Checking the transmission, gears and other important parts of the car is an important thing to do when buying a second hand car. It is also simple to do yourself if you know what you're looking for, if you spot them early enough you can save your self a lot of money in the long run because you will avoid the cost of hidden faults later in the vehicles life. There are different ways of checking the cars transmission whether it be automatic or manual. Here are some things you can do to check the cars transmission before buying:

- Automatic - If the car you are checking is an automatic then you will need to check the Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) levels with the engine switched on and the car in neutral. To do this you will have to find the ATF dipstick usually located at the back of the engine, it will be a bit shorter than the oil dipstick and sometimes labelled with ATF. Once you have found it remove, wipe and dip back in fully before removing again. There should be a warm and a cool level mark, if below the warm level marker then there could be a problem. This level being below full could mean there is a leak as the transmission fluid level doesn't go down through use. Also you will need to check the colour of the fluid it should be between red and pink if brown or darker it could mean the engine transmission was mistreated or just poorly maintained. Once this is checked try switching the car from park to first gear keeping a note on how long it takes to shift from park to first gear, then the same again but into reverse when shifting gears it should move firmly into the different ones not slide.

- Manual - As with the automatic you can do the following checks as above but make sure when testing the different gears you go right up to the highest gear to check all run smoothly. You will still need to check the fluid quality and levels to ensure there are no leaks. When driving in the different gears try putting your foot down on the accelerator and if the engine sounds to be increasing in RPM but the speed does not increase any then this more than likely means the clutch is to be replaced.

If either type of car seems to have a problem you spot before buying then its thought best that you don't purchase the car because transmission systems can be very costly to replace. Make sure the cars transmission is thoroughly checked before buying either by you, if you are confident about what you are looking for, or by a professional mechanic.