Buying over the boundary in Ewell and Surrey
Cheam sits inside the London-wide ULEZ, but Nonsuch Park's southern side and Ewell beyond it are in Surrey and outside the zone. That matters when you are shopping, because a perfectly nice older car being sold a couple of miles down Ewell Road may have spent its life somewhere its emissions standard was never an issue. If it is coming home to a Cheam driveway, the daily charge becomes your problem, so check the registration on the TfL checker before you fall in love with it.
The inspection answers the mechanical half of that question. On an older diesel we look at whether the particulate filter is original and present, whether its differential pressure readings and soot values look plausible, and whether anything emissions-related is stored in the modules or waiting to log. We also check whether the readiness monitors have completed, because a scan with monitors sitting incomplete usually means the fault codes were cleared not long before you turned up to view the car.
Beyond that, it is the same careful trawl on every car: identity and paperwork cross-checked against the gov.uk MOT history, a cold start listened to properly, paint depth taken panel by panel, and a ramp inspection of sills, floor pans, subframe mountings and suspension turrets for corrosion or distortion. Brake and tyre measurements go in as figures rather than adjectives. We are not trying to find a perfect car, because used cars are not perfect. We are telling you what this one is likely to ask of you.
The run in is east on Cheam Road through Sutton and Carshalton and north on the B277, or along Acre Lane to Wallington Green and up London Road, roughly 12 minutes either way. Hold the car with a refundable deposit on the condition that the sale depends on the report, and bring it cold. We are open from 8am on weekdays and until 5pm on Saturday, which suits viewings arranged at the weekend.