Where to check if car is category S or N?

Newbie_John

I'm thinking of buying a car from private seller - the price looks really good but matches similar cars that are category S or category N. Similar cars costs about 20% more (although most from traders) so I would like to be sure that seller isn't hiding anything and just listed it at that price to match competition.

Is there a way to check it for free somewhere? If not, what's the cheapest website I could do this check?
Also, is it somewhere written on the DVLA papers that you could potentially check when viewing a car?

DullGreyGuy

Not for free... you presumably will want to do a HPI check to ensure there isn't finance secured on it too and most services will include both for the same fee. 

polar_opposite

You'll have to pay for a service to check the vehicle's write off status as well as any outstanding finance or police-stolen records. Most online services are around the £10 mark which is 100% worth it for peace of mind. 

Nobbie1967

Don’t rely on the V5 recording the Cat status as the seller could have retained the car after a writeoff and wouldn’t need to get the V5 updated.

Newbie_John

I've used the experian auto check and surprise surprise:

This vehicle is recorded as being a write-off by an insurance company on 18/09/2023 Status is: CAT S STRUCTURAL DAMAGE This vehicle is recorded as being a write-off by an insurance company on 30/08/2019 Status is: CAT S STRUCTURAL DAMAGE

I will pass on this car then, thanks

motorguy

Newbie_John said:

I'm thinking of buying a car from private seller - the price looks really good but matches similar cars that are category S or category N. Similar cars costs about 20% more (although most from traders) so I would like to be sure that seller isn't hiding anything and just listed it at that price to match competition.

Is there a way to check it for free somewhere? If not, what's the cheapest website I could do this check?
Also, is it somewhere written on the DVLA papers that you could potentially check when viewing a car?

Sadly, as you've found out, a lot of "private" sellers are actually driveway traders masquerading as private sellers to avoid their legal (and no doubt VAT and tax) obligations.

A further depth of low life resell damaged repaired cars, relying on people not knowing / not understanding / not realising what they're actually buying.

Even when pressed, its amazing the amount of times these sellers will say "oh it was only panel damage" but then cant provide any photos.

If you're on facebook and want a laugh / shock yourself in equal measures, joing the "Dodgy Cars" group.  They have made it their mission to expose mis-represented cars - many of which turn up at supposedly reputable dealers.

They use vcheck.uk to do their searches, which i would strongly recommend.  Not only do they do the "standard" HPI checks you get with other paid services, but they check all the salvage records with the likes of Copart to see if a car has previously been written off and then not registered correctly in VCAR (which records it write off status).

From memory, they're cheaper than most of the other paid services too.

Newbie_John

One thing I've noticed about the hidden info about cat S/N is that these cars tend to have MOT done twice in the same year. The car I checked had Jan 2023 and then another MOT September 2023, similar to another one where owner admitted without me needing to check.. probably not the rule, but definitely suspicious.