How to check a used car before you buy: a step-by-step checklist

Buying a used car is mostly about not being rushed. A seller who is relaxed about you taking your time is a good sign, and one who is not tells you something too. This is the order we would work through, from the paperwork you can check before you travel to the things you can only judge in person.

Before you travel

Start with the registration. A quick free car check confirms the make, colour and MOT status match the advert, and flags anything in the recorded history before you spend an afternoon on it.

• Check the advert's basic facts against the record: make, model, colour, fuel and year.
• Read the MOT history for repeated advisories, especially anything structural or corrosion related.
• Note the mileage pattern, and be wary of a reading that drops or barely moves between tests.

If the MOT record raises questions, our guide to reading an MOT history explains what the wording actually means before you ask the seller about it.

When you see it

Daylight and a dry car make faults easier to spot, so try to view in good weather rather than under a forecourt light in the rain.

1. Walk around the car and look along each panel for ripples or mismatched paint, which can point to past accident repair.
2. Check the tyres are a matched set with legal tread, and that they wear evenly.
3. Start the engine from cold if you can, since a warm engine on arrival can hide a difficult start.
4. Take a test drive long enough to reach motorway speed, and listen with the radio off.

Before you pay

The records that cost money to search, outstanding finance, a stolen marker and insurance write-off history, are the ones that decide whether a car is legally safe to buy. If any of those matter to you, and they should, a full check covers them. A car recorded as a category S or N write-off is not necessarily one to avoid, but it is one to understand and price accordingly.

Whatever the check shows, treat it as a prompt to ask better questions rather than a verdict. The paperwork tells you where to look, and the car and the seller tell you the rest.