Checks when buying a second hand car

pledgeX

I'm looking at buying a second hand car. I've been researching and have seen several companies offering a history check which will flag up if the car is:
- Stolen
- Has outstanding finance
- Has been written off

I will certainly be doing this if I end up going through a private sale, but my question is still I should pay for one of these checks if buy via a trader/dealer? I would have thought that they would have do this by law to cover themselves, but I'm not sure if this is the case, or if you can trust them!

Thanks for any advice.

facade

A dealer will have done these checks when they bought in the car, it costs them a few pence per vehicle.

Do ask if the vehicle has had any serious accident damage/ been a CAT c or CAT D writeoff, although the dealer is required to tell you about CAT C/D sometimes they "forget".

If there is any comeback later, it is the dealers responsibility, but you might have to use legal pressure to get them to face upto it.