Inspection & Condition

Hiring an independent pre-purchase inspection and reading the report, plus the body, flood, and OBD-II checks a buyer can run alone in the parking lot.

Inspection & Condition August 22, 2026 Flood Cars: The Specific Places Water Leaves Evidence A detailer cleans what a buyer touches. Water sat everywhere else. Eight places to look on a used car, and what the title record does and does not say. 9 min read
Inspection & Condition August 17, 2026 How to Hire an Independent Pre-Purchase Inspection A dealer's 150-point checklist is not an inspection you paid for. What an independent PPI should cover in 2026, who to hire, and where it goes blind. 11 min read

About this section

Nothing looked wrong on either car. Both times the problem was already written down somewhere Clay Dettmer had not thought to look — a title branded in a state the seller never mentioned, a recall that had been open for two years. He buys cheap used cars and now pulls the free records before the test drive instead of after the tow. He is not a mechanic, a dealer, or an adjuster, and he inspects nothing. Everything here comes from public federal and state data, quoted with the agency, the section number, and the date it was read.

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Every guide cites the agency, statute, or document it was checked against, and carries the date it was checked. Rules change — if something here is out of date, tell us and it gets corrected.