What we can't see without disassembly.
A pre-purchase inspection is a non-invasive assessment. It's the most information you can get about a car in 90 minutes without pulling it apart — but there are honest limits. Here they are.
We can't disassemble the engine. We use compression readings, oil analysis clues, live data and boroscope-when-possible — not a tear-down.
We road-test extensively and read live pressures/temps, but internal wear on a sealed transmission requires teardown by a specialist.
If a fault isn't present during our inspection window, we can't reproduce it. We do log all stored & pending codes across every module.
Not all crash events are recorded in accessible modules. We flag paint depth and repair indicators; a certified crash-data pull is a separate service.
We identify current rust and repair indicators. Rate-of-progression forecasting is not possible without repeat inspection.
For engines or gearboxes we flag as marginal, we can refer a workshop that does compression/leakdown and internal inspection for a flat fee.
For late-model vehicles with suspicious paint depth readings, an EDR/CDR extraction gives you deployment history.
If the seller does the flagged repairs before purchase, we return within 14 days for $99 to verify work quality.
No inspection company can promise a car will never break down. Anyone who does is selling you insurance, not information. We give you facts — you make the call.