The mechanic wiped his hands on a red rag, pointed his flashlight at the spot where the engine meets the transmission and said, "See that wet line?" I did. Garrett did. The seller, who had driven the car over himself and was waiting in the lobby, did not, because he was drinking our shop's coffee and reading a farm magazine. That wet line cost us the car.
This was Saturday, November 15. The car was a 2010 Toyota Corolla we'd had on our list since September: silver, a little under 130,000 miles, asking $6,200, one previous owner before the current one, a folder of oil-change receipts going back years. The seller was a retired schoolteacher who called Garrett "young man" and seemed honestly sorry to see it go. I liked him. I still do.
Why we pay for an inspection
We were already a week into a rough November. The Silverado had met a deer on US-36 at 6:10 in the morning on the 8th and was sitting at a body shop waiting on parts, so we'd driven out to meet the seller in the van, and I was in no mood for another surprise on four wheels.
Our rule is simple. We don't buy a used car without a pre-purchase inspection at a shop we choose, and we pay for it. At the shop we use on the south side, it's $125 flat for about an hour on the lift: under the car, brakes, suspension, fluids, a code scan, a road test, and a written sheet. It's not a promise the car is perfect. It's a trained person with a lift and better eyes than mine looking for the expensive things I'd miss in a driveway.
I'm not a mechanic. I can see a bald tire and hear a squeaky belt. I cannot see the top of a transmission bell housing from a gravel driveway in November, and I'm not going to pretend I can.
What they found
Most of the sheet was fine. Brakes about half. Tires newer. Coolant clean. No codes. Then the leak: oil seeping at the rear main seal, the seal at the back of the engine where the crankshaft comes out to meet the transmission.
The part itself is cheap. Getting to it isn't. The transmission has to come out. The shop's rough number was six to eight hours of labor at $125 an hour, plus the seal, a gasket or two and fresh transmission fluid. Call it $900 to $1,200 all in. It might also leak slowly for another five years and never matter. He was honest about that.
- Inspection: $125
- Estimated repair if we fixed it: $900 to $1,200
- Asking price: $6,200
- Our ceiling: $6,500
The conversation in the lobby
I showed the seller the sheet. He was surprised and, I think, a little embarrassed. He offered to come down $300. That was fair of him. It just wasn't enough. A $5,900 car that might need a $1,000 repair puts us right up against our ceiling with no cushion, and it puts a slow oil leak in the hands of a 15-year-old who won't check the dipstick as often as I'll tell him to.
We shook hands and he drove home. Garrett was quiet on the way back to the house. He'd already picked out where the phone mount would go. I told him that $125 just saved us from the most expensive way to learn about rear main seals, which is after you own one.
He said, "So we paid $125 to not buy a car." Yes. And I'd do it again. In the last two months that inspection money has done more for us than any listing photo.
Some people think it's rude to ask a private seller to let a mechanic look at their car. I don't. Every honest seller we've talked to has said yes. The ones who say no are giving you the answer for free.
Back to the list. Garrett has two new ones he wants to see, and one is in Savannah, close to Grandpa, which means a free supervisor in a lawn chair.