that both the customer and I knew had faults only for the car to come back with one or two things noticed, but the majority missed, instead replaced with, and I kid you not, 'Horn out of tune'.

[release_the_bees]

I'd highly recommend Cycletreads at Takapuna. For around $30-40 they gave my bike a very thorough pre-purchase inspection. The things that they found more than paid for the check, as I was able to negotiate the price down with the seller, and he even fixed some of the issues prior to me buying the bike.

[Virago]

If you have an on-going service relationship with a particular mechanic or dealership, take it to them for inspection - they will invariably do a far more mechanically-specific inspection, rather than the emphasis on cosmetic stuff that the AA do. That applies to both cars and bikes.

I've had similar such inspections done by dealerships, they'll even put a car on hoist, and take wheels off to check brake pads. They don't crawl over the vehicle with a magnifying glass, painstakingly marking up all the stone-chips on a drawing - most people can see that stuff for themselves. The cost of a dealership or mechanic's inspection is often half of what the AA would charge for their superficial glossy-papered fluff.

I believe the need for a pre-purchase inspection is more important for cheaper cars - most are being sold or traded for a very good (and often disguised) reason.

If you can afford a late-model car, Turners Auctions is the way to go. You can pick up good quality and well-serviced ex-lease vehicles for a fraction of their retail value - only being sold because the lease term has expired. I'm currently running a fleet of four cars (for business), all are bought at Turners (8 cars bought and sold in the last 7 years). Most of these cars I would get the local dealership to do a verbal pre-purchase report on.

I've just got myself a 2006 BF Falcon (ex-lease) from Turners for around half its retail value. It's the way to go if you're shopping in the $10K bracket.

I see that Turners are now making a bigger move into bike sales also.

[SMOKEU]

I have used the AA hundreds of times when I was a dealer

How much could you score an ounce for?

[HungusMaximist]

Shot. Local mechanic was the way to go in the end. It was free, the boss took for a test drive and hoisted the vehicle up and spotted the problem (RAV4 - rear wheel drive assembly was cracked)

For $140 with AA it seems like a major rip for a piece of fancy lettuce. Right about the little cosmetics and accessories, it doesn't really de or value the car in anyway - unless it was major