St Ives sits high on the Ku-ring-gai ridge, with Mona Vale Road running through it and bushland on three sides. Cars here are usually garaged on large blocks — we inspect at the address, use the local gradients properly, and hand you the written report before you commit.
Two local realities matter in 2075: long garaged periods on big blocks, and the steep Mona Vale Road descent toward the beaches that makes brake and cooling behaviour testable.
A car kept under cover on a large block presents beautifully and can still be tired. Disc faces corrode where the pads sit, handbrake mechanisms seize, tyres age out with tread remaining, rubber bushes and hoses perish, and batteries never fully recover from short trips. We measure discs and pads, read tyre date codes, and load-test the battery instead of trusting the paintwork.
Few Sydney suburbs have a sustained downhill gradient on their doorstep. Where the car is registered and insured and the seller consents, that descent lets us feel for fade, pull and shudder under continuous braking, and see how an automatic manages engine braking — findings you simply cannot get from a flat lap of the shops.
Properties backing onto the Ku-ring-gai bushland collect leaf debris in the places that later cause damage: scuttle and plenum drains, sunroof drain tubes, boot and door drain paths, and the cabin filter housing. Blocked drains put water inside a car long before anyone notices, so we check those paths and photograph what is in them.
Many blocks have a long, sloped driveway to a garage set back from the street. That is fine for most of the inspection, but the car needs level ground to be raised safely and daylight to have its paint read properly. We agree the working position at booking so nothing is skipped on the day.
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 St Ives. 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 St Ives 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, because lightly used cars fail in their own way. Corroded discs, seized handbrake mechanisms, aged tyres with full tread, perished hoses and bushes, and batteries worn down by short trips are all common and none of them are visible in a clean engine bay. We measure them.
Where the car is registered and insured and the seller consents, yes. The gradient toward the beaches gives sustained braking, which is the only way to feel fade and pull honestly, and we back the impression up with wheel-off disc and pad measurement where the tier includes it.
Because properties near bushland collect leaf litter, and blocked drains send water into the cabin, the boot and the electrical modules that live low in the car. It is a cheap thing to check and an expensive thing to discover after purchase.
No. St Ives is inside our standard service area: $199 Essential, $329 Comprehensive, $449 Elite, plus $199 for the EV and hybrid battery health assessment if you add it. All prices include GST.
Comprehensive and Elite reports are issued on site before the inspector leaves; Essential reports are sent the same day. Every report is photo-backed and finishes with a clear verdict.
St Ives 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 St IvesBook a same-day inspection in St Ives
At the seller's address · from $199
