Best way to judge Wear & Tear on a vehicle?

[Cobra]

Brake pedal condition might be fine if the car is driven on the highway a lot, same with anything in the interior, so to use it as a basis of how many km it has done can be flawed. The owner may get in and out 20 times a day and drive 10km, or they could drive 600 odd km a week like myself, mostly on the Northern Expressway, hardly touch the brake pedal and get in and out of it twice a day. But I guess if the interior is flogged out, but the odometer says it's done stuff all kays... that's when the alarm bells should be ringing.

There's a huge difference between correlation and causation. There's no exact science to determining just how well a vehicle has been looked after. Nor does a well looked after vehicle preclude it from being subject to problems at some point down the track. All I can recommend is to drive the vehicle, be observant of the owner, ask (without being rude) what sort of driving the vehicle has done. If it has a towbar, ask what sort of towing it has done. You can usually get an idea from the owner if they're talking **** or not by how they answer your questions, rather than what the answers to your questions are.

[T-Pak Addict]

yep "its the vibe of the thing"