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5 things modern cars hide

5 things modern cars hide

In the good old days, it was the norm for a five year-old car to look far older than it actually was. They weren’t really built with longevity in mind; it wasn’t long before they lost their shine, so to speak.

Walk into a modern day scrap yard though, and you’ll be greeted with cars that look like they need nothing more than a wash before being put back on the road. That’s not the case though. Modern cars are sneaky, and they hide lots. 

01 Rust

It’s pretty much the norm for a manufacturer to offer a ten year guarantee against rust. And most cars will indeed avoid it for a decade. But that doesn’t mean they’re immune.

Plus, in most cases, that guarantee is only for the body, not what’s underneath. A case in point would be the new Beetle. Have a look behind the plastic sill covers and you’ll find they rot like a shipwreck.

In fact, look behind the plastic on most cars – they have a lot – and you won’t have to search for long before finding rust. 

02 Mileage

Modern cars are hard-wearing. The manufacturers know that they will be in use for a long time, so in most cases, they’re built with that in mind.

As such, a 2005 car with 150k on the clock will look a lot better than a 1995 car with the same mileage. If a car seems to have suspiciously low mileage, make sure you get a HPi report or MOT history check to make sure it tallies up. 

Check out our full range of car manuals, available in print and on any device!

03 Accident damage

Old cars had metal bumpers, new ones don’t. So, if a new car is in a fender bender, all it takes is a new plastic panel to make it look like everything is okay.

Underneath, however, the impact bars or mountings could be bent in a bad way. Make sure you get underneath to check that there is no wonky metalwork. 

04 Electrical issues

The modern motor is a technological marvel. Every part of the car is wired to a central computer, and in turn, that computer will tell you when something is wrong. Unless of course, someone has cleared the faults.

You can buy a cheap code reader, which will clear fault codes, for a few quid online. That means all looks well on the surface. The best way around it is to take the car for a decent test drive, which will give the car’s ‘brain’ plenty of time to bring the fault code up again. 

05 Service information

It’s fairly common for a modern car to tell you when it needs a service. A little light pings on the dash or the on-board computer tells you. That’s good, as it means you’re not churning old oil around your engine.

What’s bad is the fact that these indicators are pretty easy to reset, making it look like the car has been recently serviced. Check the oil for colour, check the spark plugs to see if they look new and check the oil filter for the same. They’ll tell you if it was serviced recently.