Whether it’s low-riders, hot rods, street rods, eye catching body kits or custom-flipped paint work, car modifications are a rising phenomenon for the seriously cool looking to make a statement with their motor.

However, RAC Inspections warns used car buyers considering a modified vehicle to avoid being blinded by the bling and get it checked out thoroughly.

“Car modification offers people an easy way to make their car stand out from the crowd,” explains Nicola Johnson, Manager of RAC Inspections.

“From fancy paintwork and chrome trims to more serious tuning under the bonnet, car modification is becoming more and more popular.  But this poses some new challenges to the used car buyer. Extra weight from oversized exhausts, different wheel dimensions and amended aerodynamics produced by body kit parts, all impact on a car’s performance for better or worse, depending on the quality of the job.  When modifications are done well, they are done very well, but when done badly, they are illegal and dangerous.”

RAC Inspector, Ron Waldock, remembers inspecting a typical boy-racer Peugeot 106 that had had a set of big wheels and sport springs fitted.
“The car had been lowered so far that the extra-large wheels were rubbing against the wheel arches and had rubbed away the inner liner and paint on the inner wings, so that they were rusting.

“One lad had spent £3,500 having a body kit fitted to a Vauxhall Corsa. There were four huge six-inch diameter exhausts. When I asked what engine the vehicle had, it still had the 1,000cc three cylinder engine – it must have struggled to move.”

The cost of an Inspection will no longer depend on the model and specification of a vehicle, but the level of assurance needed when buying a used car and the complexity of the vehicle itself.

An Essentials Inspection costs £125 for RAC members and £139 for non-members.

An Essentials Plus Inspection costs £189 for members and £199 for non-members.