Anachronism

I will (hopefully) be buying a 4th gen Maxima soon. If I have a mechanic inspect the car before I buy it, what will he be able to tell me? Will he be able to tell if the car has been beaten or driven hard? How much should a pre-purchase inspection cost? Any specific problems I should look for on a 5 speed Maxima?

Also does Carfax tell you about any accidents the car has been in, only major ones, or only if the car was totaled? Who does carfax check with for accidents, insurance companies, registry, someplace else?

Sonic

By far the easiest and best way to check the state of an engine is by doing a compression test. This by itself wil tell you A LOT about the engine. Other good ways of testing the car are a Blackstone oil test (costs about 19 bucks and takes a few days) and of course, the visual inspetion of parts. A car with a good history will do just fine on all of those tests.
Carfax searches states DMV databases to eastabish its own database. It will tell you what the milage should be, and totals, lemons, or other negative things that are attributed to the car.

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

only thing you need to ensure is that it has a clutch a lot of these "5 speed" owners around here are shifting their cars without clutches.. from 1 to 2 to D .. don't ask me how

Sonic

Dude, you did it to me again.

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

did what?

Eric L.

It all depends how much you know about cars. If you frequently work on your own cars, then you should be able to do the inspection yourself. But I bet most used car sellers would not like you prodding around the engine before you buy the car. A mechanics inspection will cost $100 or so and should point out any major problems with the powertrain, suspension, and brakes.

I know my insurance, AAA, has a service where an approved mechanic will check the used car for $99.

JJW95SC

5spd? What's a 5spd?

Jim