Pre-purchase car inspection in Sydney CBD.
A qualified mobile mechanic comes to the car — an apartment basement in Barangaroo, a metered bay in Surry Hills, a showroom in Zetland or Waterloo. 200+ point inspection, PPSR check, photo report with a clear verdict. From $199.
Why a pre-purchase inspection matters in Sydney CBD.
The city is the most competitive used-car market in the country and the hardest one to inspect properly. Cars are listed and gone within days, sellers work business hours, there is rarely a driveway to work in, and buyers are under pressure to commit before someone else does.
That pressure is exactly what a bad car needs to find a buyer. The classic inner-city listing — low kilometres, one owner, garage-kept, immaculate interior — reads as the safest car on the market. In our experience it is one of the most misread. Short stop-start trips, tight parking, steep basement ramps and long periods sitting idle each leave their own mark, and none of them show up on a ten-minute drive around the block.
We come to the car wherever it is, in the window that suits you and the seller, and give you an independent, qualified read on it: mechanical condition, structural and repair history, electronics and fault codes, plus the PPSR finance and write-off check — before any money changes hands.
Mobile inspections, on the seller's driveway — your choice of depth.
You don't move the car — we come to it. Every inspection is carried out by a qualified mechanic and comes with a clear digital report: instant on-site for Comprehensive and Elite, same-day for Essential.
Visual and mechanical health check plus a road test. Right for a straightforward private listing under $20k.
See what's includedOur most popular package. Full mechanical, electrical, body and structural inspection with a detailed photo report and fault-code scan.
See what's includedFor European prestige, near-new and higher-value vehicles. Full computer diagnostics, deeper electronic checks, extended road test.
See what's includedFor any EV or hybrid. Measured state of health on the high-voltage pack, issued as a separate digital certificate.
See what's includedCoverage across Sydney CBD & inner city.
If the car you're looking at is in the region, we'll come to it — dealership forecourt, private driveway or workplace car park.
Also covered: The Rocks, Millers Point, Dawes Point, Walsh Bay, Elizabeth Bay, Rushcutters Bay, Kings Cross, Zetland, Green Square, Waterloo, Alexandria, Beaconsfield, Rosebery, Eveleigh, Darlington, Camperdown, Forest Lodge, Annandale, Erskineville, Newtown, Moore Park, Paddington and Woolloomooloo Wharf.
What buying a used car in the city actually looks like in 2026.
Inner-city listings skew towards small hatches, compact SUVs, European prestige and ex-lease or ex-novated sedans, with a rapidly growing share of used EVs and hybrids out of Green Square, Zetland and Pyrmont. Kilometres are low, asking prices are high, and the seller almost always has other buyers waiting.
Three patterns account for most of what we find. First, short-trip mechanical wear: sludged oil, carbon-fouled intakes, failed DPF regens on diesels and undercharged batteries on cars that never get a long run. Second, parking and kerb damage: repainted bumpers, scraped sills from basement ramps, bent rims, and steering and suspension components stressed by full-lock manoeuvring. Third, undisclosed repair history on prestige cars, where a professional repair can be invisible to the eye but obvious to a paint gauge.
The other city-specific risk is the deposit. Buyers routinely pay a holding deposit to keep a car off the market and only then arrange an inspection. Book the inspection first — a good seller will not lose the deal over a 90-minute check, and a seller who refuses one has told you something useful.
60+ checkpoints, every inspection.
The documented checklist a workshop would run before a major service or warranty handover — done on site, in front of the car you're about to buy.
Engine & driveline
Oil condition and leaks, coolant condition, head-gasket signs, timing chain rattle, turbo health, engine mounts, exhaust smoke under load, gearbox shift quality (auto, DCT, CVT, manual), clutch wear, diff and driveshaft play.
Brakes, steering & suspension
Pad and rotor thickness measured, brake fluid moisture, handbrake travel, steering rack play, tie rods, ball joints, control-arm bushes, sway-bar links, shock absorber leaks, ride height, wheel-bearing noise.
Tyres & wheels
Tread depth on all four corners with photos, tyre age (DOT date), uneven wear indicating alignment or suspension faults, kerb damage, spare condition, locking wheel-nut key.
Body, paint & structure
Panel-gap symmetry, repaint detection with a paint depth gauge, overspray, weld marks, chassis-rail and inner-guard inspection, underbody rust, boot floor, A/B/C-pillar integrity.
Electrical & electronics
Battery state of health, alternator output, every light, wipers, central locking, windows, infotainment, cameras and sensors, cruise control, ADAS warnings, full fault-code scan on Comprehensive and Elite.
Interior, safety & comfort
Airbag warning history, seatbelt operation, ISOFIX anchors, climate-control performance, sunroof seals, water-ingress signs, odour and mould indicators, wear against claimed kilometres.
Road test
Cold start, idle quality, gearbox behaviour under load and overrun, brake balance and pull, steering centring, highway-speed vibration, suspension noise over bumps, ABS and stability control.
Identity & history
VIN, compliance and build plates verified against the registration. PPSR check confirms no finance owing, not written off, not stolen. Odometer cross-checked against service history where available.
EV & hybrid (add-on)
High-voltage battery state of health, module readings where the platform allows, charging-port and inverter check, regen behaviour, 12V auxiliary battery and thermal management — issued as a certificate.
The faults we keep finding around Sydney CBD.
Real issues flagged on inspections in this region — and what they typically cost to put right.
Short-trip engine wear on low-kilometre city cars
Oil sludging, carbon build-up on direct-injection intake valves, and cooling systems that never reach a stable operating temperature. On diesels, incomplete DPF regeneration cycles are the single most expensive city fault we find — a blocked DPF is $2,500–$4,500 and the warning light often has not appeared yet.
Kerb and basement-ramp damage
Scraped sills, splitters and exhaust heat shields from steep apartment ramps, gouged alloys, and bent rims from potholes and gutters. We photograph all four corners and test the steering at full lock for rack and tie-rod play caused by repeated kerb strikes.
Repainted panels on prestige listings
Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo and Lexus dominate the higher end of the city market and a professional repair is genuinely hard to see. A paint-depth gauge across every panel, plus panel-gap and bolt-mark checks, separates a car that has been detailed from one that has been rebuilt. Undisclosed structural repair can cut resale by thousands.
Battery, alternator and 12V health
Cars that sit for a week between short runs never complete a full charge cycle. We measure battery state of health and alternator output rather than just checking that it starts — a car that starts fine on a warm day can strand you the first cold morning after purchase.
Water ingress and post-break-in repairs
Street-parked and open-carpark cars in the inner city are broken into more often than anywhere else in Sydney. We check for replacement glass, resprayed door frames, damaged lock barrels, damp underlay in the footwells and boot, and the mould and electronics faults that follow a leak that was never dried out properly.
Ex-lease and ex-novated sedans and SUVs
Attractively priced and often genuinely well serviced, but frequently returned with deferred maintenance: brakes at minimum thickness, tyres at the wear indicators, and a major service due immediately. We measure pads and rotors and check tyre DOT dates so you know what the first month of ownership will actually cost.
Used EVs and hybrids from Green Square and Pyrmont
Tesla, BYD, Polestar, MG and hybrid Toyotas are now a large share of inner-city listings. Range loss is invisible on a test drive. Our $199 add-on measures high-voltage battery state of health and issues a separate certificate — the most effective negotiating document in the used-EV market.
Outstanding finance on quick private sales
Fast-moving city private sales are where encumbered cars change hands. A lender's security interest survives the sale, so the car can be repossessed from you after you have paid. Every inspection includes a PPSR check confirming no money owing, no write-off record and no stolen listing.
Booked in minutes, report the same day.
1. Book online
Pick a tier, tell us the seller's address and the listing details. Two minutes.
2. We arrange access
We contact the seller or dealer directly, confirm a time and send them the ETA.
3. Inspection on site
A qualified mechanic inspects, photographs and road-tests the car, and runs the PPSR.
4. Report + verdict
Photo report with repair-cost guidance and a plain-English Buy / Negotiate / Walk Away call.
Buying from a dealer vs a private seller.
Dealer
- A statutory warranty applies to most vehicles under 10 years / 160,000 km — limited in time and scope. Read it before you sign.
- A reputable yard will welcome an independent mechanic on site. Hesitation is a red flag.
- Dealer-prep fees, paint and interior protection, and extended warranties are all negotiable.
Private seller
- Strictly sold as-is. No statutory warranty, no cooling-off, no consumer-protection backstop.
- A PPSR check is essential — outstanding finance survives the sale and the lender can repossess the car from you.
- Prices sit below dealer money, so an independent inspection is usually the difference between a bargain and a liability.
Inspection questions answered.
Essential is $199, Comprehensive $329 and Elite $449. Comprehensive is the right fit for most city cars — small hatches, compact SUVs and ex-lease sedans — because it includes the full fault-code scan and paint-depth measurement that expose kerb repairs and parking damage. Elite suits European prestige, which is heavily represented in CBD and Potts Point listings. The $199 EV / Hybrid Battery Health add-on works with any tier, and there is no travel surcharge anywhere in the city.
Book an inspection in Sydney CBD today.
Tell us where the car is. We'll organise access with the seller, inspect it properly, and send you the report with a clear verdict.
Inspection in Sydney CBDBook a same-day inspection in Sydney CBD
At the seller's address · from $199