PakWheels Inspection vs. Inspection by an Experienced Mechanic (15+ Years of Experience)

[raza.gikian]

I am planning to purchase a 2005 Baleno but I'm not sure which inspection would be more reliable. PakWheels' inspection provides a lot of data, but it often seems overwhelming and doesn't give clear recommendations on whether the car offers good value for its price. Additionally, their reports for older cars often show a lot of areas rated between 30-50%, which creates confusion.

I would appreciate suggestions from experienced people on which inspection route to take, as I have no experience with cars myself and planning to buy first car, Insha Allah.

[hash4u]

such an old car should be almost fully repainted
with engine rebuilt or assembly changed by now
mechanic is better

[horticulturalist]

Ofcourse a reliable mechanic, who have experience in baleno

[dayrider]

Agar mechanic reference wala hai. Then him, if not then pakwheels or a reference person who knows cars

[raza.gikian]

Thank you, everyone

[pwuser166331039855]

Usually mechanics here are expert in very few areas in general.

But PW inspection checks for accidents or accidental damage, originality & touch up in the paints, leaks, engine health and abnormal noises, rust formation, working gadgets, working electricals, and they check so many other things in very detail and take photos as evidence and upload it alongwith the report.

I am from Lahore and few weeks back I arranged PW inspection for a jeep which was in Karachi. PW even showed me the pictures of broken rubber boots, bad ball joints, leaking seals, and most importantly the missing bolts and rubber/plastic trims.

According to the owner only 3 piece has minor touch ups. But as per PW inspection it had 7 piece touch ups and re-painted. Rust was found on the frame beneath and so many other details. It was like fully satisfying experience.

I called jeep owner and told him that as per PW inspection I don’t want to purchase your vehicle because it has so many mechanical areas to seriously address. He said OK and also requested me to share the report with him. I did share. And after 2 days he called me and said that he has send the jeep to workshop to take care of all these works because these were important for him too since jeep was his daily runner. He thanked me sharing all the detailed report about his jeep which he didn’t even know about many details.

[lazers]

I recently sold a car. Someone asked for pakwheels to inspect my car, now the report they shared with potential buyer said that "No jack found" in a 660cc car with no spare tires. Report said broken wheel caps which I was blind to see as every wheel cap was perfect, still dont see those broken wheel caps. Report also said right headlight broken although light glass and base / reflector was in original condition, no scratches and fully sealed. Then the inspection guy kept checking steering and it might be the case that there was very slight play which I never noticed as car drive was perfect. He wrote left / right tie rod end : "boot damage or play". I checked the boots and every suspension boot was intact.

This was my first experience and was not good.

[Xulfiqar]

I have had some acquaintances show me some really goofy inspection reports.

One report for a corolla 2019 was more focussed on jenwin paint and shower and tuch up while completely overlooking the fact that the engine was in poor state, it was literally smoking from the exhaust under load, it had some real moronic ac jugaar going on. Engine mounts squishy as chewing gum. It also had vvt issues (slow response but no CEL)

There was a wiring hazard mess by the pedal box too.

Front Strut mounts were completely shot, cv joint boots were tied with cable ties and were leaking. Transmission axle end seals were leaking as someone levered them. Rear shock absorbers were past their prime.

To top it, it was odo rolled too.

But according to report car was A ok with 2 pees tuchup

It was a rolling disaster and the owner paid quite a ton to get it back to factory reliable condition that a toyota corolla is famous for.