What condition are the cars in? What can I expect from the mechanic?
Oh boy this topic has caused some heartache on both sides of the coin. Please understand, all of our cars are OLDER and HIGHER MILES. We literally do what California requires of us, which is to smog the car BEFORE the sale and a very basic safety inspection. If you buy a car and take it straight to your mechanic, expect them to tell you it needs at least a few hundred to a few thousand dollars worth of "recommended" items. Why? You are paying them to nit pick the car, and they will err on the side of caution. What California deems roadworthy, vs what your mechanic deems roadworthy, are 2 VERY different things.
We have gone to court over this (and won), and we try to make this very clear, but people just either don't understand, or don't read any of this.
Example:
So if your 2003 BMW that you bought (as an example) with 150k miles on it for $4000 goes to pretty much any mechanic, expect them to tell you it likely needs $3000 worth of their recommendations. They are not lying to you, but they are have not exactly made a business out of doing nothing either. We see a ton of shops "recommend" shocks, bushings etc on all cars over 100k miles, usually at around $1000-1500 for this ALONE, before any oil leaks/seeps/etc.
What we check, are basic items. It runs. It drives. It passed smog FOR US AT THE TIME WE TOOK IT (that's all we are required to do). The AC usually works, and the driver door lock/window usually works. The basic lights and such should all work. If you want to know if the rear speakers, or the rear left window work, etc (as example), we simply don't check. You can send a mobile mechanic/inspector to check for you, and expect that he will handle you a long list of recommendations, as mentioned earlier.
If we noted something blatantly obvious, we noted it in the ad. Read the ad.
