Ep.3 Prepurchase Inspection

Understanding Pre-Purchase Inspections and the Honda Odyssey

In this episode of 'Women Buying Cars, host Meredith Reynolds provides valuable advice on the importance of pre-purchase inspections when buying a used car. She explains the detailed inspection process, shares insights on what mechanics look for, and discusses the potential costs involved. Meredith also highlights common dealers' practices regarding inspections, and offers tips on how to handle the findings with a car dealer. Additionally, she showcases the Honda Odyssey, emphasizing its comfort, reliability, and suitability for families. Listeners are encouraged to seek pre-purchase inspections and empowered to make informed decisions when buying a car.

00:00 Introduction to Women Buying Cars
00:45 Understanding Pre-Purchase Inspections
02:19 Mechanic's Checklist for Inspections
03:58 Caveats of Pre-Purchase Inspections
06:49 Cars I Love: Honda Odyssey
10:56 Negotiating After the Inspection
13:47 Conclusion and Final Tips

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Transcript

0:07

You're listening to Women Buying Cars, and I'm your host, Meredith Reynolds. I'm a former teacher turned used car dealer, and I'm here to teach and empower women to walk into a car dealership with confidence and walk out with the car that's right for them. Spending money on a car before you're even sure that you want to buy that car. Do people really do that? Hello and welcome to today's episode of Women Buying Cars. Thank you so much for joining me. Hey, before I forget, if you are ever in the Kansas City area, we would love to meet you. My husband Todd and I own Reynolds Automotive in Merriam. Today we're talking about a pre purchase inspection. What it is, do you need one, and what you need to keep in mind. a pre purchase inspection would be used when you have narrowed it down and you think you really want a particular vehicle. You would pay a third party mechanic, probably one you already have a business relationship with, to inspect the car to let you know if this would be a great car for you, if there's any mechanical issues, And just to help you with that decision making, some dealerships don't allow you to do this. I'm on a Facebook group with some other independent car dealers, and I was surprised to hear that a lot of Dealerships will not let you take your, the car to your own mechanic. Personally, I think that's kind of shady. It would make me not want to buy the car because I would think, what are they trying to hide? A lot of them gave explanations. They basically don't want somebody digging around in the mechanics of a car and maybe messing something up that, belongs to them. I've also heard other people say they won't allow the car off the lot, but someone can bring their mechanic to the lot to check it out, which I think would be hard to convince a mechanic to do. Regardless, we do allow pre-purchase inspections, so the person just tells us, Hey, I have an appointment. 11 o'clock on Tuesday. They swing by at 10 30, get the car, drive it over to the mechanic, come back a few hours later. It's obviously going to vary by mechanic what they're going to look for, but I spoke with a local mechanic. It's actually the third party mechanic that we use. And he gave me some checklists that he goes over and has his mechanics go over the car when they're doing a pre purchase inspection. So just to give you an idea, he first test drives the car and in doing so looks for any warning lights checks the heating and AC, wipers, lights, door locks, windows and of course all the gauges that are right there for the driver. Then they're going to do an underhood inspection looking at belts, fluids, oil, filters, hoses, radiator, battery, and cables. And then they're going to do an undercarriage, meaning they're going to put it on a lift, and they're going to be looking under the vehicle. Checking out the condition of the tires. Alignment, axles, struts, shocks, exhaust, hoses and pumps, suspension, brakes the rotors. hydraulics, any leaks, and whether or not the car has a timing belt. These are all really important things. You can see that's a really thorough list to give the mechanic an idea as to whether or not this is a viable car and whether or not he would recommend it. When you go back to get the car, he should be able to show you this checklist and show you exactly what he found. And hopefully explain to you whether or not these things are big major problems or minor issues that you would expect to see on a used car. And that kind of brings me to the caveats of whether or not I would suggest you get a pre purchase inspection. I do think it's a good idea to get one. You are going to be paying about 100 to 150 based on what I've seen in the Kansas City area near where I work. Could be more in your city. It is an investment in something that you may not even buy. But, you can also think of it as potentially saving you from buying a I It can be very informative, however, and here's the caveats, you have to go into it knowing that they are going to find something. let me say that again. They are going to find something. If this is a used car, it is a complex machine that has been driven and used for thousands of miles, probably tens of thousands of miles. something is bound to be loose or leaking or starting to wear out. What is really important is that you understand what's major and what's minor and what it would take to get anything that is wearing out replaced. So the mechanic really, if he's not, or she is not being upfront about that, then you really need to dig in and ask questions about how major of a problem this is. Okay. They're also going to find things because they're working for you. You are paying them to find any problems. So that's exactly what they go in looking for. They're not going in with an open mind that this is going to be a perfect car. They're going in looking for problems and then reporting to you everything they find. If they didn't do that and you bought the car. And a month later, something terrible goes on with the car, then you're not going to trust them anymore. And they're going to potentially lose you as a customer. Okay, so their reputation is a little bit on the line as well, because you're trusting their word. So they're going to err on the side of caution. They're going to tell you every little thing that they find, so keep that in mind as well. Okay, they're going in looking for things. We're going to pause our lesson on pre purchase inspection for a moment for a little segment I like to call Cars I Love. Today we are discussing the all time number one best seller at Reynolds Automotive, the Honda Odyssey. The Honda Odyssey is an eight passenger minivan. They're going to have a lot of things that a typical minivan will have, like the automatic sliding doors, Folding seats, and the third row that completely stows away. Let's talk about the reasons I love this van. First of all, our customers love them. So that says a lot to us. We have people who buy them, use them for several years, trade them back in, and get another one. People who have sworn that they will never own a minivan. Change their minds when they drive a Honda Odyssey. And here's why. Number one, they're very comfortable. If you compare the Honda Odyssey with a three row SUV like the Honda Pilot, the Odyssey has significantly more legroom and seat width. This is great for people who are larger than average, whether it's height or width. And even if you're not, it's just more comfortable. Your kids won't be crammed in as tightly in the back as they would be in a lot of SUVs. Also, versus an SUV, I find the Honda Odyssey so much easier to drive and park. They are shorter and you have better visibility. And when you're driving them, it feels like So, to me, closer to driving a car than driving an SUV. I don't own a large three row SUV, so when I do drive them, I feel very bulky, I feel very nervous about parking, I feel it's fairly awkward. Now, if you drive them all the time, you're going to get used to that, but the moment I stepped into a Honda Odyssey and drove one for the first time I was expecting it to drive like a large SUV, and it does not. It is so much easier to get around in. Regarding size, I mentioned that it is lower, it is shorter than a three row SUV. This makes it easier for kids to get in and out of. Also, those sliding doors make it very easy for kids to get in and out of, but also people who have mobility issues. Much easier to step into a Honda Odyssey than a large SUV. Versus other minivans, Honda leather holds up better than any other make that we personally sell. The seats 90 percent of the time the seats look great. If you look at the back where the kids have been sitting, the seats can sometimes almost look brand new when they're five years old. Really quality leather. Some of the most important reasons we love a Honda Odyssey is that they have a very long life and they are reliable. It's very common for us to have people trade in their Honda Odyssey with 250, 000 miles. We have heard plenty of stories of people who drove it to 300, 000 miles. And they're very reliable. Typically, a Honda Odyssey is going to stay on the road with less maintenance than many other vehicles. One thing you do need to know about Honda Odysseys is that all V6 Hondas and Acuras have a timing belt instead of a timing chain. When you are shopping for Honda Odysseys, you need to ask if the timing belt has been changed. If it has not, that's something to discuss with your mechanic at the pre purchase inspection. Also, you can use that as a negotiating tool on the price. Let's get back to our lesson on pre purchase inspections. Once you have your pre purchase inspection done and you've been given a list of what is potentially wrong with the car? Like I said, you need to have a discussion about what is worth bringing up. It is not reasonable to think that a car dealer is going to fix everything on the list for you. But you can discuss these things with the car dealer. I would go in with maybe one thing that's bothering me the most, that seems the most important, and ask if they would be willing to fix that. They may say yes or they may say no, because there may not be room in the price. for them to absorb any of the cost. Go in with that expectation. If you're not willing to put in the money it would take to get this car ready, according to your mechanic, then you need to be ready to walk away. Just remember that you're in charge. It's your money. You can ask the dealer to meet you on some of these items. But in the end, he or she is trying to make a living and trying to balance putting a car safely on the road with making the profit they need to keep the lights on so sometimes when people come to us sometimes there are things on the checklist that we think, okay, we'll take care of that. And other times we just have to say, I'm sorry, I just don't have any room to absorb any of that cost. It's just for your knowledge that you're getting the pre purchase inspection and you need to go into it with that frame of mind. It's your knowledge. You're paying to find out what is potentially wrong with this vehicle so that you can decide if you want to buy it or not. So, to recap, you're going to spend in the Kansas City area, 100 to 150 to have a third party look over this potential vehicle for you and give you advice. As to what's wrong with it and I would ask straight up their opinion. Would you buy this vehicle? I would ask them, do you think this is a mechanically sound vehicle? Do you think it still has several years on the road? get them to explain and break down for you. Major problems versus minor problems, and even give you a rough estimate. How much would it cost for me to get that fixed? Okay, go into it with a mindset that you're doing this to decide if you should buy the vehicle or not. So, Ask the dealer, next time you're buying a car, can I take this for a pre purchase inspection? Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Again, if you're in the Kansas City area, come see me at Reynolds Automotive. If this was helpful for you, I would so appreciate a five star review. I would love for you to subscribe to my show and I would love for you to tell other women who might be car shopping about women buying cars. Thank you so much and happy driving.