How a Wollongong car fan was saved $45k thanks to a $2 online check

He negotiated the price down from $56,000 to $45,000. He set about planning to go pick it up, but first, he sent a message to pre purchase car inspector Mitchell Pedavoli, who runs the business Inspection Dr.

"I sent him the VIN and then he sent me back 'Don't touch it with a pole mate'," Mr Zarif said.

The Model 3 had crashed in South Australia before being taken to Queensland for repairs, exploiting a loophole to allow the car to be registered in NSW.

"I was devastated, to be honest ... when he sent me the report and said 'this is what they've done' I was crushed," he said.

The first time Mr Zarif used Mr Pedavoli's service was more than 10 years ago.

"I was looking at an XR6 Turbo ... I [thought] 'this is perfect', I was young and dumb."

Mr Zarif said the seller was rushing him, which raised a warning flag for him, and at the suggestion of a cousin decided to hire Mr Pedavoli to check it out.

"He went out there and he's sent me all these photos from underneath the car, and he said 'the car's actually been in a massive front-end accident'," Mr Zarif said.

The damage to the car had forced major repairs and had left the car without a proper wheel alignment.

"He was like 'You're never going to get a good wheel alignment, so you're going to be replacing that front left tyre constantly.'

"There was so much stuff I was like 'this guy is good'."

Mr Pedavoli says he doesn't have a "crystal ball" when it comes to the cars.

"At least you'll know if there's anything major you don't have to worry about it," he said.

"You don't what the severity of an accident would have been, like it might just be minor stuff ... but with knowing the full story you don't really know."

Inspection Dr has more than 650 five-star reviews on Airtasker, which he uses to find pre-inspection work, and says he sees two false odometer scams per week.

Mr Pedavoli has some simple things to check for when buying a used car.

"To save you the time, do a $2 PPSR [Personal Property Securities Register] check, even before you get to the car," he said.

"Asking for the registration number or even the VIN, just to verify that car hasn't been in an accident or if there's money owing on it."

A Personal Property Securities Register check costs $2 and shows if a vehicle is recorded as free from debt, or has been stolen or written off.

Mr Pedavoli also suggests doing a "last 3km check" before even inspecting the car.

"Obviously if you go look at it it's more like seeing if there are oil leaks, are there any warning signs on the dash," he said.

"Another thing would be the service history, what does the service history look like?"

He advises people to not rush buy a car, as a sellers often use the tactic of another buyer being moments away.

His final tip: "If it's too good to be true, then it probably is."