Vehicle Inspections Northern Ireland

myshirt · 04-01-2013 10:25pm #1

Do the AA or RAC do vehicle inspections in Northern Ireland?

It is not clear from their website....

Anybody know of a competent garage that does this and provides a written report?

guttenberg · 04-01-2013 10:31pm

Where abouts in NI are the cars you are considering located?

myshirt · 04-01-2013 10:32pm

Belfast

slimjimmc · 04-01-2013 10:54pm

myshirt wrote: »

Do the AA or RAC do vehicle inspections in Northern Ireland?

It is not clear from their website....

Anybody know of a competent garage that does this and provides a written report?

Seems clear enough to me, RAC cover NI, AA in UK don't. AA Ireland don't say eitherway.

RAC

What areas of the UK do you cover?
Our team of Inspectors provides nationwide coverage.

The AA (UK)

In which geographical areas do you carry out inspections?

Inspections are only available on the mainland of Great Britain.

Vehicle inspections are not available on any of the islands or in Northern Ireland, and some areas of Scotland and Wales.

Tibulus · 05-01-2015 12:37pm

Just called both the AA and RAC and neither cover Northern Ireland.

Anybody else have experience with this?

zwind · 05-01-2015 12:45pm

take it to a garage in belfast, better than AA/RAC IMO.

Tibulus · 05-01-2015 12:54pm

Have viewed the car myself and am satisfied to the best of my knowledge.

Car came out of UK, had MOT reports and service history. Currently 80k miles.

Came across this guy that will do a full inspection for 150GBP:

http://www.motorvehicle-assessors.co.uk/services/vehicle-purchase-inspections

Not sure how much you can rely on a guy that you pulled off the internet. At least AA and RAC are trading off their name (reduced risk, not eliminated risk). A local garage in the north is not going to speak out again another local garage.

Can always take the chance, pay the money and have my local mechanic give it the full works when I get it home. Concern is then if the car has issues I have very little come back.

zilog_jones · 07-04-2016 12:16pm

Has anyone used Gareth Gillespie as mentioned above, or anyone else in NI for a vehicle inspection? I've also just found out that RAC don't cover NI (their website is a bit misleading there), and the AA don't seem to want to do hybrids (I'm looking at a Toyota Prius, not sure if they cover NI anyway as I can't call their 0800 number from here).

Tibulus · 07-04-2016 12:23pm

I have for a car in Newry before. Considered his cost to be expensive but turned out to be cheap in the long run.

From the moment he picked up the phone I knew we had an issue. Turns out the car had been completely resprayed with ticker paint in a number of places indicating filler.

To be fair all this required is a meter which can measure paint depth but I dont have one.

You can do the finance checks for circa 30eur.

Very prefessional guy, good service was worth the money for me anyway.

NIMAN · 07-04-2016 12:28pm

I employed a similar guy in Dublin at a cost of €120, and I considered it worth it.

My only problem with this service is paying £150, finding out there is an issue with the car and he advises you not to buy, you then have to pay another £150 for the next car you're interested in, and so on.

But if it works out that the 1st car he checks for you is good, then I think it would be money well spent.

You could also find a few reputable independent garages close to where the car is located, call them and ask them if they would be willing to 'rent out' one of their mechanics for an hour for a fee?

zilog_jones · 07-04-2016 12:53pm

Tibulus wrote: »

I have for a car in Newry before. Considered his cost to be expensive but turned out to be cheap in the long run.

From the moment he picked up the phone I knew we had an issue. Turns out the car had been completely resprayed with ticker paint in a number of places indicating filler.

To be fair all this required is a meter which can measure paint depth but I dont have one.

You can do the finance checks for circa 30eur.

Very prefessional guy, good service was worth the money for me anyway.

Thanks for the info. I won't be able to see the car before purchasing, so think the £150 for an independent inspection would be totally worth it before making a decision on the car. It would probably cost me more to go and view the car myself.