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Ok, as one or two of you will know (not many though) I have been on the start up of a business. 3 Year plan to have a workshop and be self sufficient enough in the business to be able to quit my current job and go full time at this. The main thing I am doing is mobile mechanics. Affordable, generally using genuine parts where I can and just not adding on the massive mark up that I am told is the retail price for them so I can get more work in. "Charge less get more" kind of theory. Well anyway. Besides this, I have been talking to a friend tonight who has given me an idea which I am now going to peruse as another service that my business will be offering. The AA offer a full vehicle check over. This check list can be seen on their website. The offer no warranty on their check, as the check is about the condition of parts that are visible. Just because the car has been in good condition when seen by the AA staff member, this does not mean it will be 1 mile down the road after you have bought it. What my company will be offering is this very same thing!! But not with the cost involved in the AA one. The problem behind this is that the AA have lots of staff all over the country, and therefore have no real travel costs. The vehicle they are checking will always be local to one of their bod's!! This in turn becomes my own problem!! However, I feel that the initial price that I ask for completing the checks will allow me to travel up to 70 driven miles (No!! Not as the crow flies!!) TO a vehicle to check it over. The vehicle would be raised and checked from underneath, following along the lines of the AA check lists, as well as any other information I can gather. The fee that the AA charge varies for some strange reason on the size of the engine... Why this is completely confuses me!! I see no reason for the engine size to make any difference as no compression tests or internals are checked or anything like that. It is just a thorough check over of the cars visuals, any accident damage, and such like. A road test to make sure there are no nasty surprises on heavy or light braking, steering wobbles, knocks, tinks, or clunks. Checks around before and after the test drive to make sure no leaks have been cleaned up before the visit. As with this gentleman, if anything were to feel not right about the car for any reason, then I would walk away. A full written report stating everything I have found and concluded, and depicting what I feel would be my fair offer on the car. My business is already VAT registered. I did this with the idea in mind that I would be able to claim back more than I would be spending, but this week have been doing the last of my accounts ready to submit and unfortunately I am owing the nasty VAT man money. This does however mean that if a business was to use my services then the VAT is claimable back. There will of course be an HPI check completed and print out to go along with it carried in to the cost of the service being offered. I have spoken already about the prices on the AA site, and have linked through to another "Sports car checker" who charges more. My friend who got me thinking is using this person to check out a car for him this week so it saves him travelling from Hastings to Leicester to look at £8500 worth of a car. To him that's £240 well spent, should the car be a good one then he has already agreed a deposit with the sellers, and if it is not fully as described then the seller will return the deposit. The time, and fuel, and hassle for my friend far outweighs the cost. So, would you use a service like this if you were looking for a car and wanted to know what it was going to be like before you spent an hour or more in the car just to go and have a look?? I've mentioned the AA's price, I've mentioned another gent's price, but if someone was to offer a "comprehensive" equivalent to the AA's list, for £100+VAT then would it be something you would think about using?? I know this looks like a For Sale thread, but it's more of a question to other car enthusiasts about the subject heading... (Please note I haven't added my business name in to try and advertise!!) Would you take advantage of something like this?? £100+vat would in turn get the customer a full check over of the car, a written report, and a printed HPI check and all the gumph that comes with them. I'm not sure which company the checks will be made through just yet as I haven't done the research on them yet. I do know though that some offer a full listing of what was originally added to the car in terms of optional extra's and all that... These, to me, if they are accurate, would be the ones I would want to have for my own records, and therefore the ones I would use I think!!