Before you buy
Buying privately: what to do on the day you go and look
8 min read
A practical order of operations for inspecting a used car from a private seller in Australia, from the first message to handing over money.
Before you go
Ask for the registration number and the VIN in the first message. A seller with nothing to hide sends both without comment, and a seller who will not is telling you something for free.
Run the history check before you drive anywhere. It costs a fraction of the fuel and it decides whether the trip is worth making.
At the car, before the drive
Do the identity work first, while you are still willing to walk away. Once somebody has driven a car they like, their judgement about its paperwork quietly changes.
- Match the VIN on the car to the VIN on the papers to the VIN you checked.
- Check the seller's name matches the registration, and ask to see identification if it does not.
- Meet at the address on the registration rather than a car park.
- Look at panel gaps, paint that does not match between panels, and fresh underseal. All are reasons to ask what was repaired and when.
The drive
Drive it cold. A seller who has warmed the engine before you arrive has removed the most informative ten minutes of the inspection, and it is fair to say so and come back another time.
Get it to highway speed if you can. Vibration, pulling under brakes and gearbox behaviour under load are all things a lap of the block will not show you.
Before money moves
For anything other than a cheap car, an independent inspection by a mechanic or a motoring club is the best value in the whole process. It is a small fraction of the purchase price and it is the only step that tells you about the parts you cannot see.
Pay in a way that leaves a record. A bank transfer with the vehicle's details in the reference is evidence; cash in a car park is not.
Get a signed receipt with both names, the date, the price, the registration and the VIN.
Common questions
- Should I get an independent inspection on a private sale?
- On anything but a very cheap car, yes. It is the only step that reports on the mechanical condition you cannot assess yourself, and it costs a small fraction of the purchase price.
- Is it safe to pay cash for a private car sale?
- It leaves you with the least evidence. A bank transfer naming the vehicle creates a record of what was paid, to whom, and for what.
Check the car you are looking at
Enter an Australian plate or 17-character VIN. Run an instant free identity check, then add the official register searches this guide is about.
