How do I know if my car was written off or anything bad in the past ?

mess0804

I bought my first car 2 months ago, a £3000 Ford Focus, all well, from a small dealer, my registration certificate came through the post and it's all fine.

My friend just got a cat C car and looking on his registration certificate there is nothing saying that (just that the seller told him). Now, just for my own peace of mind, how do I know if my car wasn't written off or any other bad thing ?
I've seen the PPI check is £25 , is there anything cheaper, as I already bought it won't help me too much, it's just for my peace of mind.

Thanks

OddballJamie

Cheapest way is to go to a dealer like EH or the like and pretend you're interested in a car and get them to HPI yours to trade.

Or post the reg on the HPI thread and someone with check it for you.

TBH the dealer should have at least told you it was HPI clear and/or you should've got the check before you bought it.

Regarding your friend I thought that Cat C showed on the V5c but Cat D didn't.

mess0804

thanks . What's EH ?

My friend has the same reg certificate as me, I was thinking that it should have a note somewhere but I couldn't find anything.

yes, I know I have done it too fast, no thinking, but it was just that I looked at 2 cars in the same day, different places, one didn't even start, a friend was with me to drive me to dealers, this one looked ok, just forgot to check and now I hope for the best.

Strider590

The only way is a full inspection, a lot of cars these days take serious accident damage which is never recorded.

OddballJamie

EH is a large dealer that doesn't have the best rep, sounds like heavens rickshaw.

OddballJamie

Strider590 wrote: »

The only way is a full inspection, a lot of cars these days take serious accident damage which is never recorded.

Spot on, pay a mechanic to check it out if you're concerned.

mess0804

I did have it checked and it is ok, will do a further check next month when I want to replace some things anyway.
But I was concerned if there is something registered somewhere if I want to sell it next year and it will affect me.

OddballJamie

If you've had the car checked then I wouldn't worry about it until you come to sell it. Did the dealer give you any reason to think the car has recorded damage?

mess0804

No. The only bad thing against it was that it had a few owners (the last one being the dealership for 2 months). But there are many reasons why a car can have many owners.

Just that my friend got a cat C car and I saw that there is no way to tell except if the seller is honest. I was expecting something to be marked somewhere as I know they always are cheaper.

OddballJamie

Cat C is recorded damage, a HPI check will show this.

If you ask the dealer if the car has recorded damage, they are suppose to give you an honest answer.

Weird_Nev

For £3k I would expect a full HPI printout with the car. I got one when I bought from a dealer, along with the 7 days 'free' insurance that they offer (it was all bundled in the same deal).
However, I also did my own check on the car for peace of mind.
It's as importnat to know the car is free of finance and not stolen/cloned as it is to know it's not Cat C/D.

I'm sure it will be fine. as mentioned above, do your own check for peace of mind, or get a friend in a dealership to run a check for you.