Cheap HPI Check for Cars

forgotmyname

use the chassis number instead.

Sulli

itspirit666 wrote: »

Here I'm posting a few links I found while browsing the Internet and looking through moneysavingexpert forum:

1. Firstly, even before buying a car we need to perform a vehicle check. Straight away I need to tell you that there is no such thing as free vehicle check (at least I haven't found one). This services provided online range from a basic text/message report with no guarantee for £4 to all-included report with £30,000 guarantee including cloning cloning for £20.50. Of course, it is possible to pay more for the check, but I have explored only reasonable offers.

To perform a basic check you only need to know vehicle registration number (Reg No), but for the complete you would have to provide vehicle registration number (Reg No), Vehicle Identification Number (VIN/Chassis/Frame No), V5 serial number and issue date (Log Book serial number), Engine Number (Engine No) and mileage.

Firstly, here are two websites with the comparison tables of the most important factors we need to consider when determining the right "HPI vehicle check service" (carcheckdirect .co.uk/ and comparecarchecks .co.uk/). The first one includes sample reports, but both websites are already out-of-date. Although all factors are important, I want to stress the most important differences offered by major companies in their products:
a) Vehicle information Not all companies provide a full report on VIN, engine number, mileage to check `clocking`, colour change, and full history populated with dates when owners sold vehicle. Some reports include full spec of the checked vehicle (CO2, mpg and so on - everything you may find free on the Internet).
b) Finance/lease check This is one of the most important features. It checks if the car is registered to the finance company as the owner might have bought vehicle on finance/lease and there is still outstanding balance. Therefore, finance company could repossess your vehicle if you do not pay outstanding balance which might be £500-£20,000).
c) Police and police interest check Very important! Your vehicle might have been reported as stolen. By the law you cannot buy stolen property even for a genuine reason. Eventually it will be seized by the police and you wouldn't recover a penny.
d) Insurance theft, write-off, accident and scrap check. Also is a very important aspect as in this case vehicle could be recovered by the insurance company should you have bought it without prior check. The report might show that your vehicle could have been write-off, stolen, full-loss or damaged in an accident.
e) Security watch - This register typically records vehicles at high risk of fraud or theft (e.g. hire cars, demonstrator vehicles and garage forecourt stock). The Security Watch register is primarily used by the Police, finance companies and the motor trade, to ensure that these vehicles can be traced if someone steals them or attempts to sell them fraudulently (for example - perhaps without first settling an outstanding agreement). The registering party will be alerted.
f) Guarantee offered by "HPI check" is optional but a must if you want to protect yourself from check errors which might affect your vehicle`s value. For example, if the vehicle is actually stolen or is financed, but report states it not by an error or mistake, the insurance would cover the cost up to £5,000 with RAC and up to £30,000 with HPIcheck, AA and Autotrader for claims made within the next 24 months. If your vehicle is only reduced in value due to an error (say due to not being reported as total loss C or D categories), the insurance would cover 50% of the purchase price or up to £1,000 with RAC whichever is lowest. And 50% or £15,000 with RAC, AA, AutoTrader/vehiclecheck .co.uk. If you want a cover against `cloning` (a "cloned" vehicle being a vehicle that has been stolen and given a false identity, normally that of an identical vehicle), you would have to sign up with hpicheck .co.uk (RAC, AA, AutoTrader/vehiclecheck .co.uk exclude `cloning` from their covers) You would have to pay for vehicle by BACS/cheque even buying from private seller if the vehicle's value is over £3,000 to validate cover!
To validate guarantee (insurance check cover) you would have to input all above information online and cross-check it with the vehicle you intend to buy prior to the vehicle purchase! It is only afterwards you would try to arrange meeting the seller at the registered address. You also would have to obtain a written statement form the private seller which would contain seller`s name and address, basic vehicle information, mileage and price to keep it as a proof of purchase. You will have to submit it later to the vehicle check company when making a claim.
g) And other VIN and engine check, mileage check, number and dates of sales by previous owners, dates of the number plate change, colour change and import/export check, V5 issue date and serial number (to avoid signing fraudulent V5).

General comparison site on most popular HPI services with samples of actual reports:

carcheckdirect .co.uk/ AND comparecarchecks .co.uk/- although both websites are out-of-date.

1. carwebit .com/ = icarcheck .net/ - £5.00 for a check, but no finance infromation is provided nor guarantee.
Sample Report: icarcheck .net/products/sample-reports/sample-report-screen

2. mycarcheck .co.uk/ - £5.00 for a check, but no finance infromation nor guarantee. Even a package for £15.00 doesn't offer finance check.

3. vehiclecheck .co.uk/ = motordatacheck .co.uk = autotrader .co.uk/ - £20.00 for 1 check or £25.00 for 5 checks.
Advantages: finance, police, insurance, export/import, security alert checks, full mileage list and VIN, Engine No, colour, full previous owners history, guarantee cover for £30,000, import/export cover, plus mileage, number of owners cover (not provided by other companies).
Drawbacks: No documentation check (V5 serial number and issue date check against fraud); no cover from `cloning` expensive for 1 purchase.
Sample Report: vehiclecheck .co.uk/VehicleCheck/sample-reports-index.html?persist_affiliateid=101
Data insurance cover: vehiclecheck .co.uk/VehicleCheck2/images/insurance.pdf?popup&persist_affiliateid=132&persist_SubscriberID=101716&AutoLocateID=DEF988544C1D4DD0019F02B0

4. carstatuscheck .com/ = hpicheck .co.uk/ - all-in cover for a price of £20.50 OR 3 for £31.00.
Advantages: `all inclusive` guarantee £30,000 and £15,000 for value reduction cases (for writen-off) plus 7-day car insurance, all checks, security register, write-off, theft, mileage plus 7-day free insurance. The only company that provides cover from `cloning` (RAC, AA, AutoTrader/vehiclecheck .co.uk exclude `cloning` from their covers) You would have to pay for vehicle by BACS/cheque even buying from private seller if the vehicle's value is over £3,000 to validate cover.
Drawback: the most expensive; provides same information as RAC, but has more comprehensive guarantee.
Guarantee terms: carstatuscheck .com/furniture/guarantee.html

5. autocheck .co.uk/ = aacheck .co.uk/ - managed by well-established Experian Ltd £20.00 for single check and £25.00 for 5 checks. Gorie found a discount code to get 5 Checks for £19.99 (instead of £24.99) the code is "S2KUK". (I haven`t checked it). Report layout and guarantee terms&conditions are identical to Autotrader`s package. (Unless I haven`t noticed something)

6. rac .co.uk/products-services/car-data-checks/ - RAC £15.50 for single check or £26.00 for 3 checks. Report lyout is identical to hpicheck .co.uk, but offers less guarantee (£5,000 unlike £30,000 by HPIcheck) and doesn't offer 7-day insurance cover.
Advantages: comprehensive checks , security, insurance, police, salvage, V5 information
Disadvantages: £5,000 guarantee and up to £1,000 `reduction in value cover`.
Guarantee Terms: raccheck .com/consumer/RACtermsSummary.do

7. carwatch-uk .com/ - £3.00 for a text message. Very basic service with no finance check and no guarantee offered.

8. ebay .co.uk/

Ebay offers its own exclusie check underwritten by HPI Ltd with £10,000 guarantee for £6.99 per report or £13.99 for a 3-reports package.
Ebay Sample Report: vehiclestatusreport .co.uk/check/sampleResults.do


To summarise:
1. The most secured one-off check is with HPIckeck, but also is the most expensive £20.50. If you don't think your vehicle is f any interest to criminals (cloning) and car value up to £5,000, go with RAC £15.50. It offers the same report, but with lower guarantee value.
2. autocheck .co.uk/ with code "S2KUK" vs RAC: Autocheck and autotrader offer full mileage list, guarantee similar to HPIcheck £30,000, no cloning cover, no documentation checks (V5 reference check), but the only company offering extended cover against errors in the number of owners, import/export and overclocking and you could perform up to 5 checks for £20.00.
3. Cheap services offer no guarantee and no finance check for £3.00 per check. They are the most useful for mass checks although I would preffer to use autocheck .co.uk/ for £4.00 as it at least offer certain guarantee against errors and mistakes.

Next step is you could check MOT detailed report history available since 2005 to find out what maintenance repairs were carried out.

motinfo .gov.uk/

This is a free website to check any MOT
MOT Status Check Request </span>his service enables you to
1. Confirm that an MOT Certificate is a genuine record of that stored on the MOT Computerisation database
2. Check the status of a vehicle that has undergone a recent MOT Test
3. View the MOT Test history of a vehicle since year 2005.
4. Before you can access the information from the MOT Computerisation database you will need the following:
a) The vehicle registration mark from the number plate
b.1) The MOT test number from the VT20 MOT Test Certificate or VT30 Refusal of an MOT Certificate OR
b.2) The document reference number from the V5C Registration Certificate issued by the DVLA (dvla .gov.uk)

Thank you for reading. All comments would be appreciated.

Very helpful post.
I went for autocheck online, and also phoned them and they are very helpful and clarified my query, above, and all is OK.
I also managed to use the code above for £4 off, as well as quidco, £6 cashback, so I got the full HPI check plus insurance for £9.99 - not bad at all.
Thanks MSE Forum :T

sunkauyung

£10 off the normal price of an HPI Check!

Quote the code 2NN4-STZF-M2HG when you buy an official HPI Check.

w15arh

sunkauyung wrote: »

£10 off the normal price of an HPI Check!

Quote the code 2NN4-STZF-M2HG when you buy an official HPI Check.

Thanks Works a treat

Weave

sunkauyung wrote: »

£10 off the normal price of an HPI Check!

Quote the code 2NN4-STZF-M2HG when you buy an official HPI Check.

Thanks for the code, it's still working and saved me £10.:T

daveparker

I've used a service at TextCarCheck.com where you text “CHECK” + your reg to 78111 it does all that but only costs £3. Dunno if I'd use it for an expensive motor probably prefer to get a full hpi check done but for 3 quid on a cheap runabout or if you're checking loads of cars it seems a good service

dave

forgotmyname

Congratulations you wasted £3. Even though you probably didnt [SPAM]

Its worthless.

DO NOT USE CHEAP CAR CHECKS...

Someone posted recently they bought a stolen car after using a cheap check and has lost £5k.

Do a proper check.

brightgirl

I used https://www.vehiclecheck.co.uk and just bought the multiple package at £25 instead of one vehicle at £20.

The first car I was going to buy had been clocked. Seller in auto express advertised it as 9k miles yet the report showed 41k in dec 2011!

Second car I won on ebay (Vauxhall astra) but it was showing it had finance although the seller advertised it as HPI clear. It even shows the details;;

Finance Agreement Details
There is an existing finance agreement/loan recorded against this vehicle.

Vehicle Check Data Insurance does not apply to this section as adverse data has been found.
Finance company
BLACK HORSE
Contact number
0870 6091685
Agreement number
511827464
Agreement type
Hire Purchase
Finance vehicle description
VAUXHALL ASTRA EXCLUSIV 1
Finance company
LOMBARD SPECIAL SCHEMES
Contact number
0870 2424875
Agreement number
22388490
Agreement type
Unit Stocking
Finance vehicle description
ASTRA 1 6I 16V EXCLUSIV 5

I found that to be the best one and had I only bought the single search I would have wasted the £20. Just shows innit..

Also they state
To ensure that you do not suffer a financial loss due to
incorrect or incomplete data we are able to offer Vehicle Data Insurance from Pinnacle
Insurance plc. This is included at no extra cost in the Vehicle Check and covers the data
provided up to a maximum of £30,000, or the purchase price, (whichever is the lower), for two
years (please note that we offer insurance on a non-advisory basis).

daveparker

sorry forgotmyname - why is my post spam? I've been lurking on these forums for years, ok I've only just signed up but thats because i was genuinely trying to help - I thought the £3 text check was a good idea - especially if you are looking at a number of cars you can whittle out any with any obvious bad history. I'm sure you are right though once you have set your mind on a car it makes good sense to do a proper full (guaranteed) check so you are covered. You just wouldnt want to pay out on full checks for each and every car you may be going to view!

forgotmyname

How can you whittle out any with obvious bad history when the data provided is incorrect or inaccurate and offers no protection.