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In this video I’ll show you how to revise a car before buying it.
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Since it’ll be second hand, we can’t expect it to be perfect
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so of the hundreds of things that can go wrong, we will concentrate on what matters the most.
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For me, the main thing is that the engine is good
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that’s why the first thing I do is opening the hood and looking that in the joints
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here you can see that the engine has a red part and a gray one
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well if in the middle of that you see any leak, silicone or strange things, it’s best to pass.
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For example, I saw this one the other day and it had white silicone in one corner of the engine
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a piece of bike rubber in the other corner and in another it had black silicone… it was a shoddy piece of work
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that clearly indicates that the motor had been severely damaged and had to be opened.
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Another way of looking at the condition of the engine, is to open the lid at the top.
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What we’ve to see is something similar to this: oil, clearer or darker
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but, if we see something like mayonnaise or a pasty solid, that means the engine is awful,
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the oil is mixing with water and this happens.
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There are engines like this, which don’t allow to see the interior cause there’s a plate where oil falls and distributes.
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In other, we can see the interior which is very useful to see if everything is well greased
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and if the inside pieces had scratches that would be a very bad signal.
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These are examples of those pieces in poor conditions, the ones you can revise when you open the lid:
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it is the camshaft.
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If you see it has grooves, marks in the metal, erosions of any kind or it’s badly greased
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even if it may seem as something irrelevant, it means that the engine is very worn
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or that it has had a bad maintenance, so it’s best to move to the next car.
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The next important thing is to check the belts
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we've to ensure that they still have some elasticity
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not being very hard or stiff, and above all that they don’t have cracks.
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But the main thing is to check how the timing belt is.
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In this case, removing this plastic protector we can take a look, but what we should do is ask the owner for the bills to see when it was changed.
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Normally, it's changed every 100,000 km; if it was done recently, perfect, if not, we’ll have to spend around 500€
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Now the most basic thing, checking how the oil is.
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This may seem unimportant, but it gives us an idea of its maintenance.
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What you need to do is remove dipstick and wipe it clean, and you will see that there are two marks.
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We insert the clean dipstick again, take it out and the oil should be between these two marks
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if it's lower is bad, and if it's much higher is even worse…
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remember that this should be done with the engine stopped and before starting the car.
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The next thing to revise are these rubber tubes which are around the engine
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they have to be soft to the touch and we should notice that something flows in them.
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If they are crunchy or hard, it’s a bad sign.
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The following step is looking how the antifreeze tank is.
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It should have a yellow, green or pink liquid
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and above all, the deposit itself has to be clean and the walls shouldn’t be black
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because that would mean that at some point it had water which has become rusty, and that’s very bad.
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If everything is ok, we start the car and check that when the engine is idle it sounds good
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without extrange noises or sudden shocks or anything, and the first thing we check is the exhaust pipe fume.
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If it's white it may mean that it’s burning water
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but if we are in a humid climate it’s normal that there is some water in the exhaust
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so we should check by putting the hand beneath it.
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If the fume is black, that means there’s a bad mixture
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which can be because of the spark plugs, the injectors, the oxygen sensors…many things.
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In a diesel it’s normal that some smoke comes out when accelerating or starting, but not as something constant.
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The worst case by far would be if the smoke was bluish
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this means the engine is in very bad state and burning oil; it could be the cylinders, segments, valves... in short, it’s very bad.
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Another test is, with the car started, lifting the dipstick and if there’s smoke or it spits oil, it’s also very bad.
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Now we’ll check the clutch; to do this there are many ways and I could even make a different video
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but basically we have to check if when we lift up the foot from the pedal, the car begins to move
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other way is putting the handbrake and trying to move the car, if it starts to stall that’s a good sign
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if you start to release the pedal and the car isn’t stalled, that’s because the clutch doesn’t have much time left.
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And to see how good it is, if we see that just but releasing the pedal a bit, the car moves,
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look a centimeter or less, that’s perfect 100%
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the more you’ve to separate the foot and the softer the clutch is, the worse the clutch is.
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Other thing to check, and which is normal that nobody changes, is the power steering fluid.
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If we see that it’s low, it is bad sign because this liquid normally doesn't get off.
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What you need to do is to look at its state. As I can't see anything in this rod, I remove the filter
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and I can see that it has an oil colour, that’s good;
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if it is very black or brown, it means that is has never been changed.
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To see if this has affected the hydraulic steering, turn the wheel completely towards both sides,
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if there are noises or cracks, that’s bad;
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however, if the sound is at the end of the turn, it may be simply that a spring behind the wheel has broken, lost grease and began to sound.
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Something more worrying are the warning lights on the panel
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if you have the one of checking the engine, that one which says “engine” and a yellow light, that’s bad
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If the airbag light is blinking, it doesn’t have to be the airbag, it is normally used as an error code.
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In my case, it is an electric failure caused by a cable that loosens under the seat
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but it could be many things so it’s best to connect the diagnostic tool in a workshop.
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In general, people couldn’t care less about changing the brakes fluid
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if it has a dark colour, similar to coffee, it means it’s in bad condition.
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It should have a colour similar to olive oil, but the main thing is checking if the car brakes well while driving
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and that the pedal doesn’t have a spongy touch, nor a too long final run.
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A trick to check that the alternator is well, is having a cigarette lighter voltmeter; it's connected on the 12V port
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and, with the car started, if it gives us 13.5 or 14 that means the battery is charging and the alternator is well.
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If we get 12.5 or less, and it continues lowering, it means the alternator is bad.
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We can also check this with a multimeter. I say this cause I believe that many people may have one of these at home.
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We put it at the voltage position and then we measure the battery with the car started
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and while we are at it, we the car off, this way we can see how the battery is, if we get less than 12, it’s dead.
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Something easy to check is the radiator; checking it’s in good condition with no leaks, can be done just at glance.
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We should check that it doesn’t have any sloppy work done with putty or nural or stuff like that
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because that will give us problems before or after
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In a car with many km, it’s normal for the radiator to be a bit broken with holes from stones, etc.
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but what we should look is that the horizontal lines are in good condition.
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Even if it may seem a mess, cause we've to take apart some pieces, removing the spark plugs takes 5mn and can tell us a lot about the engine.
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They should be like these: if they're like the ones in the left, they are new; if they're like the ones in the right, they're used.
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If they have a lot of black, like coal, is a bad sign and if they have oil, it’s even worse and if it’s rusty is also bad,
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but only if it’s rusty at the tip, in the exterior is normal.
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About driving I won’t make much emphasis cause is a matter of feeling, it’s difficult to explain and it would make the video too long.
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Try to put the car at 120 km/h to check if it vibrates
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release the wheel and look if the car stands straight,
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give a sudden brake and look if it doesn’t sound weird,
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and take a curve and notice that it doesn’t sound like ‘clonc’ or strange things.
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You should also check the A.C.
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if it doesn’t cool and they tell you it needs a load,
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that’s cause the system has a leak or the compressor is broken, cause normally you don’t have to load the A.C. even if 20 years go by.
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Moreover, old cars used a gas which is now forbidden in EU, so recharging it could be very expensive.
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When you've the A.C. on, look if these electric fans turn on, that means that it’s cooling the engine and has the sensors well.
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When you're driving, after a while, the needle has to stay half way, more or less, which are 90° and is the optimal temperature.
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You also need to try, stopped, that all the gears engage fully, the first, the second, all, even the reverse one
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This must be done stepping on the clutch
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look that neither of them get stuck, or sound rare and also that the lever doesn’t have much free movement.
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Also, look with detail the dashboard, check that all the needles are in place, that there aren’t skipped numbers
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because that could mean that the dashboard has been extracted, opened and the kilometers modified.
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Look also at the steering wheel and the handle
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check they aren’t too worn out or that it fits its mileage
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for example, if they are very worn out and the car has 100,000km it makes no sense.
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This is also reflected on the sides of the seats, if they're teared or worn
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those are signs of a long mileage that help us see if the km are real or they're trying to trick us.
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But the best trick, usually overlooked, is looking at the seatbelts, specifically on the edge,
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if we see that it’s tousled it means the car has done many km.
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If you’re interested in knowing if the car has been owned by a smoker, besides looking at the ashtray,
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look at the driver’s seat, if there are little burns in the crotch are, that means the owner smoked.
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Then, you need to check if all doors close correctly, that all windows work, this one is manual but you’ve an idea, check that all buttons and electrical things work
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also look if everything which is extra, such as stained windows, are approved, the ball, whatever,
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that they’re in the datasheet, cause otherwise in EU you’ll have to remove it or get a homologation, which is expensive.
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Now, we’ll start with the external revision.
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We’ve to check that there aren’t any imbalances
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for example, if you see this door, it seems it’s open but it’s closed, in one of the sides we can put a finger
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and in the other it is almost a millimeter away from being to close.
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That’s an imbalance and it occurs cause it has had a crash.
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You’ve to look that all the doors are closed equally with a millimeter around all sides, or two, whatever.
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As you can see, this is an imbalanced trunk
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the headlight also indicates it cause it’s a bit out of place and some pieces are too close, which means it has had a crash.
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As you can see, it’s quite easy to detect this, but many people don’t pay attention.
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For example, my own car has a little imbalance,
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you can see that in this side I can put the key and in the other one I directly can’t, it’s almost touching.
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It may be that the trunk has been dismantled, because it looks pretty good, but it could also be that it had a serious crash and has putty somewhere.
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Also give some taps to the panel of the car and check it against the light because it can have small dents,
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although that’s the least important cause those small dents can be easily removed in areas like the hood.
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The best thing is to move a bit from left to right to see all sides; but it is best observed against the light.
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Don’t forget areas like the roof, cause it can have suffered a hailstorm and be a disaster, having the roof full of dents;
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if we can reduce price thanks to this it could be great,
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cause we could repair them, but if it has too many dents or rusty areas, it can be a problem.
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We also have to notice the signs of how the driver is,
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if he has done things like this, like painting the hood in oxide color, it may mean the car isn’t taken care of.
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But the best indicative are the rims, if they are full of grazes that means the driver is terrible, and if the tires are also rubbed, he hasn’t taken care of the car at all.
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If we see the car is full of little bad taste modifications
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like the sporting red strips, carbon vinyl, led lights positioned horizontally, the rims painted in black…
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well, all of that tells us that is a young driver, and we all know what that means.
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The roof's vinyl may mean that underneath it's awful
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and when we remove it we'll find something like this, with all the paint worn out or with the lacquer falling.
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If we see that the lacquer falls like this, it will probably fall from all the car soon and we’ll have to repaint it.
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If when looking at the bumper we see that it has some cracks, it also means we’ll have to repaint it.
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An indicative that it has been badly painted is that this protective plastic, usually black, has also been painted.
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Now you can look here, it seems that this car is well painted, but if we move to the other side, you can see that the back and front door have different colors
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it can be better seen on this side, and it means it has been badly painted so we can expect a botched repair.
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Now, to review the suspension, we put our weight up, squeeze a little bit and see if it’s hard or soft, and also how it bounces.
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If when pressing it comes back firmly, as you can see here, it’s good condition
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if when pressing and releasing it shakes as if the car was a jelly, it means that the shock absorbers are awful
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changing them may cost round 500€
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and if it bounces a lot, it means they're horrible, as you can see here, it isn’t normal for a car to do this.
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For me the suspension is very important, I always try to mount a decent one, since it improves a lot the driving.
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Then, we shouldn’t forget about reviewing the brakes, which is quite easy.
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If we see that it has a burr like this, that when we pass the finger we notice an edge, that’s they are pretty worn
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we have to notice them smooth.
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Sometimes the brake pads cannot be seen, but it doesn’t mind, since they’re really cheap and easy to change
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simply check that the car works well, and if you can take a look better, but it isn’t a decisive factor to buy a car.
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Simply check that the disk isn’t too worn
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if it has oxide it doesn’t matter, it’s normal for them to have it when it rains or the car hasn’t been used for a while, and in a pair of braking it usually goes away.
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Now things we can even be interested in if the car has them
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like hits in the bumper which look like a lot but are almost nothing
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if it has dents in the fenders, they are easily removed by removing the passage of wheels.
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A broken mirror? That’s very cheap, especially if the shaft hasn’t been broken.
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Changing a headlight is also very chip.
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All those things give the car an aspect of being in poor condition, but it can result in buying it cheaper
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and only with a little work we could leave it perfect.
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Yellow headlights? It’s very normal that old cars end up with them like this, even in new cars it doesn’t take long.
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We've to check that one isn't clear and the other murky, since that signals it had a crash and had to be changed.
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In that case we open the hood and check that his crossbeam, this part of the chassis, isn’t bent.
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Can you see that in that corner it has a little bulge? That would have been a hit.
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If we look at the bumper and we see that the edges have a little paint, or the rubbers with paint as well
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that’s it has been repainted because it had a hit.
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But in the end, all cars have hits the important thing is that they haven’t been poorly repaired,
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that it has been taken to a place where they do proper repairs, rather than painting this protective plastics without primer so the paint ends up falling.
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If the car has a solar roof, you have to check that water doesn’t enter,
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you can see that by looking at the interior carpeting, if it had stains on the edge, it means that water has leaked.
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To check the tires, we first have to look that the drawing is still deep, can you see there are some marks?
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Those are the wheel wear indicators, we should be able to insert half a nail in the drawing, with the wheel wear indicators remaining below.
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Then, it’s important that the tires are from top brands
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because if they aren't, it doesn't matter if they're new, they will be like having a potato.
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You need to look that they aren’t crystallized, if you see chapped areas on the tire, that’s bad,
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if you don’t see that but the nail's mark doesn’t stay, it also means they are bad; they still have to be a little soft.
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To see the age of the tire, you’ve to look at these four digits that appear on the edge.
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This wheel was from 2006 and this one from 2016
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it’s seen in the last two numbers, as you can see I sink the nail and it stays there, that’s they’re new.
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You also have to check that the tires haven’t got an uneven wear
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having a less rubber on the inside than on the outside for example, since it would mean they’re misaligned.
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And now, here, below, we should check one of the most important things: that the chassis is in good conditions
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without holes, without rust, without the pillars bent or full of dents, and without any strange welding or dripping.
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If after this review, the car has passed all tests perfectly, buy it, because something like that is difficult to find.
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We have to realize that it isn’t a new car, a used one won’t be perfect
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and we also have to think what we are paying and ask for the same.
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If we pay a lot, it should be good, but if we are paying less, we should be satisfied if it works, shouldn’t we?
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I hope that you’ve liked the video and it will be useful.
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Greetings, and see you in the next video.
