Double Bay sits between New South Head Road and the harbour, steep on three sides and dense with apartment buildings, small commercial parking and narrow one-way streets. We inspect the car where it lives and give you the written report before you commit.
Three things define a job in 2028: gradients, basements with tight ramps, and streets where stopping for an hour is genuinely difficult.
The basements here are cut into hillsides, which means short, steep ramps and low door heights. On a low car, the underside of the front bar, the sill edges and the exhaust hangers often carry ramp contact marks. We check whether those marks are scrape damage or something structural, and photograph both so the difference is visible in the report rather than described in a sentence.
Stacker platforms give no door clearance, no jack access and no sight-line down a panel. We can start a car on a stacker and little else. For the body, underbody and road-test portions we need it out on the apron or the street, and we arrange that with the seller when the booking is made rather than discovering it on the day.
The climbs out of the bay toward Bellevue Hill and Edgecliff load a driveline and a braking system far harder than flat running. Where the car is registered and insured and the seller consents, we include a gradient leg, because a slipping automatic, a tired clutch, brake shudder or a marginal handbrake all show up on a hill and can hide completely on the level.
Proximity to the water means salt exposure, and it does not begin on the paint you can see. We check drain paths at doors, sunroof and boot, seam sealer edges, fastener surfaces, brake and fuel line runs, and the spare-wheel well underside — the places corrosion establishes itself before anything is visible from outside.
You don't need to be there and you don't need to move the car. Timing depends on inspector availability in your area and on when the seller can make the vehicle available — we confirm a time with you once we've spoken to them.
Send the listing and the address of the car. Tell us if there is anything specific you want checked.
We contact the seller or the dealership directly and lock in a time that suits both sides, based on inspector availability in your area. You don't need to be there.
A qualified mobile inspector attends the vehicle where it is and works through the full checklist, including a road test.
Comprehensive and Elite reports are issued on site. Essential reports are delivered the same day. Every report ends with a plain-English recommendation and a phone call if you want to talk it through.
Every price below includes travel within our Sydney service area, so there is no surcharge for Double Bay. All prices include GST.
Visual and mechanical safety check, OBD-II scan, measured brake and tyre life, battery and charging test, and a road test.
Written photo report the same day
with code SAVE10
Everything in Essential plus a full mechanical assessment, an undertray-off leak-source check where safe and permitted, every suspension bush inspected, PPSR history and repair-cost estimates.
Report issued on site, before the inspector leaves
Everything in Comprehensive plus a senior inspector, paint-thickness readings on every panel, cold-start assessment, advanced history deep-dive and on-site price negotiation.
Report issued on site, before the inspector leaves
Adds a measured state-of-health assessment of the high-voltage battery on any EV or hybrid, issued as a separate certificate.
Certificate issued with your report
If we miss a major fault that was present at the time of inspection on an Elite Buyers' Protection inspection, we contribute up to $3,000 toward the repair within 30 days. Essential and Comprehensive do not include this cover.
A pre-purchase inspection in Double Bay removes most of the risk in a used-car purchase. It does not remove all of it, and you should know where the edges are before you book.
Not properly while it is on the platform — there is no room to open doors, no jack access and no way to sight a panel. We ask the seller to bring it down onto the apron or the street for the body, underbody and road-test sections. If any part of the inspection could not be completed because of the parking, the report says so.
It depends entirely on what is behind them. Steep basement ramps in this area mark almost every low car, and cosmetic contact on a plastic bar is very different from a bent subframe rail, a damaged sump guard or a crushed exhaust hanger. We photograph the underside and report which of those it actually is.
Where the car is registered, insured and the seller agrees, yes. The climbs around Double Bay are a much better test of a transmission, clutch and braking system than flat road running, and they are how we assess handbrake holding and brake shudder honestly.
The advertised price with no surcharge for the postcode: $199 Essential, $329 Comprehensive, $449 Elite, and $199 for the EV or hybrid battery health assessment added to any tier. All prices include GST and travel within our Sydney service area.
Comprehensive and Elite reports are issued on site before the inspector leaves, so you can act while you are still with the seller. Essential reports come the same day. Every report carries photographs and a clear verdict.
Double Bay sits inside our Eastern Suburbs coverage. If the car you're chasing is a few suburbs over, it's the same service and the same price.
Tell us where the car is and we'll arrange the inspection with the seller. Written repair cover on Elite (30 days / up to $3,000).
Inspection in Double BayBook a same-day inspection in Double Bay
At the seller's address · from $199
