A pre-purchase checklist for a used car in Accra

Most of this is general good practice for buying any used car, wherever you are — it is not specific to a single model, and no reliability statistics are claimed here. Pair it with the model-specific history and known weak points the app will show once our vehicle-data pipeline is built; this page is deliberately general until then.

1. Paperwork first

• Match the chassis/VIN stamped on the car to the one on the registration document.
• Check the roadworthy certificate's expiry date and that it was issued for this specific vehicle.
• Ask who the registered owner is, and that it matches who is selling it to you — or get a clear chain of ownership if not.
• See our documents guide for what each paper actually proves.

2. Walk around the car

• Look for panel gaps, paint colour mismatches or overspray — signs of past accident repair.
• Check tyre wear: uneven wear across one tyre can point to alignment or suspension issues.
• Look under the car and under the hood for fluid staining — oil, coolant or transmission fluid leaks.

3. Start it cold

• If possible, see the car started from cold, not after the seller has had it running for an hour.
• Listen for unusual noises at idle and watch the exhaust — thick white or blue smoke on startup is worth asking about.

4. Test drive

• Drive on a road with some bends and a bit of speed, not just around the block.
• Check the car holds a straight line without fighting the steering, brakes without pulling to one side, and the gearbox shifts smoothly.

5. Get an independent inspection

A pre-purchase inspection by a mechanic who is not connected to the seller is the single highest-value step on this list. A scan tool reading of stored fault codes, in particular, can surface problems a test drive alone will not.

This checklist reflects general used-car buying practice; it does not cite Ghana-specific sources. See the documents article for sourced, Ghana-specific facts about registration, roadworthy and document fraud.