If you are considering buying a used or second hand car from a private ad you have seen or even from a car dealership you should get a car data check. Unless you are buying from a family member or a close friend you will not be able to confirm the history of a car. You will have no idea what has happened to the car in the past or even know who is selling the car to you.
In the UK there has been an increase in recent years of cars being sold that have a hidden history. To check car history details you need to carry out a HPI check which you can do online, no other car registration check is able to provide this trademarked HPI check. A check will reveal whether or not a car has outstanding finance, if it has been damaged and repaired, if the mileage has been tampered with or if it has been cloned or stolen.
In the UK over half a million cars are involved in accidents or deliberately damaged and then written off by insurers. That is a large percentage of all cars on UK roads, of these write offs a number make it back onto the second hand market. How would you know if you are buying a car that has hidden damage to the structure and therefore would crumple in an accident or even worse quite literally fall apart. You would not want to risk your families lives driving round a potential death trap.
A quarter of all cars have outstanding finance on them, this is where the previous owner has taken out a hire purchase agreement. If you unsuspectingly purchased one of these cars it would still legally belong to the finance company until the debt had been paid off. This is not something you would want to be lumbered with.
About 160,000 cars are stolen every year in the UK, some are recovered by many are then illegally sold on. You will never know that you are buying a stolen car until you send of the registration documents but by that time it would be too late. You would have to return the car to its legal registered owner. The documentation provided with stolen cars is often forged and contains fake details which will look convincing to the casual buyer.
There are many different types of checks that are carried out with an online HPI check. It could save you from making a costly mistake that could other wise be easily avoided. Unfortunately when buying a car you have to be a lot more cautious and wary, do not get caught out.