What should I look for on a used-car test drive?

Check cold starting, warning lights, steering, brakes, clutch or transmission, suspension noises, temperature, straight-line tracking and whether all controls work normally.

In relation to “What should I look for on a used-car test drive?”, used-car problems are usually cheaper to walk away from than to unravel after ownership has changed, so pause when one part of the story does not fit.

For “What should I look for on a used-car test drive?”, at a handover or test drive, establish whose policy is providing cover before the keys are handed over. “The dealer is insured” does not automatically mean every driver is insured in every circumstance.

For “What should I look for on a used-car test drive?”, drive long enough to check low-speed manoeuvres, normal acceleration, braking, straight-line tracking and hot running where possible. Make sure insurance permits the drive before setting off.

For “What should I look for on a used-car test drive?”, this answer is written for a Northern Ireland user, but some vehicle-registration, consumer-credit and insurance functions operate on a UK-wide basis. The attached sources — GOV.UK - Buy a vehicle: step by step, GOV.UK - Vehicle registration: new and used vehicles, and nidirect - Contact Consumerline — are therefore deliberately mixed where the responsible authority is UK-wide. That is more accurate than forcing every point into an NI-only source.

Practical next step for “What should I look for on a used-car test drive?”: do not pay until this point has been independently checked. Save the advert, seller messages and any official or commercial check so you can show exactly what information you relied on.