Pre purchase inspection

[ChrisQP09]

In my pursuit of a new QP (4.7) are RAC inspections worth anything vs a MD or specialist?

A few vehicles I like state they're RAC inspected but my gut tells me these are ok for a Mondeo but not a Maserati!

Your 2pence worth please?

 

[2b1ask1]

Well you have pretty much said it yourself...

Where abouts are you?

Get an independent Maserati specialist to do it is by far top choice...

 

[dgmx5]

As Newton asks, where are you or more to the point where is the car?

That will be the determinant here, but RAC will not be the answer in any case.

 

[rockits]

Only car I have ever used RAC to inspect was a run of the mill Touran 2.0 Diesel as it was in North Wales and didn't want to make the wasted journey if it was a shocker.

Turned out to be a good one but inspection helped a negotiation tweak. Bought it and we had it years....great car.

Would never use them for a Maser though. Needs to be an indy PPI with someone who knows these cars inside out.

Where is the car located?

 

[Devonboy]

Get a specialist report - unless you pay for the report - you are not the client

 

[ChrisQP09]

Your views are aligned with mine! I just wasn't sure if i was being snobby about the matter.

 

[GeoffCapes]

Get Voicey to do it!

 

[markp4200]

For what it's worth, I did get an RAC inspection 10 years ago for my purchase.
It was actually very comprehensive but things may have changed.

 

[midlifecrisis]

If the car is Kent, Sussex, South East Surrey then Voicey is your man. Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Wiltshire then Emblem. London area, rest of Surrey etc Scaglieti (recently changed hands!), Northwest England, Autoshield.
I'm sure the rest with chip in with their suggestions.

 

[john4fun]

Voicey every day of the week for me and i travel from Peterborough, in my opinion best money you could spend

 

[ChrisQP09]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

Voicey appears to be the chosen one haha. I just need to be careful which car I have inspected as I won't want to lose out should a deal fall through.

 

[UlstermanAbroad]

Chris
I personally know of a trader not far from Stansted, who's been prosecuted at least once for clocking cars and who has
had a string of High Court civil actions against him. Taken by car buyers who he duped and sold really dangerous lemons.
Somehow, he's able to operate under the RAC assured vehicle scheme that you referred to. Many of his vehicles if not most
are Astons, Maseratis, Ferarris, etc etc IMO the scheme is not worth the paper its written on, because if a criminal can sign up to it,
clearly RAC do little to no due diligence.
Mike

 

[ChrisQP09]

Chris
I personally know of a trader not far from Stansted, who's been prosecuted at least once for clocking cars and who has
had a string of High Court civil actions against him. Taken by car buyers who he duped and sold really dangerous lemons.
Somehow, he's able to operate under the RAC assured vehicle scheme that you referred to. Many of his vehicles if not most
are Astons, Maseratis, Ferarris, etc etc IMO the scheme is not worth the paper its written on, because if a criminal can sign up to it,
clearly RAC do little to no due diligence.
Mike

Thanks for the insight. This is very concerning for what used to be a very well respected association.

I am disregarding any ads with RAC inspections. How can one be assured that the car is not clocked? I mean MOT/Service history can show gaps but won't tell you if the intervals are correct.

 

[UlstermanAbroad]

This is very concerning for what used to be a very well respected association.

Completely agree Chris. I think the rot started to set in when the RAC Club was split off from the motoring services organisation, with the latter
passing through the hands of various private equity groups. Rarely a good chain of events for members / users.

 

[GeoffCapes]

Chris
I personally know of a trader not far from Stansted, who's been prosecuted at least once for clocking cars and who has
had a string of High Court civil actions against him. Taken by car buyers who he duped and sold really dangerous lemons.
Somehow, he's able to operate under the RAC assured vehicle scheme that you referred to. Many of his vehicles if not most
are Astons, Maseratis, Ferarris, etc etc IMO the scheme is not worth the paper its written on, because if a criminal can sign up to it,
clearly RAC do little to no due diligence.
Mike

I think I know the place. In between Harlow and Stansted isn't it?

 

[UlstermanAbroad]

Buntingford? You and I have discussed it before on another thread. Last year I think.

 

[rockits]

Ah.....that place

 

[Nayf]

Buntingford? You and I have discussed it before on another thread. Last year I think.

If it’s the place I’m thinking of, nearly all the cars were kept outside on a mixture of mud and pebbles.
In fact the place was so muddy they let me borrow a Range Rover to use to get from the key store to the car lot because I was getting mud all over the carpet... (I was doing some ads on test).
Some of the cars were good, some had clearly been sat for some time. Really depended on how long it had been the latter.

 

[cheshiremaserati]

Thanks for the insight. This is very concerning for what used to be a very well respected association.

I am disregarding any ads with RAC inspections. How can one be assured that the car is not clocked? I mean MOT/Service history can show gaps but won't tell you if the intervals are correct.

Correct on establishing mileage by MOT/Service History. Cross check though with ECU can validate mileages and rule out possibility of clicking by downloading operating hours and mileages stored in the ECU. This is the case with Porsche cars where PIWIS plug-in will download ECU data and its own log of mileage independent of the clock display. It will also download over-revs if the car has been hammered and red-lined where the rev limiter has cut-in to prevent damage as well as mechanical over revs from missed gear changes that can damage the engine. Clever guys these germans. I'm sure SD level diagnostics will be able to do similar. An independent PPI is really key to establishing the status of a prospective purchase.

 

[slay]

Definitely a PPI, unless you know 100% that the dealer can be trusted.

I have learned my lesson the hard way - they all seem nice before they got your money, but totally different when you encounter issues after the sale.

I have more faith on the main dealers (based on experiences with a few Maserati main dealers I have dealt with), but wouldn’t trust any independent except Dicky...