Pre purchase evaluation in Derbyshire

Hi,

I am not (yet) a Defender owner, but am very much in the market for a good used model and have been looking at a lot of vehicles around the country. There is one that I am very interested in but there are a couple of things that concern me, so I would like to get an independent evaluation done at my own cost, prior to agreeing to purchase.

Can anyone recommend a reliable place in the north Derbyshire/south Yorkshire area who can do this for me? There are main dealers around there, but neither of them are particularly keen to do this for a third-party vehicle, so would like a good independent garage to take a look.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Marc

Have you thought about RAC or AA?

Cheers

I should have said that, yes I have and they are clearly an option. I was just wondering if anyone knew of anywhere else maybe a little more specialist.

I'd agree with @neilly above, that the AA or RAC would be my recommendation. I live in north derbyshire.. I'd need to know which vehicle, and exactly what you want to be able to advise...

I will PM you

Another thing is that the motoring organisations publish the checklist of things they look at on their websites. They're very useful as reminders of what to look for before handing your money over. For example I looked very carefully for chassis and bulkhead rust, and looseness in bearings and transmission components when I was buying mine (found a loose wheelbearing that the garage agreed to replace for me before I picked it up) but completely forgot about basic things like brake lights and windscreen washers.

Of course you can check the MOT history online which can give you some idea of the faults that have been detected and whether they have been repaired.

Ok, well, @WayTooUnCool PM'd me - and the vehicle doesn't show up in the MOT history check !!
Now, I know there are genuine reasons for this happening.... but I'd be worried!

(I'm not going to divulge the info on the open forum without his agreement)

Is it local to anyone?