What a dealer inspection actually covers (and what it doesn't)

"Inspected" is one of the most meaningless words in the used car business. Every dealer says it, and the depth varies wildly. Here's a quick way to tell the difference between a real inspection and a sticker.

A cosmetic-only inspection is 15 minutes. It covers paint depth, tire condition, fluid colours, and a road test for obvious noises. It's enough to keep a customer from driving off the lot with a flat tyre, and not much more.

A 150-point inspection is a half-day. It includes: a hoist inspection for leaks, rust, and accident repair; brake measurement (pad and rotor thickness, not just visual); suspension component check (control arms, ball joints, tie rods); a compression test on the engine if mileage is high; transmission fluid sample and colour check; a battery load test; all lights, switches, and electronics functional; HVAC performance; a full fluid top-up; and a road test of at least 20 minutes including highway, city, and a parking lot slalom.

At Nova Motors we publish the inspection report with every used vehicle. The line items are readable, dated, and signed by the technician. If a dealer won't show you theirs, that's your answer.

The other thing a good inspection catches is the problem you don't see yet — the wheel bearing that's just starting to wear, the transmission mount that's soft, the coolant hose that's about to fail. A car with 80,000 km that's been recently inspected will give you another 50,000 trouble-free. One that's been skipped won't.

A real inspection isn't free — it costs the dealer several hundred dollars in technician time. The reason we do it is the reason the price is what it is: because the alternative is selling someone a problem, and that customer is a phone call away from a much louder problem later.