Motor Testers

cormie

Hi,
Is there anywhere that provides a list of qualified motor testers who you can get to check out a vehicle on the other side of the country for €50 or so before you go all the way to Cork for example to look at a vehicle which you may not have a technical clue about and can only judge it on how clean it is?

Of course they would need to be trusted to actually go and look at it and give a thorough check and not just get in for 2 mins, turn on the engine and drive 5 metres and get out again.

I'm looking for somebody who would know about Ford Transits in particular but a list of general or specific motor testers could help others too:)

Wishbone Ash

AA Autocheck

AA Autocheck is a quality assurance scheme for used cars. Dealers undertake to perform a very detailed inspection designed by the AA that examines the car under 101 separate headings. The AA then monitors those dealers very closely with regular spot inspections to ensure that standards are maintained. The consumer knows that the car that he or she is buying has been thoroughly checked by a system that is designed and regulated by the AA.

cantdecide

personally, i would re-phrase the question to 'anyone know a transit expert in ____'. maybe you could ask someone local to check it out. if there's nothing glaringly wrong with it, you could commission a nearby mechanic to look at it for you.
i bought my car in england and i asked a member of the bmw car club to look at it. which he did with a heart and a half. he also picked me up at the airport and brought me to the car (though he did drop the bombshell on the way that he hadn't actually driven it. i'm still paying for that mistake). someone in another car club went to check out my brother's car for him as well.
where exactly is it?

testicle

Wishbone Ash wrote:

AA Autocheck

AA Autocheck is a quality assurance scheme for used cars. Dealers undertake to perform a very detailed inspection designed by the AA that examines the car under 101 separate headings. The AA then monitors those dealers very closely with regular spot inspections to ensure that standards are maintained. The consumer knows that the car that he or she is buying has been thoroughly checked by a system that is designed and regulated by the AA.

For €400 odd quid...

Wishbone Ash

testicle wrote:

For €400 odd quid...

:eek: :eek:

cormie

Thanks for that, but is each individual motor checked by an independant tester or is it just up to the garage to test it themselves and give a report to the AA to keep in their good books? How can I know what dealers are part of this scheme?

cantdecide, see the problem is, I'm not looking at any on in particular yet, there's a few that to me, all seem the same, I'm just basing judgement on a photo and mileage/year/price. Once I narrow the choices down, I'd like to be able to get somebody to check them out and hopefully strike gold with the first one so I don't have to be forking out to get checks done on the ones that wont pass them. I'm not sure if a general transit user would even be up to it. My mate owns a transit and was a mechanic for a while and said he wouldn't even offer because they just aren't in his area of knowledge.

cantdecide

Wishbone Ash wrote:

AA Autocheck

AA Autocheck is a quality assurance scheme for used cars. Dealers undertake to perform a very detailed inspection designed by the AA that examines the car under 101 separate headings. The AA then monitors those dealers very closely with regular spot inspections to ensure that standards are maintained. The consumer knows that the car that he or she is buying has been thoroughly checked by a system that is designed and regulated by the AA.

i recently asked a uk car dealer to perform a check on a car and covered my backside by politely asking "who pays for the check if it fails and i can't take it?" afterall, i would be paying full price and i wasn't looking for a fixer upper. he completely jekyl and hyded on me. obviously, i would pay if it passed.
i thought it was a reasonable question. he assured me it was a really good car but he wouldn't put his money where his mouth was and accept the small risk it was actually a lemon. he wouldn't agree to go halves if it failed, he would do nothing at all.
my dad is selling his boat. he made his deal "subject to it passing a survey". the buyer asked what would happen if it failed. "then i'll have to sink it" my father said.
i was taken aback by his raised voice and new found belligerent attitude. he wouldn't even be civil about it. i told him shove it if that's how he felt.

cantdecide

depends on your budget.
my car was very cheap. an expensive AA check would have been inappropriate as at that age, only an absolute one-in-a-million gem would have been given the 100% thumbs up. i would never have gotten a car if my standards were that high.
if it's a cheapy you're looking for, trust your gut instinct and have an appropriate mechanic garage check it out. maybe a commercials garage.
if you're looking for a newish one that should be 100%, use your gut instint and then bring it to a ford main dealer.

what year are you looking for? how much are you willing to spend?

cormie

Looking to spend about 3-4K I think so paying €400 would be an extra 10% onto that. When I was looking at a car before, I got a mechanic in my home town to check it for €50, but the problem is getting somebody to actually go to a dealer to look at it for me in the far side of the country.

eamon234

I have a problem with AA checks being done by garages I just don't trust them. I can't see why they can't have independent testers like the UK especially with the fees they charge. I agree with previous poster just get a local mechanic to check it out

cormie

So theres nothing like this around then?

Ok, so going by cantdecides advice, anyone know a transit expert?

cormie

Gonna be buying the van this week so if anyone knows somebody who could help out I'd really appreciate it:)

Henry Ford III

Pay peanuts and you'll get a monkey.

A franchised mechanic will inspect and drive a car. 1 hour might cost €100.

Ring the local Ford garage and ask the service manager.

Transits are not space shuttles.

cormie

Yeah, there's one I'm interested in that's down in Galway so I might give a ring tomorrow and see what the story is and then see if I can get somebody to check it out to save me going down if it's a crock of ****. Would Ford Garages be the best bet just because it's a ford or would somebody in the van business be a safer bet?

junkyard

You won't get much of a van for this kind of money in Ireland. You'll get a cleaner van in the north but it will have a higher mileage and if it hasn't it did have one time.;) Vans in the south are trashed to death, you'd be better off with an ex-company van here, at least it would have had regular servicing whereas privately owned vans are sorely neglected.

cormie

Where would I pick up an ex company owned one have you any idea? I've only got 3K for it at the mo. Unless you'd like to buy me a brand new one yourself? I'm sserial!;)

junkyard

Your really dredging the barrel at this kind of money, try some of the bigger main dealers or fleet services but I'd honestly say your wasting your money.

cormie

Don't really have any other option to be honest. Even if it only lasts me half a year, that'll give me enough time to save up for a better one with the money I earn from using it.