Car check before buying - hpi?

shazkhan111

I am buying a used car and want to know which company to use to do a hpi check. There seem loads of providers AA, RAC, HPI etc.

Are they all the same?

Which is the best to use and should I even bother?

neilmcl

Just use the main one, ie HPI. The other providers use HPI anyway so you may as well cut out the middle man.

shazkhan111

Confused as to why others exist!! Do they offer anything additional?

Quiet_Spark

shazkhan111 wrote: »

I am buying a used car and want to know which company to use to do a hpi check. There seem loads of providers AA, RAC, HPI etc.

Are they all the same?

Which is the best to use and [highlight]should I even bother?[/highlight]

That all depends on how much you can afford to lose if it turns out there is outstanding finance on the car.


HPI themselves give a £30,000 guarantee if the info they provide turns out to be wrong.

forgotmyname

Others exist to make money from you. But the quality of cheaper services is varied.

A cheap text check is just that a check and will give you very little. Make/Model of the car err you know that already. Look at the V5C.

Buy a PROPER one HPI, RAC,AA and you get what you pay for.

Ebe_Scrooge

An HPI check is very worthwhile on any car, if you can't afford to lose your money if it's repossesed. Just a thought - are you buying privately or from a garage ? Most reputable dealers will have already done an HPI themselves ( to protect themselves, i.e. make sure the car is theirs to sell ), so you may not need to bother.

Another consideration is the "mechanical survey" offered by AA, RAC etc. It's not cheap, but if you're spending a fair amount it may be worth considering. If any faults are found, you can either negotiate a price reduction or else insist the seller rectifies the faults ( again, most reputable dealers will be happy to do this ).

Stoke

While a HPI check is useful, I would only really do this on newer cars, on older cars, just as useful is checking the V5 documents carefully. If the seller is not willing to show you, the alarm bells should be ringing. A V5 should tell you whether the car is a write-off for example.

shazkhan111

Very useful. Is there a difference between HPI / AA and RAC ?

Is one better than the other?

Ebe_Scrooge

shazkhan111 wrote: »

Very useful. Is there a difference between HPI / AA and RAC ?

Is one better than the other?

HPI is the "official" ( or certainly the largest ) agency. As far as I know the RAC and AA etc. will use them as well. What you will often get, though, is a "special offer" type of thing, whereby if you pay for a mechanical inspection from the RAC/AA, they'll throw in a free or half price or whatever HPI check as well.

The mechanical check is up to you - as I mentioned earlier, they aren't cheap, but they are very thorough. But particularly if buying from a reputable dealer, you could argue that any faults that show up within the first few weeks, they should repair under warranty anyway. Perhaps it's more worthwhile if buying privately ? Not sure on that one, you'll have to weigh up the cost against the value of the car and make your own mind up

shazkhan111

Thanks Ebe Scrooge. Do you know if these offers are available on the phone? Are they standard or do I have to ask?

forgotmyname

You physically go and inspect the car test it to make sure its described properly no obvious faults and the seller is genuine.

If you happy with that then get an HPI check. Discounts for buying multiple checks but will you need that?

If that comes back all clear and the car is worth it. Then pay for a vehicle inspection. Where they check it mechanically and for poor crash repairs.

Should you bother depends on the value of the car and if you can afford to lose the money you paid.

Problems with the inspection is the fact there is only so much they can test.

They wont be able to tell you if the clutch is 200 miles from starting to fail, Or the engine is going to blow up on the way home.
And lot of other things.