What it means for you
Walk around the car before you touch anything. Look at it from the side, then from each corner. Does the paint colour match across all panels? Is one panel sitting higher or lower than the one next to it? Run your finger along the gaps between doors and bonnet. If they feel uneven, someone's resprayed that panel.
Check the glass. Every window has a little date code stamped on the corner. If the windscreen says 2021 and the side window says 2024, one of them was replaced. That's not always bad, but it's a question worth asking.
Tyres tell stories. Grab each tyre and look at the tread. Uneven wear on one side usually means the alignment's off. All four tyres should be roughly the same age. If three are new and one looks ancient, ask why. Tyre dates are stamped on the sidewall — four digits like 2623 means week 26 of 2023.
Cold start. Always ask to see the engine cold. Open the bonnet and pull the oil dipstick. Oil should be amber or dark brown, not milky, not creamy. Pull the oil cap — white gunk under it means a head gasket problem waiting to happen. Walk away.
Then start it. A healthy engine settles into a smooth idle within a few seconds. If it's rattling, shaking, or there's blue smoke, that's your answer.
Inside the car, sit in the driver's seat. Wear on the bolster after 40,000 km is normal. The same wear at 12,000 km means the odometer's been wound back. Turn on the air-con — it should blow cold within a minute. Try every window, every mirror, every light. Switches that don't work now won't get better.
The drive should take twenty minutes minimum. Hit a few bumps on purpose and listen for clunks from the suspension. Brake hard from 60 — the car should stop straight, not pull to one side, and the pedal shouldn't sink to the floor. Any hum that gets louder with speed is usually a wheel bearing.
Paper check before you pay anything. Match the chassis number on the log card to the one stamped on the car body. Three places to check: under the bonnet, on the dashboard, on the door frame sticker. All three should match.
Also ask the seller to run an LTA Hire-Purchase search — it's free and tells you if the car's still under finance.
The honest truth. No 10-year-old car is perfect. The question isn't "is it flawless" — it's "are the issues fair for the price." A small scuff on a 7-year-old car is fine. The same scuff on a 2-year-old car is a story about how the previous owner drove it. Trust your gut. If something feels off, walk away. There are always more cars.