Pre-Purchase Inspection & 90K service

[J-H]

How much are people paying for a pre-purchase inspection (especially in Northern California), now?

Any cost (and tech) advantages to combining the pre-purchase inspection with a 90K service, assuming the car checks out OK, before you authorize the full 90K service?

Would you rather have the shop that has always worked on the car do that inspection (and service), or an equally good shop that hasn't seen the car before, to eliminate any possible bias?

Thanks, this place is a great resource!

 

[Sockeye]

A Shop that is well qualified but has not worked on the car is the best bet, Unbiased and all. I payed $191.00 for full inspection and compression test. As far as the 90k. I have heard verying opinions but any good reputable shop should be able to do it. It is a honda after all.

 

[TyraNSX]

$90 at Power Acura in Torrance for PPI (no compression test or leakdown done). I would recomend you going over the car 1st so if you find anything you can point it out to them to have it investigated. Also, consider an alignment- if not alignable then something is bent & you probably don't want to buy it or should get the price dropped accordingly

 

[0ctan3]

I had a PPI done at Concord Acura back in late September for $150.

wasn't very happy with their service, however.

 

[nsxtasy]

How much are people paying for a pre-purchase inspection (especially in Northern California), now?

You should be charged for one to two hours of labor at the standard hourly rate (typically $90-110 around here, not sure about NorCal).

Would you rather have the shop that has always worked on the car do that inspection (and service), or an equally good shop that hasn't seen the car before, to eliminate any possible bias?

I wouldn't worry about bias in that situation. However, if the car is for sale by the dealership that has worked on the car, then I would look for a different shop to do the inspection.

 

[NSXTech]

I personally would never take a car for inspection to its servicing tech, especially if doing an out of town buy. It would be nice if all shops always told the truth, but.....
Recently, a local customer was going to fly out to Boston to buy an NSX, and had the serviving Acura Dealer inspect it. They assured him no inspection was ness because they see the car regularly. They assured him the car had just cleared emmision testing and had the 90k including t-belt.
Customer flew out, bought car, drove home, had us inspect it, and.....
Car had a SuperTrapp POS exhaust welded to the headers with NO cats.
Timing belt was original, and the car had been wrecked and poorly repaired.
This was a difficult case, but we have seen many examples of this.

I don't know why shops do this, other than the obvious self-interest. Alot of you have multiple Acura products, and I think sometimes a service rep is afraid of loosing a good customer by nixing a car sale for him. JMO, of course.

MB