What's actually on the free 16-point check
The free check that comes with every service, line by line — what each point catches, and why a health report is a different thing from a sales pitch.
Every service here comes with a free 16-point check. Plenty of shops advertise something like it, and the phrase has been worn thin enough that it’s worth saying exactly what ours is and what it’s for.
First, what it is not
It is not the Virginia state inspection. That’s a separate, state-regulated procedure with a statutory fee, a legal checklist and a sticker. The free check does not apply to it and can’t substitute for it.
It is also not a sales pitch with a clipboard. That distinction is the entire point of the exercise, and it’s the thing we’d want judged.
The sixteen
Tires and wheels
- Tread depth, measured at inside, middle and outside on each tire
- Tire pressures, set to the door-jamb specification
- Sidewalls, valve stems and visible wheel damage
- Wear pattern read — the tread is the most honest report you’ll get about the alignment and suspension
Brakes 5. Pad and shoe material remaining 6. Rotor and drum condition 7. Brake fluid level and condition
Under the hood 8. Engine oil level and condition 9. Coolant level, condition and cap seal 10. Transmission fluid where it’s checkable 11. Power steering and washer fluid 12. Belts and hoses — cracking, glazing, softness, swelling 13. Battery, terminals and cables; charging system output 14. Air filter and cabin air filter
Around the car 15. All exterior lights and signals 16. Wipers and washer operation
Underneath, on a lift, we’re also looking at leaks, exhaust condition, and obvious play in steering and suspension components — because the car is already up there and it costs nothing to look.
What happens with what we find
Three buckets, and we say which one each item is in:
Safety. Needs doing now. We’ll say so plainly and explain why.
Soon. Has life left in it, but you should plan for it. A brake pad at 4mm is a next-few-months item, not an emergency, and we’ll tell you roughly how long.
Someday. Noted so it isn’t a surprise later. A weeping valve cover gasket on a high-mileage car might live in this bucket for two years.
Anything worth showing you gets photographed. If we say a rotor is under minimum thickness, you get a picture of the measurement next to the minimum stamped on the part. You’re not being asked to take our word for a number.
And when nothing’s wrong
We tell you nothing’s wrong.
That’s the most common outcome and it’s the part that seems to surprise people. There’s a review of ours that says it better than we can — “no attempts to upsell unnecessary services.” Somebody wrote that unprompted, and it’s the sentence we’d choose if we got to write our own.
A free check that always finds something isn’t a free check. It’s a lead generator with a nicer name.
Why we do it at all
Two honest reasons.
The first is that finding a failing part early is cheaper for you than finding it late — a $9 hose beats a tow and an overheated engine, and a customer whose car doesn’t strand them keeps coming back.
The second is that a car up on a lift for an oil change is already up on a lift. Looking costs us a few minutes. Not looking costs you a breakdown we could have seen.
That’s the whole calculation, and it has worked for forty-five years.
Free with every service. Drop it off or call (804) 737-2828.