PDXinspections takes used car inspections to the next level in Portland. New cars, new equipment, same great customer service!

Monday, June 23rd By Josh

Thanks to our past satisfied clients and our continued commitment to becoming the most innovative used car inspection service, we’ve heavily invested into the future of our company!

We’re here to stay and we’ve officially built a new and improved second Prius. Most probably think our Prius’s are nothing but vehicles that get us around the Portland and Vancouver areas inspecting used vehicles but our Prius’s are much more! They are strategically equipped with various technologies and inspection equipment, and after about 80-100 hours of labor our new car is officially ready to get out and start inspecting! Our first Prius has been extremely reliable and has worked out very well for our service. We’ve taken our winning strategy for our complete lean green inspection machine and built the inside of the new car around some of the things we learned with our first vehicle. Look forward to even greater things to come from PDXinspections in the future!

Flood vehicles… Stay far away!

Sunday, February 2nd By Josh

We had an interesting phone call last week followed by some email conversations with a buyer looking to buy a Salvaged 2010 Cadillac Escalade from a less than reputable dealer here in the Portland market. This particular Escalade was flood damaged. Despite our warnings about the dealer, our past experiences with them and their negative online reviews the buyer was still considering the inspection and purchase.

When most people think about flood vehicles, I think they think about the cosmetic factor of the interiors getting wet and then dried out. What most don’t realize is that a modern vehicle is a rolling network of very expensive modules (computers). In an Escalades case there are over 30 of these modules everywhere from under each seat, each door and in places you wouldn’t even imagine. Although the seller may tell you it was “minor” and it may even look and smell fine this is a ridiculously risky purchase. In this case a $30K purchase. All may appear be ok today but the types of failures, issues and abnormalities you may experience in the future will not only be extremely expensive, but very difficult for any technician to correctly diagnose. Something like a seat module acting up could completely take down the vehicles network or cause the engine to stall, ABS to activate while driving on the highway, render the airbags useless, window to roll down when you hit the horn, etc… After explaining this, the buyer emailed back to ask if GM would warranty it. Most don’t think about this but the answer is absolutely not. A manufactures warranty is in place to cover “manufacturing defects” not acts of nature, accidents, modifications, etc. Edmunds did a great write up on what voids a manufactures warranty – http://www.edmunds.com/auto-warranty/what-voids-your-vehicles-warranty.html

Again, don’t fall the attractive price, it’s just not worth the risk. Sometime in the future when you’re done pulling your hair out, throwing money at it and want to get rid of the vehicle, you’re going to lose out on the resell value even worse than you feel you gained on the initial purchase price.

Stick with clean title vehicles, go in cautiously and be sure to have them inspected!

Don’t forget to winterize your vehicles

Tuesday, December 10th By Josh

It’s in the 20’s and we’re still out performing used car inspections. One of the most common things we see when the cold weather strikes is frozen windshield washers. Many people are not aware that there is a special blend of winter grade washer fluid that is supposed to prevent your washer fluid from freezing. Most might see this as more as a nuisance, not being able to clear/clean your windshield but this often leads to very expensive repairs down the road.

Your engine coolant when factory filled has a freeze point of -35 degrees. The risk of coolant freezing in an engine can be catastrophic as it can crack the engine block when the ice expands inside. The same applies and is very common when it comes to the washer system. There are many small expensive plastic components than very easily and commonly crack in the washer system after only 1 good freeze:

The washer tank
Washer pump(s) 2 in vehicles with rear wipers (wagons and SUV’s)
Low level switch assembly
Lines and jets.

In every inspection we not only test and report the engine coolant condition and freeze point, but we also check the integrity of the entire washer system from operation to freeze point of the fluid. 98% of the time we see freeze points of only +32 degrees. A simple fix for the winter involves running the old fluid through the system and refilling with the proper winter grade fluid found at most home improvement and auto parts stores. Most of these winter blend formulas also have the added benefit of being deicers as well!

Just another thing to think about when looking at your next vehicle or on your existing vehicles. Stay warm!

Buying a used car in Portland Oregon

Thursday, December 5th By Josh

Used car buying tips specifically for Portland, Oregon & Vancouver, Washington metro areas

What you should know:

This information is absolutely invaluable for those who are just starting their used car buying adventure in Portland, Oregon. The information below is more of a recap of the more in depth information we’ve provided on our “PDXinspections Tips for Shopping and Buying a Quality Used Car” page.

Planning the purchase

If you’re going to be financing the vehicle and working with a dealer, try to get pre-approved through a credit union of your choosing prior to starting your search. If you’re not a member of a local credit union start there. Many offer rates as low as 0.99% on used cars up to 3-4 years old. Most will typically pre-approve you and provide you 60 days to shop. Credit unions are not only much easier to not only work with, they offer lower rates, better customer service, they’re more apt to actually approve you and usually makes for a very easy transaction once you find the right car.

Know the seller

There are a lot of used car dealers to choose from. It’s typically better to start with the larger franchised dealers if you want/need to purchase from a dealer. We believe you get more car for less money if you are patient and invest the time to find a real private party owner selling their own vehicle. Be cautious and perform in depth research any dealer you’re considering working with, especially when considering a vehicle from a smaller independent dealer. You will quickly find out what dealers care about customer service/sell quality vehicles (they go hand in hand) and which are all about making money and have no problem selling clunkers.

Yelp – Be sure to check out the “Not recommended/filtered reviews” as well. Watch out for dealers who have 1 star reviews followed by 5 star reviews
Google “Company name + reviews”
Yahoo
BBB – We have mixed feelings about the better business bureau and would suggest sticking to “real people reviews” rather than a company in the business to solicit business participation in their “accreditation”.

In Portland there are a lot of private party sellers advertising vehicles that are not actually registered to them. Unlicensed dealers are known as curbers and these can quickly become a nightmare transactions between problem cars and issues for you when you go to register/title the vehicle in your name. These sellers are easy to spot, look for a combination of the following:

Look for missing license plates in pictures – Why would the owner not have plates on the car?
If the phone number is provided – is it masked: 5 oh three 78 nine zero 1 6 8 or 5o3-789-OI68? This could be a good clue they’re doing this to prevent you from simply googling the number to see all of the other vehicles they are selling or have possibly sold in the past.
Google “the phone number + for sale” prior to contacting that seller. See other vehicles come up? You likely found a curber.
Read through the ad. Do they specifically say “my” car or do they explain it like it’s just another car they’re selling. Is there a lot of information about the car stating its history, repairs, etc or is the ad very basic?

An often-overlooked tip. Look at the license plates in the ads or ask the dealer about the registration if they have dealer vanity plates on the cars. Oregon doesn’t have a tax on their vehicle purchases but the licensing and registration fees can be quite expensive. For example:

A vehicle with current Oregon plates will only require a quick trip to the DMV and cost you $77 dollars to title in your name. You don’t have to pay for registration until the tags expire.
A vehicle without plates or expired tags will require a separate trip the Oregon DEQ first, it must pass DEQ, followed by a trip the DMV with fees that could be upwards of $350. Remember, a private party seller selling a vehicle without license plates is very often an unlicensed dealer. If theres a picture of a temporary plate in the back window you should ask yourself why? Why would someone who just bought a car being trying to already sell it?

Knowing the market and its value

Use Kelly Blue Book to check the value of the vehicle to get an estimate on what it’s worth. Knowing this information prior to your calling will help you get an idea how negotiable the seller is. You’ll probably notice many vehicles such as popular “in demand” Honda’s and Toyota’s don’t typically follow KBB’s values, so be sure to figure out what the true market value is before getting frustrated by everyone asking too much for their vehicles. Again KBB values are pointless if none of the vehicles online are listed anywhere close to those values. Our advice is to put craigslist to work for you by changing the way you look and compare vehicles. Search by title only and be specific like this:

Leave the search bar blank
Search by year (plus one and negative one) if you’re trying to price 2006’s enter 2005 to 2007 for example (assuming its the same generation)
Enter the Make and Model ie. Honda Civic
Check the title status box and click clean only – You can’t compare clean title vehicles to salvage title vehicles!
Click “Search”
Sort by price low to high by clicking the $$$ (Small to big blue link)
Look at the average pricing and look at the lower priced vehicles, check them out and find roughly where the clean title vehicles start and then go back and adjust the minimum and maximum values to exclude the salvage vehicles and those that are clearly overpriced or out of your budget. Finally hit search again.
You should see something like this: 2006-2008 Honda Civic Search in Portland
Now re-search, adjusting the year up and down and see what others are listed for.

Your initial viewing

When you go to look at the car. Start it up and pay close attention to all of the warning lights in the dash. They should all light up and then disappear within about 10 seconds. If any of the Airbag, SRS, ABS, Check engine, Service engine or similar lights remain illuminated, ask the seller to fix and provide receipts of service prior to further considering the vehicle. If they aren’t interested in doing this then why would you waste your time? It always amazes us how many vehicles we show up with lights on such as the airbag light on, especially at dealerships! This could be a $100 fix or it could be a $1000+ fix, why not eliminate this issue prior to spending your inspection money on a vehicle that the seller isn’t going to be willing to fix or negotiate into the price. Many times people are selling their cars once they get an estimate on what it costs to actually fix. Don’t fall for stories, it’s not typically as minor as they may portray otherwise they likely would have fixed it.

The all important pre-puchase inspection

There are a lot of people claiming to perform mobile onsite used car inspections. Would you find your next doctor on craigslist? Only trust real established businesses who employs real properly certified master technicians, who perform all the necessary tests and inspect the entire vehicle, who have established real customer feedback, and most importantly a completely unbiased company without any hidden agendas or performing any other automotive work. We speak from experience as someone who has performed dealer used vehicle inspections, no other automotive business anywhere gives you all of the information needed between our upfront research, history report(s) provided, class leading customer service and our in depth inspection itself. PDXinspections.com

The information above should help point you to the right car more quickly with fewer frustrations.
Please be sure to read through our more in depth page “PDXinspections Tips for Shopping and Buying a Quality Used Car”

2009 MINI Cooper with a blown head gasket, think new cars don’t need to be inspected? Think again…

Monday, November 18th By Josh

It took three inspections to find the right car…

We have people ask us almost weekly do I really need to have a newer vehicle inspected? Or how about from a dealer who’s offering a warranty? In our minds it’s cheap insurance to make sure you don’t end up with a lemon. We’ve been doing this long enough to see some pretty crazy things even from only 1-2 year old models from some reputable dealerships.

We recently had a client who was looking for a newer MINI Cooper to buy for his wife’s birthday. He didn’t want to have to take the time out of his busy schedule and initiate transactions with various dealers to look over the cars on the market, so instead he hired us to look over the vehicle prior to even contacting the dealers that he was interested. His requirements were simple: a non smoking car and he wasn’t interested in a car that had been in any type of accident or having any kind of previous repaint. It took three inspections but in the end he found the best car.

MINI number 1 – 2009 MINI Cooper S – VIN WMWMF73539TW83305
The first one we went to look at sounded nice per the ad, “Non smoking & in like new condition” at a small independent dealer in NE Portland. Upon our arrival we found a few rather large flags based on his requirements. First, the vehicle had had some previous paintwork and it was fairly obvious with fish-eyes, spots and sanding marks visible in the paint. Probably the most surprising however, was that the ad clearly advertised it as being a non-smoking vehicle yet there were burn holes throughout the carpeting and in the leather seats. This one was out.
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On to MINI number 2 – 2009 MINI Cooper S – VIN WMWMF73509TW86811
This 60K mile MINI being sold by a bigger independent dealer in Milwaukie on Mcloughlin BLVD. We’ve been to this dealer many times in the past with mixed results. This one did have some superficial paint work but the biggest issue was that it had some serious engine issues. It almost immediately became apparent the car had a failing head gasket. Most may have started the car and thought it had some “lot rot” as it did initially run rough for a few seconds, but there were many clues that it had a internally failed head gasket.

Before starting the vehicle we always look over all fluids under the hood. What first caught our eye was the color and dark carbon like traces noted in the coolant bottle. It didn’t look good for a 60K mile 2009 vehicle.
When removing the cooling cap on a cold engine there was a noticeable pressure in the cooling system as well as bubbles – This is not normal on a stone cold engine that has been sitting for some time.
We had our scanner running a full system scan on the car prior to starting and noticed some other red flags such as misfire codes
As soon as we started the car, it initially ran very rough, and then seemed to clear out but now the check engine light was illuminated.
Finally, to confirm our suspicions we took our exhaust gas analyzer and sniffed out the cooling system, which instantly confirmed we had a head gasket failure. Cooling systems are sealed from the outside world and from the engine. Under no circumstances should you ever see any combustion gasses or by-products in the cooling system. In this case we had Hydrocarbons (HC-unburnt fuel) and Carbon Monoxides (CO – partially burn fuels) present. We’re currently working on a video that shows/explains this process in detail.

So obviously MINI number 2 was out. When looking back at the Carfax it became pretty apparent that someone had issues with the car shortly after the warranty expired.
Service on 04/11/2013 @ 58,716 Miles

Radiator hose clamp replaced
Water pump replaced
Thermostat housing/gasket replaced
Thermostat replaced
Antifreeze/coolant checked

These services suggest the car likely had a overheating issue or a coolant odor issue and a shop without a $5000 exhaust gas analyzer to properly diagnose the shop likely threw parts at it. If we had to guess, the owner likely traded it in after this service was completed at probably $1000 the car continued having issues. It was also interesting to note it was sent to auction only a week after the MINI dealer in CA listed the car for resale. We showed the dealer our findings before we left, he mentioned this happened to him just a few weeks on a similar car. One would think the dealer would send it back to auction, but according to the history report the car was sold 2 months later to some unsuspecting buyer here in Portland.
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On to MINI number 3 – 2010 MINI Cooper S – VIN WMWMF7C52ATZ73202
This was the final car and the one he was looking for. The car was absolutely pristine! None of the previous issues, never been smoked in and most importantly never had any paintwork. Needless to say, our client was very satisfied and his patience definitely paid off.

Josh thank you for your professional counsel and extra work on these Mini inspections. I did a deal with Kevin and my wife is delighted with her birthday gift.

I am still on the hunt for something to replace my Suburban. So when I figure it out and begin my search I will once again be in touch.

Again many thanks for the excellent service you provide.

Mark

You will always save money having the car inspected prior to purchase and in this case our client avoided the hassles of weeding through the junk vehicles while avoiding a vehicle with a blown head gasket that would have cost him close to $3000 to fix right off the bat.