Buying a used car can sometimes feel like a bit of a risk. That’s why carrying out a a vehicle history check should be a no-brainer for every used car buyer. This in-depth report can reveal or confirm a lot of important information about a car such as its true mileage, whether it has ever been written off or, more important than ever, does the car have finance outstanding.

With that in mind, here are what we consider to be the most important things to look out for as part of a vehicle history check on Cartell.ie.

Outstanding finance

The important thing you need to know, that not many people know about, is that If you buy a car with outstanding finance, it’s not legally yours until the final payment has been made. Regardless of whether you’ve bought it in good faith, as the car remains the property of the lender who financed the purchase, they’re legally entitled to repossess the vehicle if the original PCP holder defaults on their payments, leaving the innocent second buyer with little to no recourse, especially if they’ve bought the car from a private seller. Never buy a car with finance outstanding; a vehicle history check can help make sure you don’t.

Mileage

Sometimes, Most of us have heard of the old trick known as ‘Clocking’. Where a seller messes with the odometer reading to make the car look like it has covered fewer miles than it actually has in order to increase the price. A car’s mileage is recorded at the time of its NCT in a national database. A vehicle history check from Cartell.ie can access this database confirming the car’s mileage at the time of the last NCT. A buyer can then compare that figure with that on the car’s odometer to see if there’s a discrepancy. If there is, it’s a fairly sure sign that a car has been clocked and that you’re dealing with a dishonest seller. Walk away if so.

Is the car writen-off?

When a car is involved in an accident, the insurance company can deem it to have been written off if either the car is too irreparably damaged to be safely returned to the road or if the cost of repairs would exceed the value of the car. If that’s the case, the car itself is said to be a “write-off”.

There are four types of write-offs in Ireland: Category A, B, C and D. Category A and B write-offs are cars that are so badly damaged that they must be scrapped. Category C and D write-offs are ones where the insurance company has said that the value of the car is lower than the cost of repair, but the car can be legally allowed back on the road. A vehicle history check will tell a prospective buyer if a car has ever been written off in Ireland or the UK, and that’s an important thing to know.

While it’s not a total no-no to buy a former write-off, it does pay to tread carefully. For one, an insurer may refuse to insure a previously written-off car or charge such a premium loading that it may not be worth buying. You need to know that a car has been properly repaired following serious damage as a poorly repaired car may not behave as it should in a crash, which is why buyers of write-offs need to be extra diligent when it comes to inspecting a used car prior to purchase. If a seller does not disclose that a car is a former write-off, it could potentially be a sign that they’re dishonest and if they’re hiding that fact, what else could they be concealing about the car?

Number of owners

There are, at the time of writing, 18,260 cars in Ireland that have had 10 or more registered owners. In fact, according to Cartell.ie’s data, there’s an Audi A6 somewhere in Ireland with some 43 registered owners! A car history check will reveal just how many owners a car has had, and though it’s not a vital piece of information, it is worth knowing. Be realistic in your expectations about an older car with a higher number of owners, but if you’re satisfied that a car is in sound condition and is as described, there’s no particular reason not to buy a vehicle with a high number of owners. Again, the importance of knowing the number of owners comes back to honesty on the part of the seller. If they claim that a car has had one or two owners from new and the history check reveals that it has quite a few more, it means that they’re telling fibs about one aspect of car; what other porkies are they telling?

Was it ever used as a taxi?

Taxis have hard lives and usually rack up high mileages, often in urban environments. Taxi use can impose a lot of wear and tear on a car — think worn clutches, lots of crawling through traffic and loads of passengers, plus that smell in the back you can’t quite figure out…

Ideally, you don’t want a car that’s seen a previous life as a taxi, though if you know it has seen life in the urban jungle and you decide to take a punt, the risk is yours. It’s important to know for sure though, and a vehicle history check can reveal whether or not a car has had a hard working life.