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I'll travel about 45 mins away from where i live to potentially buy a used car at a dealer. How do I set up a pre-purchase car inspection with the dealer? I don't know of any mechanics that can do it for me. Do I simply ask the dealer if I can take it to a nearby mechanic? Also can you just walk in to any auto shop and ask them to inspect the car?
Step one is to find a mechanic you can trust. Try using word of mouth or go to the Mechan-X Files at cartalk.com, Angie's List, or something like that. Call them and tell them what you would like them to do.
Step two is to go to the seller, find the car you are potentially interested in, and ask them to get it to your mechanic (or let you do it) for a pre-purchase inspection. If they refuse, don't even consider buying from them.
Yep. I checked out a car in Baltimore while I was living in Ohio without any problem. With no local connections you can hit up forums like these or just stick to google/yelp reviews etc while selecting a mechanic. Set up a date/time that works with the seller and the mechanic. Go meet the seller earlier with enough time to take a test drive and check it out to see if it's even worth taking to the mechanic first.
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