Used car checklist

A three- to five-year-old car hands the steepest part of the depreciation curve to its first owner — which is why buying used beats almost every other money-saving tip. The trade-off is that you are buying a history you did not witness. Everything below is about reconstructing that history before you pay.

Before you leave the house — free, and it eliminates most cars

• MOT history. Enter the registration on gov.uk. You get every test, every advisory, and the recorded mileage at each one. This is the single most useful free tool in used-car buying.
• Does the mileage climb sensibly? A gap, a drop, or a sudden slowdown is a conversation to have. Clocking is easier to spot here than anywhere else.
• Read the advisories. They are a forecast. Corrosion advisories in particular tend to become failures, and then become welding.
• Tax and MOT status. Free on gov.uk from the registration — also tells you the CO₂ figure and therefore the tax band.
• Clean air zone compliance. Especially for any diesel before September 2015. Which zones charge cars.
• Insurance quote before you view. Two similar cars can sit ten insurance groups apart, and it is easier to find out now.
• A paid history check for outstanding finance, insurance write-off category and theft markers. It costs a few pounds and it is the cheapest insurance you will buy that week.

At the car — always in daylight, always cold

Arrange to see it in the morning, and ask the seller not to warm it up. A cold start hides nothing: a fully warm engine hides a great deal.

• Panel gaps and paint. Sight down each side. Mismatched shades, uneven gaps and overspray on rubber seals mean accident repair.
• Rust in the places that matter. Sills, wheel arch lips, around the fuel filler, the boot floor under the mat, and the subframe mounts. Surface rust on a suspension arm is normal; bubbling paint on a sill is not.
• Tyres. Brand match across each axle, tread depth including the inner edges, date codes, and any bulges. Four cheap mismatched tyres tell you how the car has been maintained.
• Under the bonnet, cold. Oil level and colour, coolant level and colour, mayonnaise under the oil cap, any smell of coolant, corrosion on the battery terminals.
• Under the car. Fresh oil or coolant drips on the ground where it was parked. Bring a torch.
• Every electrical item. Windows, mirrors, air conditioning to cold, heated seats, every light, the radio, the reversing camera.
• Cold start with the dashboard visible. All warning lamps should light and then go out. One that never lights has been removed. What each lamp means.
• Interior wear against the mileage. A shiny steering wheel, worn pedal rubbers and a sagging driver’s seat on a 40,000-mile car do not add up.

The test drive

• Insist on driving it yourself, for at least fifteen minutes, including a stretch at 50–70mph and some slow manoeuvring.
• Brakes. Firm pedal, no pull to one side, no grinding, no shudder through the wheel under braking.
• Steering. Straight ahead with the wheel straight, no vibration, no knocking on full lock.
• Suspension. Knocks over speed bumps, or a corner that keeps bouncing after a dip.
• Gearbox. Manual: clean changes, no crunch into second, no clutch slip pulling uphill. Automatic: smooth, without hunting or thumping between gears.
• Listen with the radio off and one window down.
• Watch the dashboard the whole way. Lamps that appear only under load say more than anything the seller says.

The paperwork

• V5C in the seller’s name, at the address you are standing at. Check the VIN on the document against the one stamped on the car — usually visible at the base of the windscreen and on a door pillar plate.
• Service history, stamped or as a folder of receipts. Receipts from a good independent garage are worth more than an unexplained set of stamps.
• Cambelt. If the schedule says it is due, either it has been done — with proof — or it is a bill you are about to inherit.
• Two keys. A replacement is often £150–£300.
• Locking wheel nut key, handbook, and for an EV the charging cables.

Look up the handbook before you buy

Ten minutes with the owner’s manual for the exact model tells you the service intervals, the cambelt schedule, the oil specification and what the warning lamps mean — all of which are useful before you commit, not after.

Sources: MOT history, tax status and vehicle details are free at gov.uk. Prices quoted are typical UK ranges. This is general guidance, not an inspection — for an expensive car, a professional pre-purchase inspection is money well spent. Last reviewed September 2026.