"There is no second-hand car that is in 100-per-cent perfect condition. There will always be something wrong with some part or another. It is our job to give you a purely objective perspective of what is wrong," says Shay Garini, managing director of TestCar Co.

TestCar is the first company in Thailand offering customers a full test of second-hand cars, including a dynamometer, which provides torque and horsepower ratings. It provides customers with a report on all the problems the car has, the problems likely to crop up in the future, and also other facts. The main aim of TestCar is to give people buying a second-hand car a true understanding of what they are paying for.

Testing second-hand cars before buying them is a common practice in foreign countries, but until now it has been unheard of in Thailand.

"In Thailand, you buy a second-hand car blindly," Garini says. "The second-hand tent dealer tells you it is a good car and you believe him. If anything goes wrong with the car later, he takes no responsibility.

"At TestCar the customer and the dealer can come together and see the real condition of the car. Another common option for people looking at buying a second-hand car is to take a mechanic along. But they are usually unable to assess the car by simply listening to the engine or knocking on the body-shell."

TestCar does not provide the customer with a recommendation to buy or not to buy. It only points out the facts, and Garini says this neutrality is needed to gain the trust of customers.

"If we told the customer he should buy or he shouldn't buy, then the customer might think we are taking sides with the dealer," Garini says. "We have no interest beyond providing the customer with an honest report. For the same reason, we do not fix cars. If we were to fix them, customers might think that we deliberately find something wrong so that we can send it to our garage."

The TestCar facility is capable of testing both 2WD and 4WD vehicles with horsepower ratings lower than 700bhp. Pricing starts at Bt3,200 for 2WD vehicles and goes up to Bt5,200 for vehicles with engines above 3.5 litres.

A bodywork test determines if the car has been involved in a crash, by checking the paint thickness on different parts. Headlights are tested to determine intensity and visibility. Other machines also check front and rear shock absorbers, and there are brake tests.

"More and more people are becoming aware of this facility and our customers are growing every week. The biggest problem, according to our customers, is that second-hand tent owners do not allow cars to be taken out to be tested. My recommendation to these customers is that it is not worth buying from these dealers because they're most likely hiding something," Garini says.

He believes the best advertising is word of mouth, and once a customer has brought a vehicle for testing at the centre, they will never buy a car again without testing it.

Garini points out that testing second-hand cars is also beneficial for the car dealer. His customer will not come back to complain about problems with the car because they have all been clearly stated in the TestCar report. The customer ends up having more faith in the dealer and will send more business his way.

Besides testing second-hand cars, the TestCar facility also examines cars that have been modified. Until now, tuning shops have been able to claim to their customers that modifications to the engine have provided a certain level of power. TestCar offers owners the chance to check whether or not such claims are accurate.

"Last month I had a customer with a Subaru Impreza. A tuning shop claimed the engine produced more than 300bhp. We found that it actually produced only 230bhp," Garini says.

All the equipment used at the TestCar facility was imported from Germany at a total cost of Bt40 million, and Garini says there is no way anyone can cheat the machines. The equipment can measure at what level the shock absorbers and other parts of the car are performing. The only role played by the human eye at the testing centre is a general inspection of a car's suspension and bodywork. After testing, technicians compare data from the machines with original data from the car's manufacturers, kept in a database. Customers are then given a briefing on the condition of the vehicle.

"The hardest part is changing the mind-set of people. Many are used to the idea of simply buying a car from a second-hand car dealer without properly testing it. Our centre now gives them a fair chance," Garini says.

The TestCar centre, located on Bangkok's Srinakarin Road, is ideally placed near second-hand car yards. The company's website currently has 8,000 hits per month, and it gets four or five customers every day.

TestCar is now planning to expand. The most likely new locations will be on Chaeng Wattana and Ram-Indra roads.

The TestCar centre can be contacted at (02) 320 4490 and more information about the company can be found at www.testcar.co.th.

Vijo Varghese

The Nation