So you want to check the legitimacy of a used car that you have found but are not sure whether or not the seller is being completely honest or is maybe hiding something from you. You are thinking maybe you can get a free car registration check rather than having to pay for one.
Unfortunately even if there was a company that provides zero cost checks it would not be in business for long because it cost the checking company every time a check is made. So whilst you will not get a check for nothing you can get a low car check that may not be quite as comprehensive but may provide the information that you require.
To be able to provide this car data check service needs to retrieve data from many different sources and this all costs money. Some services do provide a basic report but will not provide enough information to allow you to find out if the used car that you are looking at has any previous history that may indicate something is wrong.
If you are really serious about a car you can get a really comprehensive background check on a vehicle for less than ten pounds. As many as 1 in 12 vehicles in the UK are believed to have some sort of discrepancy with them. This could be something minor or it could be something as serious as the car being an insurance write off, has outstanding finance, is stolen or has been cut and shut.
Without doing the proper checks and for the sake of a small outlay you could end up with a vehicle that is not what you thought. It could be that the odometer has been tampered with and the car has done many more miles than you thought. It could be more serious, if you buy a stolen vehicle it will have to be returned to its rightful registered owner. You will not get any compensation or even get your money back and you could lose thousands.
So you have to think as to whether or not a small investment is worth saving you the cost and hassle of ending up with a dud vehicle. If the police stop you with an illegal vehicle it will be you that gets into trouble. Additionally with a comprehensive report on the vehicle you can use it when you sell on the car to prove its legitimacy.