Lane Cove is an almost entirely private-sale suburb: there is no dealership strip here, so most of the cars we are asked to inspect are sitting in a driveway off Burns Bay Road or in an apartment garage behind Longueville Road. We come to the car, inspect it where it is, and give you the written report before you commit any money.
Lane Cove is hilly, heavily treed and split between older houses on steep blocks and apartment buildings clustered around the village. Those three things decide where we can safely assess a car and what a useful road test looks like here.
A lot of Lane Cove's residential streets fall away sharply toward the river. A car parked nose-down on a slope hides fluid drips, makes a handbrake test misleading and makes it hard to read tyre and brake wear evenly. Where the street is steep we ask the seller to move the car onto level ground — a flat driveway or the nearest flat kerb — before we start.
If the car lives in a basement off Longueville Road or Little Street, expect a low ceiling, a tight bay and poor lighting. That is workable for the interior and scan-tool work but not for paint and underbody assessment. Tell us at booking that it is a basement car so we can arrange with the seller to bring it out to daylight for the body inspection.
Epping Road and the Lane Cove Tunnel are on the doorstep, so the road test does not have to be limited to 50 km/h back streets. Sustained speed is what exposes wheel balance, driveline vibration, torque-converter lock-up and steering pull, and the tunnel approach gives a sustained climb that loads the engine and cooling system.
Lane Cove's canopy is one of the densest on the lower North Shore. Cars parked under it long-term collect sap and leaf litter, and blocked sunroof and cowl drains are a genuine mechanism for wet carpets and musty smells. We lift the carpet edges and check drain paths rather than judging the roof lining by eye.
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 Lane Cove. 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 Lane Cove 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.
Yes, but the quality of the body assessment improves a lot if the car is brought out first. Low ceilings and fluorescent light make it difficult to read paint work and impossible to get a clean view of the underbody. Interior, electronics, scan-tool and fluid checks are unaffected. Just tell us at booking and we will ask the seller to move it.
No. Lane Cove 2066 is inside our standard Sydney service area, so you pay the advertised tier price: $199 Essential, $329 Comprehensive or $449 Elite, plus $199 if you add the EV or hybrid battery health assessment. All prices include GST.
Where the seller consents and the car is registered and insured, yes — a highway leg is far more informative than a lap of the block. Ask for it when you book. If the car is unregistered or the seller will not allow a road test, we tell you that in the report rather than quietly leaving the section blank.
It changes what matters most. On a private sale there is no statutory dealer warranty and no dealer guarantee of clear title, so the PPSR history check included with Comprehensive and Elite carries more weight — it confirms whether money is owed on the car, whether it has been written off and whether it has been reported stolen.
No. We arrange access with the seller, attend, inspect and send the report to you. Comprehensive and Elite reports are issued on site before the inspector leaves; Essential reports are delivered the same day. You can call the inspector afterwards to talk through anything in it.
Lane Cove sits inside our North Shore 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 Lane CoveBook a same-day inspection in Lane Cove
At the seller's address · from $199
