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Do It Yourself

The Tools to Read a Car Yourself

Everything you need to check a used car before you buy it, and the book that tells you what you are looking at.

$99 · Ships to your door

A used car hides its history in four places

Under the paint, in the computer, on the tires, and in the fluids. A seller does not have to lie for any of it to stay hidden, because almost nobody asks and almost nobody can check. Every tool in this box opens one of those four doors.

What comes in the box

Six things, and every one has a job.

The hands-on tools from the kit laid out on a white surface: red shop rag, black nitrile gloves, pen flashlight, paint thickness gauge, tread depth gauge, digital tire pressure gauge and an OBD2 scanner on its pouch
The hands-on tools, laid out. The Playbook and the glovebox card are the printed pieces.
The Used Car Playbook
Our complete guide to buying a used car, with a tear-out worksheet for each of the five phases.
Why it mattersA gauge is useless until you know what a bad reading looks like. This is the part that turns a number into a decision.
An OBD2 scanner
Plugs in under the dash of any car built since 1996 and reads the car's own computer.
What it catchesA seller can clear a check-engine light in thirty seconds. What they cannot clear is the car's unfinished self-tests, which is how you know the codes were wiped last week.
The OBD2 scanner from the kit, a red and black handheld unit with a screen, buttons and a cable ending in the OBD2 plug, resting on its black storage pouch
The Car Body Damage DetectorA paint thickness gauge
Reads how thick the paint is. Factory paint is consistent, so you compare panels and look for the one that does not match.
What it catchesBodywork nobody mentioned. A resprayed panel reads thicker than the ones beside it, however good the wax job and the history report look.
The paint thickness gauge from the kit, a pen-sized tube with a black end cap, an orange cap and a printed thickness scale
A tire pressure gauge and a tread depth gauge
One reads pressure, one reads tread. A minute on all four corners, and the playbook shows you the date code on the sidewall.
What it catchesA set of tires you were about to inherit, plus the uneven wear that warns you about alignment and suspension.
The silver digital tire pressure gauge and the small tread depth gauge from the kit side by side
The under-the-hood kit
Flashlight, nitrile gloves, shop rag. The reason the fluid checks get done instead of skipped.
What it catchesOil long overdue for a change, coolant the wrong color, and the rust in the wheel wells where nobody shines a light.
The under-the-hood kit: black nitrile gloves, a red shop rag and a pen flashlight
A glovebox reference card
Two sides, built to live in your glovebox. Date codes, fluid colors, and the red flags that end a viewing.
What it catchesThe thing you knew last week. You will not be holding the book while a seller stands there watching you.

One more thing, and it is not in the box

A seat on the live Game Plan call
Once a month we run a live group call for everyone who has the kit. We set your budget, build your shortlist, and map out your five phases.
Worth knowingIt is a group call, and useful that way: most of what other people ask is what you had not thought to. If you would rather have a private hour, that is Do It Together.

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