We are a repair shop as well as a lot, which changes how we buy cars. A vehicle does not go out front until it has been through the same bays your car would go through. That is not a sales line — it is just cheaper for us to find the problem before you do.
The mechanical pass
Brakes come first: pad thickness, rotor condition, and whether the pedal feels right under load. Then tyres — tread depth across the whole width, not just the middle, because uneven wear tells you about alignment and suspension before anything else does. Fluids, belts, hoses and battery health follow.
The diagnostic pass
We pull the codes, including the stored and pending ones that are not currently lighting the dash. A cleared code that comes back within a few drive cycles is something you want to know about before you buy a car, not after.
The bit people skip
Alignment. A car can drive straight and still be out, and you will only find out when the front tyres are shot in eight thousand miles. We check it because replacing a set of tyres is a lot more annoying than an alignment.
Then it gets cleaned properly
Every car gets detailed in our own bay before it is photographed. Partly because it should look good, and partly because a proper wash and interior clean is how you find the things a quick vacuum hides.
If you want to know exactly what was done to a specific car on our lot, ask us. We will tell you, and we will show you the car on the lift if you want to see it.