Test-driving a used car: what to check before you buy

In brief

• Drive both in town and on the motorway, and start the engine from cold: most faults only become audible or noticeable after a few kilometres.
• Check how believable the odometer reading is through Traficom's free service before you trust the figure on the dashboard.
• Find out when the car is next due for its roadworthiness inspection (katsastus): in Finland a car over 10 years old is inspected every year.

Drive a used car at town speeds and on the motorway, with the engine started from cold, because a large share of faults only make themselves heard or felt once the engine is warm or at higher speeds. On the same trip, compare the odometer against Traficom's register data and check when the next roadworthiness inspection falls due. Neither check takes more than ten minutes, and both turn up things the sales pitch leaves out.

When and how should the test drive be done?

Arrange the test drive so the car has stood still for at least a couple of hours beforehand. A cold engine exposes starting problems, oil leaks and exhaust faults that stay silent and unnoticed once everything is warm. If the seller has already warmed the car up before you arrive, ask about it directly.

The route needs both slow town driving and motorway speeds, because many faults appear only at a particular speed or load. Braking on a straight road shows whether the car pulls to one side. A slow turn on full lock brings out noises from the power steering and the suspension that disappear on a straight road.

A test drive in rain or slush shows the condition of the wipers, the lights and the demister better than a dry spring day does. If you are buying in winter, check that the car is on the same tyres that come with the sale, because their condition has a direct effect on how the car feels to drive.

What is worth checking before the car even moves?

Before you turn the key, find the chassis number and compare it with the registration certificate. It is usually at the bottom of the windscreen or in the engine bay, and it has to match the paperwork exactly.

Tyre wear, rust on the body, especially along the sills and the edges of the wheel arches, and the fluid levels in the engine bay say more about how the car has been looked after than the photos in the advert. Watch the dashboard warning lights at the moment of starting: some go out within seconds, but any that stays lit is worth asking the seller about.

Read through the service book or the digital service history before the drive, so you know what has been done and when. Regular oil changes and a cam belt or chain replaced on time tell you more about a car than how clean it looks, and a missing service history is a good question for the seller before the drive even starts.

How can the odometer reading be checked reliably?

According to Traficom, a vehicle's technical details and inspection records can be checked free of charge using the registration number or the vehicle identification number, and the data goes from the inspection station straight into the vehicle register at every inspection. The service shows the odometer readings recorded at those inspections, so the dashboard figure can be compared against them before the sale.

Do not take the dashboard reading at face value until you have compared it with the figures recorded at inspections.

If the reading has risen unusually little or unusually much between inspections relative to the time that has passed, that is a reason to ask more questions, not a reason to skip the check. Do the same when the car otherwise looks tidy, because a tidy car is exactly what tempts a buyer to trust first impressions alone.

What should you listen and feel for while driving?

The engine note should settle a few seconds after starting. A rattle on a cold start that disappears once the engine is warm usually points to valve train clearance or oil pressure, and it is worth getting to the bottom of before the sale rather than after it.

A jerking gearbox, a clutch slipping on an uphill stretch or an automatic hesitating as it changes gear are signs you find only by driving, never while the car is parked. A knock from the suspension over a speed bump and vibration through the steering wheel at motorway speed tell you about the shock absorbers and the wheel balancing.

While stopped, go through the electrics as well: the air conditioning on both cold and hot, every window, and the reversing camera or sensors if the car has them. None of these can be heard or felt while driving, but repairing them afterwards often costs more than the faults in how the car drives.

When is the car next due for inspection?

According to Traficom, a new passenger car has its first roadworthiness inspection four years after it is first registered, after which the interval is two years. A car that has reached ten years moves to annual inspection, so the age of the car you are driving decides how soon the next one is due.

Check the inspection date on the registration certificate or through Traficom before the sale rather than after it, because an inspection falling due soon can bring unexpected repairs with it. If the car is over ten years old, the next inspection may be due within a few months of the purchase.

What sort of car is typically up for a test drive in Finland?

In July 2026, 53,141 used cars were sold in Finland, and the median model year of a sold car was 2015, making it about 11 years old at the point of sale. The odometer had typically covered 177,000 km, and the median asking price was 11,199 €.

That is exactly the kind of car worth watching closely on a test drive: in a car over ten years old that has covered a long distance, wearing parts such as shock absorbers, tyres and brakes are more likely to be at the end of their life than in a car a few years old. A test drive is not a formality when the car being bought matches the typical profile of the market rather than an exception to it.

A test drive is the best moment to find a car's real faults

A test drive combines four checks that together say more about a car than the photos in the advert or the seller's own account: the cold start, motorway speed, the odometer comparison and the inspection schedule. None of them needs tools, only time and a route that amounts to more than a lap of the car park.

Once those four have been worked through, the buyer holds the same information as the inspection station and the same basis for a decision as a professional. The rest comes down to whether the car on the drive matches what the advert promised.

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