2003 Toyota Tundra 77K

Auto Inspex inspected a truck for a customer in San Antonio Texas today. Our customer was considering shipping the vehicle from the dealership to his house sight unseen. Once the inspection was complete, one of our customer service reps called the customer and asked how much damage the seller disclosed.

The customer replied, "Well, he said it the rear bumper had been dented." Well it did..... sort of. The truck was a 2003 Toyota Tundra with 77,000 miles on it. Looking through the report our inspector uploaded it's pretty obvious that this truck had seen better days. The truck had been in a front end collision, and a rear end collision of some sort. With Auto Inspex, the customer can have complete confidence buying a vehicle sight unseen or in person.

This time, we will let the pictures do the talking.

2008 BMW M3

We inspected a 2008 BMW M3 (E93) with 9K on the odometer. Most of the time, upper class sports cars have been taken very well care of. The owners usually don't pile the miles on them keeping the value high for resale.

That is the case with this one. Of all the small blemishes our inspector found, only a few of them were significant enough to write about. There was a small dent in the hardtop convertible that a paint-less dent/ding repair expert could probably remove fairly easily. One other thing noted was scratches on the driver interior door panel. This is a common place for scratches of this nature from getting in and out of the car. As insignificant as it may seem, we look hard for flaws even on the nicest of cars. This is what car buyers want to know.

  Overall, the car was very nice, but it did have a 2" scratch on the driver side door that will not be able to be buffed out. A good rule of thumb for a scratch is if you can feel it with your fingernail, it won't be coming out. The interior was in excellent condition, but the wheels had significant "curb rash" on 3 out of 4 as noted in our inspectors pictures.

  As noted in the inspection, the car drove well and had no mechanical issues whatsoever other than minor pinging typically from bad gas. That is great news considering the high labor cost of foreign auto repair. All in all, this car was in pretty good shape. I'm sure the buyer will enjoy it immensely and rest assured they made a sound buying decision.

2006 Mustang GT - A Lease Return

Auto Inspex completed a pre-purchase used car inspection on a 2006 Mustang GT. Many times, vehicles that are lease-returns tend to be not as well taken care of. Looking over the report, there is not really too much to write about. This GT had been exceptionally well cared of by the person who leased it. Of the few small things noted was a small tear in the driver seat. Our inspector didn't even find a door ding on this Mustang. On a side note, our customer was glad to hear that the car had a nice tone to the true dual exhaust. A picture was taken on the underside of the car to show the exhaust condition.

The cruise control was not functioning properly and the dealer and buyer was notified immediately. This could be a number of things, but the dealer decided that they would take care of this for the customer before they had it shipped. Many times car buyers are so focused on the common issues that they will overlook the smaller things. Our thorough150 point inspection not only covers the major items, but pays attention to the small details as well. Auto Inspex includes around 30 detailed pictures to let you see the true condition of the car without anything being hidden. Second to none, this Mustang GT was in excellent condition and exceeded our expectations from a lease-return vehicle.

Another Pleased Customer - Used Car Inspection - Fort Worth TX

After arriving on-site and having the Lexus IS250 pulled up for the inspector, he performed one of our many used car inspections. The car looked great, and was more than obvious the IS was well taken care of. Getting a closer look at the paint, there were a few small details that drew his attention. See below for picture illustrations.

After making way around the driver side, the inspector found a few long scratches that were noted and pictured (see below). It looked as though maybe a tree branch or something of that nature may have been the culprit. Noting that the rear side of the vehicle looked nice, the inspector also noticed the rear bumper appeared to have more "orange peel" than normal. So he took a picture with the clip board to show that, and advised the customer that it obviously had been repainted at some point. Not exactly sure of the reason, he wanted to make certain the customer understood and could see our findings clearly.

Continuing on to the passenger’s side, everything seemed to look fine. But looking at the rear tire, despite the excellent tread depth, he noticed that the tires were matching brands, but not tread pattern. Most people would just see the matching brand name and move on, but not our inspector. His attention to detail was excellent in his findings, and the customer was completely satisfied knowing the Auto Inspex used car inspector was on top of his game. As he made his way around to the front of the vehicle, everything checked out except the front bumper. It appeared that the front bumper, too, had been repainted. He found 5-6 "fish-eye" spots, drawing his conclusion of repaint. Again, the customer's expectation surpassed by our inspectors detail oriented work ethic.

Moving forward, the interior was in excellent shape. No major signs or wear on the leather was found, front to back. Although the vehicle was a little dirty, he was certain a good detail job would make it spick-and-span. All the electronics worked without flaw. He even mentioned that the heated/cooled seats were a bonus on his test drive. The test drive performance on the road passed with flying colors. No fluid leaks, no abnormal engine/transmission noises, and just an all around great car.  See for yourself and check out a few pictures the inspector took.

Experienced Eyes - Pre-Purchase Inspection - Fort Worth TX

  We performed an inspection in Fort Worth Texas on a 2006 Ford F350 King Ranch. Looking over the truck, it appeared to be in excellent condition. The paint was in great shape on the outside with the expected small blemishes we made note of. The interior was very clean and looked like it had been well taken care of. Actually we were quite impressed with the interior. It's not every inspection you see one that is so remarkably clean.

Shortly in to the inspection, we noticed body work on the left front fender. After careful examination, we noted that this beautiful truck had been in a front end collision. Despite the accident, the repair work done to the truck was excellent. They mostly put new parts on the truck including the logo that they forgot to take the protective plastic off of. We continued with the inspection and noticed the rear had also been in a collision. The repair job on the rear off the truck didn't look professional. A "shade tree" quick fix at best. Where the cab and bed meet had not even been fixed correctly. It was simply bent back as close to the original form as it could have been. See the picture at the bottom of the article,

  On a side note, the rear tires were almost 2/32". Once tire tread gets below 2/32 of an inch, your car's ability to grip the road in adverse conditions is greatly reduced. Check out our article on The Penny Test. This is a great way for the average person to be able to known when tires need replacement.

 After careful examination of the windshield we noted 3 rock chips. Rock chips can be very hard to spot sometimes, especially if they are at the top of the windshield or a lower corner.The chips we noted here were behind the rear view mirror. A windshield in a F350 is going to be an expensive fix. The size of the chips we found on this truck we noted them as chips. Chips can be repaired by a local glass company for much less than the cost of replacing a new windshield. We have an article on rock chip repair.

Here are a few other pictures of things we found for our customer buying from Fort Worth.