#buying a car
15 posts in Car Diagnostics blog about "buying a car" — OBD-II diagnostics, DTC codes, repair. ← All posts
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Automatic or manual: cost of ownership without the ideology
The question is decided by the specific design and your route, not by the gearbox type. The automatic types and what each costs to run.
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An imported car: what to check beyond the usual inspection
An imported car needs the same checks plus a few specific ones. What to look at in a car brought from abroad.
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Recall campaigns: how to check and why the work is free
A recall is not a brand defect but a problem found and acknowledged. How to check your own car and why it matters most for used ones.
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Vehicle history: what to check before you even go to view it
Half the bad cars can be filtered out without leaving home. What a VIN reveals and what the car itself adds.
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Rust underneath: where to look and what is already too late
Corrosion starts where you cannot see it. The usual places, the difference between surface and perforating rust, and what actually helps.
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Service history: telling a real one from a fabricated one
A service book is the easiest document in a car to forge. What can be verified independently, and why counters inside the modules beat stamps on paper.
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A second family car: how to choose one that does not become a second expense
A second car is usually bought on whatever is left over, and that is exactly why it costs more per mile than the first. How to do the arithmetic properly.
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Timing belt or chain: what actually matters when buying and servicing
A "lifetime" chain is marketing, not a fact. Real service life, the signs of stretch, the cost of getting it wrong, and what diagnostics shows.
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Diesel or petrol: an honest comparison by cost of ownership, not advertising
The question is decided by your route, not by fuel consumption. A diesel on short urban trips costs more to own than a petrol — and that is exactly where the fuel saving falls apart.
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High-mileage cars: what actually matters and what no longer does
Two hundred thousand miles is neither a death sentence nor a guarantee of trouble. Which components decide a car's fate at that mileage, what you can stop worrying about, and why service history beats the odometer figure.
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Ex-taxi and car-sharing vehicles: how to spot one and what it means for a buyer
Taxi mileage wears a car differently from private use: more engine hours per mile, more cycles, less warm running. The signs, and which components suffer first.
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Buying a car with LPG: what to check besides the gas equipment itself
Everyone inspects the gas system. Few check what it did to the engine over a hundred thousand kilometres — and that is where the difference between a good buy and an expensive repair lives.
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Buying a used electric car: why mileage tells you almost nothing
On a petrol car mileage is the main reference. On an electric car it is secondary: everything hinges on the traction battery, and that ages from conditions and charging habits rather than kilometres.
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How to spot an ECU remap over OBD: seven signs of a reflashed control unit
The seller says it is all stock and the engine pulls forty horsepower harder than it should. A remap is invisible under the bonnet, but not inside the module: calibration checksum, version ID, boost behaviour, and fuel trims all give it away.
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Checking a used car with OBD: a 20-minute protocol to run before you hand over the money
The seller clears the fault memory five minutes before you arrive, and your scanner reports a clean bill of health. Here is the seven-step order that catches it: readiness monitors, pending codes, freeze frame, a cold start, and the module roll call.