How to check a used car before buying it

This guide is for you who are considering buying a used car. You can assess the condition and mileage yourself when you are in front of it. You can't do the maintenance, and it's precisely the part that costs money afterwards.

How to do it

1. Find the car's number plate in the ad or ask the seller for it.
2. Buy a service certificate on the car's number plate or chassis number. The certificate costs a small amount and the price is stated before you buy.
3. Review the certificate's registered services by date and see what has been done when.

The certificate is yours, so you can save it and take it with you to the viewing rather than standing and remembering.

Where the information comes from

The certificate gathers registrations from several sources: the manufacturers' own service books, the independent workshops connected to the Digital Service Book, and data through integrations to the industry's own systems. Therefore, it covers a wider range than a single source would.

If the car has been to a brand workshop, that service is included, because we also search the manufacturer's own service book.

What to look for in the certificate

• Gaps in the intervals. If there is a longer period without registered service, it is worth asking why.
• Jump in the mileage. The number is saved at each service, so that a mileage that drops or jumps suspiciously becomes visible when the registrations are listed by date.
• Who has done the work. The same workshop for several years is a different signal than changing workshops without a pattern.

Why the certificate is worth paying for

It costs a fraction of what an overlooked service backlog does. If there are gaps in the maintenance, you have the argument in your hand before you negotiate the price. If everything fits, you have bought security for a small amount.

If there is little or no history

This is not in itself a red flag, but it narrows down the explanation. Because the certificate also covers the manufacturers' own service books, it is typically because the car is serviced by an independent workshop that is neither connected to the Digital Servicebook nor is one of our partners.

Whatever the reason, you are left without documentation for that period, and then you buy on the seller's word. Ask for receipts for the exact years that the certificate does not cover, and notice if what you get is related to what you can see.

If the car has been abroad

Registrations from several European countries are available in the same listing, so an import car is not automatically a blind purchase. This is worth checking precisely because this is where the history is most difficult to get hold of by other means.

When you have bought the car

Add it to your own account. Your own car's history is free for you as the owner, and the service that is made in the future is collected on the car. Then you will have the documentation yourself on the day the car is to be moved on.