Pre-Purchase Inspection Frankston — Coastal Cars

Looking for an RACV-accredited workshop in Frankston?

One point worth clearing up: RACV doesn’t inspect any cars itself. It accredits workshops against its own standards and lists the ones that qualify as RACV-Accredited Auto Care Centres, and the workshop you choose does the actual job. We carry that accreditation, and every Frankston booking is handled by our own technicians.

That means the price is on the page rather than something you have to call and ask about — $460 incl. GST mobile, $395 at Cranbourne West — booked online rather than over the phone. It also means we drive to Frankston, so a car you don’t yet own never has to leave the bay. RACV members should confirm any benefits with RACV directly; that’s theirs to promise, not ours.

Salt air, and what it does underneath

Frankston sits on the bay, and cars that have spent their life near salt water age differently to the same model kept inland. It rarely shows in the paint first. It shows underneath — in brake lines, subframe seams, suspension mounts, exhaust hangers and the places water sits after a wash and never quite dries.

On a Frankston car we spend longer underneath than the odometer would suggest is necessary: structural corrosion, surface rust that is cosmetic versus the kind that is structural, brake and fuel line condition, and whether anything has been painted over rather than repaired. We are about 22 minutes away via Peninsula Link and the Western Port Highway, and it is $460 incl. GST to come to the car.

Is rust always a reason to walk away?

No. Surface rust on a bracket is very different to corrosion in a structural member or a brake line. We report which one it is and what it means, so you can price it rather than guess.

Do you inspect cars near the Frankston foreshore?

Anywhere in Frankston. We need somewhere safe and reasonably level to work, and the seller’s mobile so we can confirm access before we drive out.