An imported car: what to check beyond the usual inspection

An imported car is inspected like any used car, plus a few items specific to imports. Those items produce most of the unpleasant surprises.

The main question: why was it sold there

Cars travel across borders for various reasons, and not all of them are pleasant:

Auction cars after accidents — the most common category. Bought cheaply, repaired to varying standards.

Flood cars — the worst case, because the consequences surface over months; mechanics in the flood water article.

Cars from salted regions — the bodywork looks fine while the underside is eaten away.

Ordinary used cars — they exist too, and those are the ones to look for.

What to check by VIN

Auction history — in some markets photographs of the pre-repair condition are available. That is the most valuable information there is: you see exactly what was damaged.

Mileage records in service databases.

Recall campaigns — they have no time limit and are carried out free; covered in the recalls article.

Factory specification by VIN — to compare against what is physically in the car.

The general procedure is in the history check article.

Signs of accident repair

Shade differences in daylight from various angles.

Uneven panel gaps.

Weld traces on chassis rails and pillars — look under the seals and in apertures.

New fixings where the rest are old.

A paint depth gauge — the basic tool for this check; varying readings across one panel mean filler.

Airbag codes — traces of deployment on an “unmarked” car. That cannot be hidden; the general protocol is in the used car article.

Signs of flood damage

The most important and the hardest, because it hides well.

• Cloudy headlights inside, or a visible waterline.
• Rust in unusual places — seat mountings, under the carpet, on the seat frames.
• Silt or sand in inaccessible places — under the spare wheel, in cavities.
• Smell — damp, or excessive air freshener to mask it.
• Intermittent electronic faults — which is exactly why diagnostics is mandatory here; mechanics in the ghost codes article.

Salt corrosion

Cars from regions using winter salt show a characteristic pattern: the top is fine, the underside is eaten.

Where to look: inside the sills, arches, suspension mountings, chassis rails, and the exhaust; covered in the rust article.

Fresh underseal should raise suspicion, not reassure.

Practical differences

The specification may not match local expectations: different lighting, different heating, a different infotainment language.

Units on the cluster — miles rather than kilometres, which also affects how you read the mileage.

Servicing — parts availability for that particular specification.

The previous owner’s account linked to the car — always unlink it; covered in the car data article.

In short

• First establish why the car was sold there — that decides what to look for.
• Pre-repair auction photographs are the most valuable information available.
• Airbag codes expose an accident invisible on the bodywork.
• Salted regions produce a fine top and an eaten underside.
• Fresh underseal is a reason to look harder, not to relax.

Download the app — codes across every system, monitors, and freeze frames are read with an ELM327 adapter over Bluetooth SPP on Android.