uvi Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Portland OnSite Used Car Pre-Purchase Inspection Service

We now have more pre-purchase inspection choices to better serve Portland & Vancouver used car buyers. Inspections starting at only $129!

Tuesday, July 23rd By Josh

For many years we only had one inspection choice, that is no longer the case. We now have a used car pre-purchase inspection for every vehicle each optimized for the type of vehicle and or what it is you “the buyer” is really interested in having inspected.

Introducing our Platinum – The same industry leading extremely detailed and thorough pre-purchase car inspection you’ve come to expect from PDXinspections. A new Gold/Newer car inspection optimized to save our clients money who are looking at newer low mileage vehicles likely still under warranty and a Bronze/Basic budget inspection to help those looking for reassurance they’re not buying a budget priced lemon.

We now have more pre-purchase inspection choices to better serve our Vancouver used car buyers starting at only $129 all with our extensive research and a vehicle history report and often service records included!

All of our inspections start with research: vehicle history report(s) and many times service records (when available – same records that are available to companies such as Carfax) are provided immediately after booking when the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is provided.

Every inspection includes measuring all exterior metal body panels to determine if the vehicle has been repainted and to determine whether it was due to cosmetic or accident repair

Platinum Inspection

Our most complete & common inspection for the modern vehicle
Hands down the most thorough mobile inspection that exists
Extremely detailed and in depth – Redundant tests throughout
Modeled after manufacture certified vehicle standards (I.e.150 point CPO) but are far superior

Learn more or book your Platinum inspection

Gold – New Car Inspection

Newer vehicle inspection (designed for vehicles that my be still under factory warranty)
Only vehicles that are 3 years old or newer with less than 50K miles located in Vancouver Washington are eligible
Everything in the Platinum inspection excluding: Interior condition report, accessory testing, lifting the vehicle, and a test drive

Learn more or book your Gold inspection

Bronze – Basic/Budget Inspection

Designed for older/high mileage/budget vehicles (typically mid 1980′s to 2000) with mechanical condition taking precedence
This is a basic mechanical and safety inspection
Our most important tests are completed
Cosmetic condition report and accessories tests are not completed

Learn more or book your Bronze inspection

Once you have chosen your inspection just follow the instructions to easily and securely book on that respective page

All of our used car inspection reports are delivered via email and is easily read/printed using your computer, smart phone, iPhone/iPad or any other mobile device capable of reading PDF’s. They are easily read and understood, written in laypersons terms with items of importance highlighted

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Carfax vs. AutoCheck

Sunday, June 23rd By Josh

We continually explain to our clients, Carfax is not our preferred vehicle history provider. Have you ever heard of the competing report, AutoCheck by Experian? Yes, Experian, the credit monitoring company.

Every time we hear a Carfax radio or TV ad it reminds us how much this service seems to be really geared towards dealers instead of protecting the buying public in our opinion. Carfax has all of the information but they leave out some rather important details that the competing report doesn’t. I’m sure you’ve heard, “Ask for your Carfax report, Free at thousands of reputable dealers” The truth behind this is that dealers are forced to spend big dollars to have a dealer Carfax account to offer those reports to you. Our owner/lead inspector Josh who actually owned a small used car dealership for 6 years witnessed many dealers buying their inventory at auction not really looking over the cars themselves rather actually purchasing the vehicles that have no accident/damage remarks on the Carfax report alone!

80% of the vehicles we inspect have one or more repainted/repaired panels yet show nothing on a Carfax report. Most dealers know what cars have been repainted or have been in an accident when buying them but they also know 98% of the buyers out there will only ask for a Carfax due to their advertising and not have the car pre-purchase inspected prior to purchase. Carfax does finally now recommend having an independent inspection preformed – Kudos Carfax!

PDXinspections provides each of our clients with an AutoCheck History report at minimum. This report in our opinion is the far superior report with the buyer’s best interest in mind rather than the dealers. The following story from a recent inspection, which explains and shows this very clearly.

We were recently hired to perform an inspection on a low mileage BMW M3. The dealer provided Carfax looked great, the AutoCheck report however told a completely different story. Both reports show the car was sold at auction so we know both providers have that information.

The Carfax simply reads:
07/30/2012 45,151 Auto Auction Pacific Region Listed as a dealer vehicle – Sold at auction

The AutoCheck shows:
05/30/2012 PACIFIC SW REGION 45,151 Auto Auction REPORTED AT AUTO AUCTION
06/15/2012 PACIFIC SW REGION Auto Auction AUCTION ANNOUNCED AS UNIBODY DAMAGE
06/27/2012 PACIFIC SW REGION 45,654 Auto Auction REPORTED AT AUTO AUCTION
07/30/2012 PACIFIC SW REGION 45,151 Auto Auction REPORTED AT AUTO AUCTION AS DEALER VEHICLE
08/01/2012 PACIFIC SW REGION Auto Auction AUCTION ANNOUNCED AS UNIBODY DAMAGE

Now the AutoCheck tells a completely different story doesn’t it? Why does the Carfax leave out the fact it went through the auction for 2 months without selling (red flag 1) and as well the auction actually announcing Frame/Unibody damage (red flag 2)? The Carfax will never show you if the car had a frame damage announcement at auction and won’t show you if it spent a year being bounced between auctions (which does happen).

Despite this information being provided upfront, the buyer did elect to still have us go check out the car and we quickly found the vehicle was involved in a rather hard rear end accident resulting in the lower trunk unibody/frame being replaced along with a rear bumper, and paintwork throughout the vehicle easily noticed once looking for it.

The truth is we see this kind of thing all of the time and on average cancel and refund several inspections a week alone based on our initial research including these reports. We don’t enjoy inspecting bad vehicles and know our customers will continue their searches better informed and in the end coming back to us with a better vehicle to inspect.

We will always continue to do in what we believe is best for the buying public and continue providing in what we consider the better report.

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Why we have a different prospective than most regarding vehicle safety and salvage titled vehicles in general

Wednesday, June 19th By Josh

When I’m not out inspecting used vehicles I enjoy spending my time as a firefighter. One of the many things we do is continually drill (practice our craft). Understanding vehicle construction is helpful but my role as a firefighter gives me a true respect for how strong a vehicle is and how important proper vehicle repairs are when they are damaged. While out inspecting I often see poorly repaired vehicles (mostly salvage) and think back to how that cost savings of knowingly purchasing a vehicle that has sustained some serious damage could end up being a life or death decision for you and your family and a rescue vs recovery for the firefighters that will respond to the next accident.

Remember accidents happen. Nobody gets up in the morning planning on getting into an accident. On top of worrying about the mechanical condition of your next car purchase, please really consider the safety aspects as well. I’ve always been a stickler for safety. I spent about 4 years in the dealership setting as a specialized Drive-ability, Electronics, Networking and Safety Systems Technician diagnosing and replacing safety systems such as airbags, pre-tensioners and seat belts so I understand better than most how crucial these properly functioning systems are and how intertwined they are with the rest of the vehicle including the structure. There is nothing more dangerous than a car designed with airbags that has been tampered with or has non functioning airbags. Please don’t choose cost over safety.

There are plenty of vehicles out there being poorly repaired daily, many around you every time you’re out driving. Be educated, do your research on the vehicle and seller, and please don’t consider purchasing without having it inspected.

Cooling system leaks, we’ll find them but would other inspections?

Thursday, May 16th By Josh

As your engine warms up, the pressure in the cooling system increases. It isn’t uncommon to have a cooling system only leak when the engine is hot. We pressure test cooling systems when appropriate to verify there are no cooling system leaks cold or hot.

Here’s one that would have may been overlooked by most independent/dealer used vehicle inspections as they don’t typically pressurize the cooling systems as part of their standard inspections.