What a pre-purchase inspection costs and what exactly it covers

The inspection price is the same for every passenger car and van up to 3.5 t — it does not depend on the make, the year or the price of the vehicle. Only two things vary: how many kilometres the inspector has to drive beyond the included allowance, and whether you add negotiation with the seller. Below we break the price into its parts, show the amounts for four distances and describe what exactly you get in the report.

What the price is made of

Three parts: the fixed inspection price, travel beyond the included kilometres and the optional negotiation add-on. 21% VAT is applied once, to the whole net total — not per kilometre — and rounded to the cent. A business with an EU VAT number outside Belgium pays net under the reverse charge.

• Full inspection: €278.30 incl. VAT (€230 net). One price for passenger cars, SUVs, estates, vans up to 3.5 t and campers on a passenger-car chassis. Commercial vehicles (24 V systems) are quoted separately.
• Travel: 30 km of driving included, counted by road for the round trip from the base in Antwerp. When the car stands 150 km or further one way, 50 km are included. Every kilometre beyond that: €0.47 net, about €0.57 incl. VAT.
• Add-on “negotiation and closing the deal”: +€99 incl. VAT (€81.82 net). We talk to the seller in their own language, using the findings of the report. Not available on inspections carried out by the partner.

What you pay depending on the distance

Distance is measured by road, for the round trip, from the base at Uitbreidingstraat 510 in Antwerp (Berchem). Four examples for a full inspection without a membership — the same figures the calculator on the inspection page shows.

Indicative amounts from the distance table. The binding price — calculated from the car’s exact address — comes in the reply to your enquiry, before any payment.

At 150 km one way the threshold switches: 50 km are included instead of 30, so a car standing exactly 150 km from the base has more kilometres in the price than one standing just below the threshold. The distance is rounded to whole kilometres before the threshold applies.

What exactly we check

The inspector works on the car for 1.5–2 hours, where it stands — a dealer’s forecourt, a private driveway, an auction yard. We ask the seller not to start the engine before we arrive: a cold start reveals knocking, smoke and turbo noise that a warm engine no longer shows. If the car is warm on arrival, the report records it.

• Body and paint — coat thickness in micrometres on ten metal panels, panel gaps and alignment, paint traces on the seals, repair traces in the engine bay. The plastic bumper is not measured and the report says so, instead of printing an invented figure.
• Engine and drivetrain — cold start, idle stability, leaks visible from above and below, exhaust smoke, turbocharger noise, cooling system, oil condition, battery, gearbox operation.
• Suspension, brakes and test drive — steering play, suspension noise, brake feel, handbrake, shock absorbers, underbody corrosion; tread depth in millimetres and brake condition in per cent on every wheel.
• Interior and electronics — dashboard messages, seats and upholstery, air conditioning, glass and mirrors, multimedia, seat heating, seat belts, odour, the full lighting system.
• Documents — registration document, vehicle card, COC certificate of conformity, service book, roadworthiness-test validity and the next due date, manuals, the second set of keys.
• OBD diagnostics — a full scan of the control units: stored and historical fault codes. A memory freshly cleared shortly before the sale is information in its own right.

What you receive after the inspection

The report arrives within 24–48 hours of the inspection, in your language, as a web page that reads well on a phone and as a PDF. Page one carries the inspector’s summary, a score and a one-sentence verdict. Then: defects and items to watch with their measurements, a findings map on a diagram of the car, an estimated repair cost as a range at the rates of independent workshops in Belgium and the Netherlands, a photo and video gallery, the full OBD printout, the state of the paperwork and the vehicle history report by VIN. Every report is reviewed in the office before it goes to the customer.

You can see what such a document looks like on the sample report page — built from a real inspection, with personal data removed. It is written for your own purchase decision: for the seller, for the price negotiation, or as evidence in a dispute.

When driving out from Antwerp does not make sense

Our inspectors drive up to 400 km by road from Antwerp: all of Belgium, all of the Netherlands, north-eastern France near the Belgian border and Germany up to 250 km by road (Aachen, Cologne, the Ruhr area). Further into Germany and in all of Czechia and Slovakia the inspection is carried out by our partner and you receive the report in the DAExport format. A fixed price, travel included, the same on every plan, applies there: Germany €367, Czechia €190, Slovakia €173 incl. VAT. The negotiation add-on and the referral-code discount are not available there.

If the car stands further than 400 km away (Paris, for instance) or it is a commercial vehicle, write to us — we usually quote the same business day.

How to order and when you pay

You tell us the country and postcode where the car stands and, if you have it, the listing link. We reply with the full amount, travel included; you pay only once you know it, by card online or by bank transfer. Then we schedule with the seller in their own language; you see every contact attempt in the customer panel with its date and time. If no appointment comes together before the inspector sets off, you get a full refund.

Inspection page and travel calculator

Buying a car in Belgium and want it delivered home? Read what car transport from Belgium to Spain costs and how importing a car from Belgium to Poland works step by step. The prices of all services are in the price list.