He said: “First thing I want to do is make sure all the functions of the key work. And I’m going to be honest with you. I’m going to ask for at least more than one key. I want at least two, some of these keys can get pretty expensive.

“The other thing I want to do is turn the key on and look at all the warning indicators to make sure they illuminate. The check engine light is illuminated, so that’s good. I’m going to start the vehicle.

“Normally I want the vehicle to be a cold start, the reason being is the first cold start of the morning if there is any sort of engine noise I’m going to hear it then.

“A lot of the time once we build up some heat and the vehicle has been running we are not going to hear any sort of noises.”

They explained: “When buying a secondhand car, it’s important to find out as much as possible about its history.

“This helps you find what the seller potentially doesn’t want you to know.

“These checks primarily reveal if there are any hidden discrepancies in the car’s history.”