A life spent queueing on the A23 leaves marks
The A23 is the spine of Norbury and one of the slowest stretches of red route in south London, with bus stops, signals and long queues towards Thornton Heath Pond. A car that has commuted up and down it for years has done hard miles at low speed, which is a specific kind of wear. Brake pads and discs go from constant creeping and stopping, the clutch suffers from endless take-ups, air conditioning compressors run for hours at idle, and radiators and condensers sit in traffic heat.
So we look at those things as measurements rather than impressions: pad thickness and disc lipping taken with a gauge, tread depths and date codes on all four wheels and the spare, and coolant strength and brake fluid moisture content tested. On the road test we feel for clutch slip and flywheel rattle, brake judder, bearing noise and whether the car holds a straight line. Plenty of cars from this corridor are perfectly sound; the point is that you find out before the money moves rather than after.
If you are buying from a trader rather than privately, you have more legal protection than a private sale gives you, but protection is not the same as knowing. A report with photographs and measured figures is useful either way, because it turns a conversation about impressions into one about numbers. Viewings around here happen on the street in any case, outside the shops on London Road, near Norbury station or on the terraces behind Norbury Library, and none of those lets you look underneath a car properly. We also read the gov.uk MOT history for mileage that does not follow, scan every module for stored and pending codes, and check whether readiness monitors have completed.
The car needs to come here for the ramp: London Road south to Thornton Heath Pond, the A23 to the Lombard roundabout, then the A236 west across Mitcham Common and south on Carshalton Road into Hackbridge, about 18 minutes. Agree the inspection with the seller beforehand, hold the car with a refundable deposit if you can, and ask for it cold. We report the same day, usually by phone first.