Excellent. One tip I was given a long time ago was to ask the owner to drive on the first part of the test. You get a good idea of how the car has been treated, then you drive it yourself

The greatest rule of all - Check that all the error lights illuminate when turning on ignition. It's not uncommon to find unscrupulous sellers have disabled the engine or airbag lights. Ask me how I know.

I have seen cars that were rotten underneath but the MOT history was clean.There's some dodgy MOT testing stations about.

Don’t forget to look in the ash tray , with the price of cigarettes now , a couple of half smoked tabs is like a discount..

One thing not said, I would before driving, turn the car key to the first position and check the lights that you expect appear on the dashboard (such as engine manage light) are illuminated. If not, suggests they aren't working and therefore an underlying issue is being disguised.

I would just add: Do you like the owner on first impressions? Nasty people tend to sell nasty cars!

This man explains the car buying process so well.

I always ask the seller to open the bonnet. When it’s obvious they’re not sure how, you also know they haven’t regularly checked fluid levels.

What an incredibly helpful video. Great advice, free on YouTube. Thank you, your channel is terrific.

If I'm buying from a private seller, I always ask if they're the registered owner, and if I'll be seeing the car at the address on the paperwork.  Any stories ("selling for my uncle", "didn't get around to registering it", "meet me at my workplace car park", etc.), and I go no further, because that's a trader masquerading as a private seller.

One thing I do is check the carpet in front of each seat. Lift the floormat and feel underneath. Is there any damp under the floor mat? Does it smell musty or mouldy? This is usually because of a window seal perishing but could be coming from somewhere else - through the ventilation/aircon, or blocked rain channels somewhere.

Wonderful, practical tips. This chap's videos should be compulsory viewing for anyone buying a used car.
Keep 'em coming !

Two things to check.
1 Body panel gaps are even, signs of over-spray and slight colour changes on different panels indicating body damage.
2 If it's FWD, check the CV joints by doing a 360 degree circle on full lock, left and right. It you hear a clicking noise, then the CVs need replacing.

Re MOTs, look for very recent clean ones done just before sale, where previous advisories have either been addressed by the garage or possibly ignored by a friendly MOT station. If it's the former ask for evidence of the work, and sense-check against the car's value. I've seen some very dodgy examples.

Check the air con works also, My wife has been caught out by that one, can be a very expensive fix.

I'm the opposite of what most people do. I tend to over analyse the car and find every single little problem and talk myself out of buying things that I probably should have bought.

Don't forget the most important thing. If it looks too good to be true, it usually is. There's always another car if you walk away.

I got done on a Cavalier GSI back in the early 90's! Oil in the coolant but the seller did a good job of cleaning it out before I turned up. Unbeknown to me at the time, the 16 valve heads suffered from porosity . (no helpful internet info in those days ofcourse) The really bad part, Im a mechanic but I was itching to get my first GSi , and had rose tinted specs on! Although I did the repair myself, I learnt a harsh lesson.

It's worthwhile to take a look at the underside of the bonnet. It can give telltale signs, e.g. where the car overheated and the water shot out of the coolant tank.

An early red flag for me is to see a completely mismatched set of tyres on a car, especially if the car is not that old and they are budget tyres.