Vehicle History Checks - are the really worth it?
Is it worth getting a Car History Check?
A full car history check costs €35 but it could potentially save you thousands of euro and a lot of hardship and stress when purchasing a vehicle privately or even from a car dealer.
Why is it important to always check the history of a car before you buy it? Well, approximately one in every six vehicles checked has finance owing. If you were to go ahead a purchase a used vehicle that still has finance owing, not only would the vehicle be repossessed but you would also lose all the money that you spent on the purchase. This is a scenario you would want to avoid.
A car can also be written off by an insurance company and categorised. Four in ten Irish written-off vehicles are put back on the road and one in every ten cars coming in from the UK has also been written-off.
Another very good reason to check the car is to check for mileage if it is available. There is an increasing number of cars also which have had their odometer wound back, which is commonly known as clocked. Clocking a vehicle and not informing the buyer is a crime. One in every twenty UK vehicles has a mileage discrepancy of some sort.
While An Garda Siochána does not disclose stolen vehicle records to the public in this country, a full UK car check will reveal if a car has been recorded as stolen or stolen/recovered.
If your car is a UK import, for example, getting a full check will let you know what kind of digitised history there is connected with that vehicle.
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Vehicle Identity Check
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Irish Finance Check
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UK Finance Check
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Irish Insurance Write-Off Check
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UK Insurance Write-Off Check
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Damage Alert
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Mileage Check
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UK Stolen Car Check
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UK Imported Vehicle Check
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Previous Taxi Check
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NCT/CVRT Status
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MOT History Check
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Road Tax Status
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Road Tax Costings Check
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Most recent date of sale & sale history Check
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Recorded Model Modifications Check
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VIN & VLC Partial Number for Verification
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Engine Number Provided
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Irish No. of Owners Check
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UK No. of Owners Check
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Valuation
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2 Weeks Free Breakdown Assistance
So is a car history check a cost that you can forego? Definitely not. There is a false economy in not purchasing a vehicle check and in reality, they are not that expensive but can save you so much heartache. So don’t get caught out. The cost of the report is a fraction of the cost of repair.
Author
Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader
in automotive intelligence and vehicle
data supply to the entire motor industry.
He has almost 20 years experience in
building systems from the ground up.
As the Managing Director of Vehicle
Management System, he understands the
need and importance of trustworthy and
reliable vehicle history and advice to
both the trade and the public.
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