Diagnosing a car “by eye” - picking an accident-free car

When buying a used car, dishonest sellers often try to pass off a wrecked car by hiding its outward defects.

The most reliable way to catch them out is to take the car you like to a garage that offers car diagnostics. Especially since pre-sale diagnostics for Hyundai, Lada and other cars is now a popular service found just about everywhere. But what do you do if there are ten, twenty, thirty cars like that? You can't very well take them all to the garage.

In that case, all that's left is to judge the car “by eye,” and we recommend inspecting the following first:

• The engine

Check for antifreeze and oil leaks. Look at the oil for a yellowish emulsion, and check the antifreeze for oil stains — both point to the engine overheating. Open the oil filler cap and look for black tar — that's a sign of cheap consumables or counterfeit parts having been used, which can later cause a major breakdown.

• The transmission

On all-wheel-drive and front-wheel-drive cars, check the constant velocity joints. If they're faulty, they'll characteristically crunch on turns; if their rubber boots are cracked or torn, the drive shafts will soon need replacing.

• The chassis

Look for obvious signs of repair or bent suspension arms, which point to a serious accident. Pay attention to the strut towers. For instance, if you've already settled on a Hyundai, before the car diagnostics find out the distance between the strut tower centres on an accident-free car. A difference of at least 5 mm means there was a hard impact. Don't forget to check the tyres — uneven wear is a sign of a wreck — as well as the power steering pump and the steering rack for leaks.

• The body

Diagnosing a car with a dirty body should raise a red flag right away — it's easy to hide something under dirt, and it also means the car wasn't looked after well. On a clean body, check that the gaps between panels are even, and that the paint is consistent. To judge this, you need to look along the body at an angle, taking in the whole side panel at once, so you can spot any unevenness and traces of filler.

• The interior

Check everything for whether it works, look under the mats, check for fresh underbody sealant and rust-proofing, and see how loose and worn the seats are. This way you can gauge how hard the car has been used and find hidden traces of repair.</content>