Is there a market for a used car appraisal service

goochy

could there be a market for a service that puts buyers of used cars in touch with garages/ mechanics around the country who can check over cars b4 you buy?

for instance if you live in kerry and are viewing a car in Dublin you enter type of car you want checked over and area its in and the the website/ business arrange for a mechanic to check over car . the service gets booked in through website / phone call and mechanic gets paid a certain amount from that fee.

i believe the AA check over cars but its very expensive and not everyones local mechanic has time to go around locally ( never mind further afield to check over cars
mechanics / garages would have to be vetted and if for instance checking over modern car would have to have diagnostic equipment and if the car was a 7 series bmw would have to be a garage / mechanic familiar with such cars.

However there is there is a risk that a mechanic could know someone in a car sales place , but the idea would be if a garage/ mechanic was not checking over cars properly they would be removed from service

LordNorbury

goochy wrote: »

could there be a market for a service that puts buyers of used cars in touch with garages/ mechanics around the country who can check over cars b4 you buy?

for instance if you live in kerry and are viewing a car in Dublin you enter type of car you want checked over and area its in and the the website/ business arrange for a mechanic to check over car . the service gets booked in through website / phone call and mechanic gets paid a certain amount from that fee.

i believe the AA check over cars but its very expensive and not everyones local mechanic has time to go around locally ( never mind further afield to check over cars
mechanics / garages would have to be vetted and if for instance checking over modern car would have to have diagnostic equipment and if the car was a 7 series bmw would have to be a garage / mechanic familiar with such cars.

However there is there is a risk that a mechanic could know someone in a car sales place , but the idea would be if a garage/ mechanic was not checking over cars properly they would be removed from service

Sounds like a good idea, what is any different about a 7 Series BMW from any other car that would need to be checked though? If an engine light is on, surely it would be reported upon to a paying client just like if it was on in a Ford Mondeo? It would be well beyond the scope of any non-invasive mobile inspection service to drill down into what this problem may be, on either a 7 Series or a VW Golf. Just like how the NCT works, if it detects an ABS or SRS warning light on in a 7 Series or a Ford Mondeo, it doesn't concern itself with the underlying cause of the defect that is apparent, it just reports back that there is a defect indicated within the system and must be repaired and returned for re-test. The point being that the test procedure and the parameters are the exact same regardless of whether the vehicle is an Aston Martin or a Fiat Punto...

ironclaw

LordNorbury wrote: »

Sounds like a good idea, what is any different about a 7 Series BMW from any other car that would need to be checked though? If an engine light is on, surely it would be reported upon to a paying client just like if it was on in a Ford Mondeo? It would be well beyond the scope of any non-invasive mobile inspection service to drill down into what this problem may be, on either a 7 Series or a VW Golf. Just like how the NCT works, if it detects an ABS or SRS warning light on in a 7 Series or a Ford Mondeo, it doesn't concern itself with the underlying cause of the defect that is apparent, it just reports back that there is a defect indicated within the system and must be repaired and returned for re-test. The point being that the test procedure and the parameters are the exact same regardless of whether the vehicle is an Aston Martin or a Fiat Punto...

Every single car is different. You need to check for known faults in the make and model. Hence why you bring a car to a mechanic who would know about such things. Personally I believe there is no market for this type of service. If someone is serious about buying a car, they will educate themselves and then bring the 'one' they are most interested in to a trusted mechanic for a thorough once over.

I'd like to think I am reasonably car savvy but even I would never buy a car without a professional second opinion. I would waste my money on a double check either. You may have a market for someone going to check a car out in another part of the country but how many people, on average, would even consider buying a car in say Donegal if they lived in Cork? Unlikely for the most part unless it was a serious spec or rare model, then you would probably have the interest to go and look yourself.

fmcg_scribe

ironclaw wrote: »

Every single car is different. You need to check for known faults in the make and model. Hence why you bring a car to a mechanic who would know about such things. Personally I believe there is no market for this type of service. If someone is serious about buying a car, they will educate themselves and then bring the 'one' they are most interested in to a trusted mechanic for a thorough once over.

I'd like to think I am reasonably car savvy but even I would never buy a car without a professional second opinion. I would waste my money on a double check either. You may have a market for someone going to check a car out in another part of the country but how many people, on average, would even consider buying a car in say Donegal if they lived in Cork? Unlikely for the most part unless it was a serious spec or rare model, then you would probably have the interest to go and look yourself.

Agree all cars are different and assessing a used large luxury or high performance car is a different prospect from assessing a smaller, less complicated car. Specialist knowledge about a particular model can be useful.

If it's not possible to organise a formal inspection by, say, an AA technician or to bring a mechanic along with you to assess a car, there's a still a lot that you can do in terms of research about a model before you go to view any. For example, you could search for buyers guides (car magazines and discussion boards for particular car brands are the usual places to find these) and sites like honestjohn.co.uk.

Knowledge is power especially if moving to a brand for the first time.

slimjimmc

ironclaw wrote: »

Every single car is different. You need to check for known faults in the make and model. Hence why you bring a car to a mechanic who would know about such things. Personally I believe there is no market for this type of service. If someone is serious about buying a car, they will educate themselves and then bring the 'one' they are most interested in to a trusted mechanic for a thorough once over.

I'd like to think I am reasonably car savvy but even I would never buy a car without a professional second opinion. I would waste my money on a double check either. You may have a market for someone going to check a car out in another part of the country but how many people, on average, would even consider buying a car in say Donegal if they lived in Cork? Unlikely for the most part unless it was a serious spec or rare model, then you would probably have the interest to go and look yourself.

Actually I suggest that a great many don't have their cars inspected first. Most don't suffer any consequences but some do (judging by the number of threads over the years from people who bought defective cars without proper inspection).

ironclaw

slimjimmc wrote: »

Actually I suggest that a great many don't have their cars inspected first. Most don't suffer any consequences but some do (judging by the number of threads over the years from people who bought defective cars without proper inspection).

No, absolutely I agree with you there. I meant 'serious' as in 'not a noddy' of a buyer. But the person that has no interest or the intelligence to even think about a pre-inspection won't be in your market anyway either as they don't care or will be look at such a lower end of the budget that they won't have the cash to stomp up to do it.

Your market is people who want cars inspected of which I think there isn't a massive one. The likes of AA have brand power so you would need to build a fairly reputable standard and brand to have people interested. You also need to tempt local mechanics to do the service and what they would charge is anyone's guess. Realistically how much would you have to give them to step away from potentially a job worth €500 sitting on the ramp? If they were quiet, and as an official nixer, perhaps they would be interested. But busier mechanics definitely not unless the car was brought to them. You then need to standardise the check up and once over. Some mechanics could go as advanced as emission tests etc, some just won't have those tools available.

This is an idea I've seen floated in a few places and I've never seen it take off. I even briefly considered it myself when I launched an App last year as an add on. Financially, at least at the time, I couldn't justify it for myself or the mechanics. Not saying its impossible or anything, I'd just do the math first.