What to look for when buying second hand

[BeeJay]

There seem to be regular posts from people asking what they should be looking for when buying a particular model.

Not wishing to in any way diminish the contributions of the many experienced owners who respond, I have found this web site to be very useful:

http://www.usedcarexpert.co.uk/

If you register, for free, you get a set number of reports free of charge - after that there is a fee. Of course, at that point it would never occur to you to register again with a different email address - would it ?

 

[verytalldave]

There seem to be regular posts from people asking what they should be looking for when buying a particular model.

Not wishing to in any way diminish the contributions of the many experienced owners who respond, I have found this web site to be very useful:

http://www.usedcarexpert.co.uk/

If you register, for free, you get a set number of reports free of charge - after that there is a fee. Of course, at that point it would never occur to you to register again with a different email address - would it ?

Most websites that operate on a "try then buy" basis not only use your e-mail address as a check that you arent trying to pull a fast one, they also log your IP address as well. Try to re-register with a new e-mail address and it may very well get blocked.
SOME website even go so far as to download a file to your PC upon registration with some random unconnected name, for example "usercheck234334.reg". This file is often placed within all your hundreds of windows operational files and on top of that it could also be hidden and read only. Unless you know your way around a PC pretty well, then you have very little chance of even finding this file and even less deleting it. The program then checks for this as well. The modern software writers have got most dodges pretty well sewn up by now.
However, please note my first word. "Most". Not all bother to do this, so you may be lucky with this one. But dont be surprised if it blows you away on a second registration attempt.