| Dirty, neglected look; trim or accessories missing | - Dirt and neglect only
- Trim or accessory missing
| - Lift mats and check for damp — a wet floor is a leak, not dirt.
- Smell: smoke, mold and pet odors can outlast any clean.
- Confirm missing trim is available for that exact generation before counting on it.
| - Why it looks as it does: standing unused, work vehicle, smoker.
- Whether the missing parts exist somewhere.
| Basic Diagnosis time: Under an hour Low safety relevance | Cleaning is mostly your time. Paint correction, dent removal and interior repairs are professional costs. Generation-specific trim can be hard to find. | - Water ingress.
- Presentation is hiding mechanical neglect: no oil on the dipstick, no service record.
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| Car will not start or run | - Flat or dead starter battery
- Kill switch, stand switch or immobilizer
- Fuel tap, pump or line fault
- Sensor or control-unit fault
- Timing belt or chain failure
- Seized engine
| - Does it crank? Dash lights with ignition on? Immobilizer light behavior?
- Oil and coolant levels and what they look like.
- Ask exactly what happened when it stopped: while driving, or after standing.
| - Any workshop diagnosis in writing.
- Fault codes read.
- Invoices for recent work, especially timing components.
| Intermediate to Professional, depending on the cause Diagnosis time: Workshop job Safety-relevant | Ranges from a battery to an engine. A failed timing drive or seized engine exceeds the value of most older cars. You will not know which from a driveway. | - Stopped while driving with a bang or loss of power.
- Seller’s diagnosis is a guess.
- You would be relying on it being “just the battery”.
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| Warning lights on | - Sensor or control-unit fault
- Airbag or ABS system fault
| - Which lights, steady or flashing, and whether they were there at the last inspection.
- A code reader gives a starting point, not a diagnosis.
| - Printout of stored codes.
- Workshop quote.
| Advanced to Professional, depending on the cause Diagnosis time: Workshop job Safety-critical | A code names a circuit, not a part. Emissions and sensor faults can need several attempts. Airbag and ABS faults are safety systems and belong with a qualified workshop. | - Airbag light on.
- Lights that have been disabled or a cluster that does not self-test.
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| Clutch slips or gearbox misbehaves | - Worn clutch
- Internal gearbox fault
| - High clutch bite point, slip in a high gear under load, judder when pulling away.
- Automatic: delayed engagement, flare between gears, harsh shifts when warm.
| - Gearbox service history.
- Any software updates or previous repairs.
| Professional Diagnosis time: Workshop job Safety-relevant | Labor-heavy in every case. Dual-clutch and automatic faults can exceed the car’s value. | - Any automatic or dual-clutch fault without a specialist quote.
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| Overheating or losing coolant | - Head gasket or cooling-system failure
| - Coolant level and color, oily film in the expansion tank, mayonnaise under the oil cap.
- Temperature gauge behavior on a proper drive; heater blowing hot.
| - How long the problem has existed.
- Whether it was ever driven hot.
| Advanced to Professional, depending on the cause Diagnosis time: Workshop job Safety-relevant | Could be a hose or a head gasket with a warped head. An engine that was driven while overheating may have further damage. | - Signs of oil and coolant mixing.
- Seller “tops it up every week”.
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| Rust, accident or flood signs | - Structural corrosion
- Poorly repaired accident damage
- Flood damage
| - Sills, jacking points, subframe mounts, suspension mounts, trunk floor.
- Uneven panel gaps, paint-thickness differences, overspray on rubbers, non-matching headlamps.
- Damp carpets, silt in the spare-wheel well, corrosion on seat rails — flood signs.
| - History check result.
- Repair invoices and photos.
- Inspection advisories mentioning corrosion.
| Professional Diagnosis time: Under an hour Safety-critical | Structural welding and body alignment are skilled trades and rarely pay for themselves on an older car. | - Structural rust.
- Undeclared accident repair.
- Any flood sign.
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| Inspection expired or failed | - Whatever the failed inspection listed — and what it did not test
| - Read the last report line by line, including advisories.
- Check whether the car may be driven at all without a valid inspection where you live.
| - The failure sheet.
- A workshop quote against it.
| Professional Diagnosis time: Workshop job Safety-critical | The failure list is a minimum: the inspection covers roadworthiness items, not the condition of engine, clutch or gearbox. Costs are unknown until a workshop has looked. | - Failed on corrosion or structural items.
- No report available.
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