Buying a 2nd hand car.. which HPI check please?

xxdeebeexx

Hi Dh has found a car that he wants to buy and I seem to remember, from buying my car years ago, that it is worthwhile doing an HPI check. I have googled HPI but there seems to be lots of different ones all offering different prices.
Are there any checks that are better than others please?

Tia

Dx

rev_henry

Erm well some offer a few additional bells and whistles. The one direct from HPi I believe comes with a Warranty, i.e. if it turns out the car was written off when HPi said it wasn't or anything like that then they'll pay out, although I've heard that such a warranty is very difficult to actually claim on and thus not really worth the paper its written on.
Usefully the official HPi one (£19.99 iirc) gives you 7 days free driveaway insurance for your new car, so if you need/want that its worth paying the extra for that convenient service.
I think the cheapest is MyTextCheck. About £3 for the basic checks.

xxdeebeexx

rev_henry wrote: »

I think the cheapest is MyTextCheck. About £3 for the basic checks.

what are the 'basic checks'
He has insurance since his old car was written off about 5 weeks ago. I guess we inform the insurance company before he picks up the car.

Dx

rev_henry

xxdeebeexx wrote: »

what are the 'basic checks'
He has insurance since his old car was written off about 5 weeks ago. I guess we inform the insurance company before he picks up the car.

Dx

Oh, erm, has it been written off? Stolen? Clocked? Outstanding finance? Some not all tell you of any number plate changes (almost always entirely innocent transfer of private plates on and off, but apparently can occasionally indicate something fishy), does the VIN match the registration number? Has it been reported scrapped or exported? Maybe a few other things as well.
This is the text one: https://www.mytextcheck.com/help/
And here is HPi official: http://www.hpicheck.com/what_check.html

They all do the same thing really.

Erm yeah you might want to shop around with your insurance. I'm not quite sure how it works when a car is written off. Some policies just finish and you start from scratch again, others don't... I'd give your current company a ring and if they want some ridiculous sum to continue with this new car then go elsewhere.