HPI check clear when car purchased, now car undriveable, HPI changed.HELP!

Magoo7

Checked with HPI, they confirmed that a HPI was done via this gagarge on the date on my paperwork.
They told me that the accident was 21 months prior to my purchasing it and that the accident was not reported to them until after this date............can this be right?

My question is....what is a reasonable time for an insurance company to register the accident to HPI..??

Further investigation shows that the guy I purchasd the car from bought it just three weeks after the accident, so must have known about the damage, just avoided mentioning it to me.
I am also very surprised how he knew that nearly two years after, when he eventually sold the car to me, he knew he'd get a clear HPI report to sell it with. I know this sounds a bit conspiracory theory, but does anyone think he knew someone at the insurance company?? Knew that they wouldn't register the accident until after he'd sold it?

Why would anyone buying a car with a clear HPI then go and get one done themselves afterwards??

TrickyWicky

Magoo7 wrote: »

Checked with HPI, they confirmed that a HPI was done via this gagarge on the date on my paperwork.
They told me that the accident was 21 months prior to my purchasing it and that the accident was not reported to them until after this date............can this be right?

Yes. Insurance claims can last for YEARS before being finalised.

Magoo7 wrote: »

My question is....what is a reasonable time for an insurance company to register the accident to HPI..??

ASAP really but if the previous owner was dragging out the claim, disputing things etc (most likely) then it could have stalled the entire process. Complain to the financial ombudsman.

Magoo7 wrote: »

Further investigation shows that the guy I purchasd the car from bought it just three weeks after the accident, so must have known about the damage, just avoided mentioning it to me.

On the contrary, he might of known nothing about it at all. He could of bought it and repaired it or he could of innocently bought it like you without knowing. You're looking for someone to blame yet you don't know it was actually his fault.

Magoo7 wrote: »

I am also very surprised how he knew that nearly two years after, when he eventually sold the car to me, he knew he'd get a clear HPI report to sell it with. I know this sounds a bit conspiracory theory, but does anyone think he knew someone at the insurance company?? Knew that they wouldn't register the accident until after he'd sold it?

Anything is possible. The odds are low but then for all you know his cousin could be a claims handler / loss adjuster for the insurance company. There is no way you will ever find out so your best bet is to take the insurance company who wrote it off to the ombudsman and complain that their delay caused your HPI check to be clear and you've subsequently bought an unsafe car.

Magoo7 wrote: »

Why would anyone buying a car with a clear HPI then go and get one done themselves afterwards??

Same reason you did - to be sure that its not changed.

Magoo7

Thanks for your reply.

I have decided to check put the previous owner via the DVLA to try to establish what happened (seller told me it was a company car who had gone into liquidation and car had been garaged for months, which was a lie because he bought it three weeks after the accident) and if possible, who the insurance company was who dealth with the incident.

I am also going to contact HPI again to ask them if reporting 21 months after an accident is reasonable/illegal.

Trading Standards are now involved, so hopefully 'll get some sort of resolution.

Their initial response was to tell me to contact the seller under the sale of goods act. However.....on looking at all the paperwork I have, the receipt I got was from one trader, no address of the place I bought it from on the receipt.
Log book states owner was another trader, different address in the same city.
Ebay (where I found the car), was a different trader again, but ebay history shows he has operated under all of the names in the past.

I don't even know if this guy is operating from the premises I bought it from.

I don't know if he lives at the address on the log book!!!!!!

I think he has been complicit in the deception, now I've got to prove it somehow!!

demonted

At present your car is off the road which you say is unsafe to drive.
Personally, whatever the repair which has been done on your instructions, its that which has made your car unsafe.

After all, you have used the car for 9 months without issues.

I also find it unlikely that insurance would classify you car as a Category D salvage, especially if more servere damage was apprent.

I confident that either the wishbones bushes are worn or lose or maybe the suspension top mounts have worn.
Maybe something has bent when hitting a pothole, if alloy wheels fitted, maybe one or both front alloys have buckled.

I once had a car, which it was claimed had worn suspension and steering components, so at great expense and my time, all was replaced, yet problem was still apparent.
Then I discovered the wheels looked egg shaped and while having tyres removed, intending to reuse on new wheels, it was discovered it was the tyres that were egg shaped and not the wheels !

Over the years, I've found it difficulty finding somewhere who can actually use the tracking equipment correctly.

Although I believe you are due compensation for purchasing a written off vehicle, I believe you should concentrate on repairing your car first, otherwise it will become worthless. Also, it will be impossible and take ages to win back the full amount which you originally paid for the car.

However, I believe you would be entitled to at least £1000-1500 back and any outlay made by yourself for repairs.

Make your claiming against the Insurancs company, as it was they who failed to register the damage for 21 months.
Regardless of how long a case drags on, the damaged car normally becomes the property of the insurance company the moment a final payment is accepted by the claimant.
So, there is no excuse, the Insurance Co sold the car on, knowing full well it would be repaired and returned to the road and only registering it as Catergorg D, 21 months later, for their failure to update records, you have purchased a car, you would not have bought if you was made aware, prior to purchase it had been declared a total loss.

missile

Magoo7 wrote: »

Further investigation shows that the guy I purchasd the car from bought it just three weeks after the accident, so must have known about the damage, just avoided mentioning it to me.
I am also very surprised how he knew that nearly two years after, when he eventually sold the car to me, he knew he'd get a clear HPI report to sell it with. .....QUOTE]

If I understand your posts correctly: He drove the car for two years and you drove it for another year?

I do not understand why you think the fault is as a result of an accident 3 years ago. It seems more likely to be a bodged repair by your garage and I would be going to a.n.other for an inspection.

A cat D should not have serious structural faults. See here> http://www.insurancewriteoff.co.uk/