HPI - Outstanding Finance Check

DE_612183

Any ideas of a cheap way to do this?

Most companies seem to charge £10+ for a check.

Isthisforreal99

Are you buying private or a dealer?

If a dealer ask them to provide one otherwise surely the £10+ is worth it on a large purchase. Cheaper is not always best.

DE_612183

It's actually for my own vehicle - I've paid the finance off and just want to check they have done what they need to do.

Has a recent experience where I bought a different vehicle for cash from a dealer - they showed me the finance had been paid off, but the finance company had not removed the HPI marker.

Exodi

Unfortunately I don't know of any magic answer if you can't rely on another party to do it. I used carheck.co.uk and bought the 5 pack for £24.99. While expensive up front, considering we've since bought a car (and was able to do a check on my wifes old car to help sell it), I managed to get through them.

I'd be wary or sites advertising them for to cheap - I remember a couple of threads advertising cheap (like £2.99 or something) checks but signed you up to an expensive recurring subscription.

paul_c123

Would you buy a cheap parachute?

MyRealNameToo

Solera HPI is the most widely used db for car finance 

Everyone else is either buying the data from them and reselling it or using secondary sources which are typically cheaper. So you can get it cheaper but it can be less accurate/less quickly updated etc which may be false economy. 

DE_612183

paul_c123 said:

Would you buy a cheap parachute?

no - ( I wouldn't put my head in a lions mouth either )  but that's not the point is it?

I'm trying to find the cheapest way to check that the finance marker has been cleared for a car I already own - there is no risk to me.

By the way I found Experian do a check for £5.99 and you get a quid off with a code they advertise on their website - so basically a fiver for a bit of piece of mind should I try and sell the car in a few months time.

Isthisforreal99

TBH, I think you are in a very small minority who would pay for that on your own car, it's whoever buys it from you that needs to do due diligence.

DE_612183

Isthisforreal99 said:

TBH, I think you are in a very small minority who would pay for that on your own car, it's whoever buys it from you that needs to do due diligence.

yeah, I get that - but I just sold my van via motorway and it was an absolute nightmare as the HPI marker was still on it.

It's was worth £5 just to avoid that hassle in the future.

BTW - it came back as clear - so all good for me ( and the next owner )

Goudy

DE_612183 said:

Has a recent experience where I bought a different vehicle for cash from a dealer - they showed me the finance had been paid off, but the finance company had not removed the HPI marker.

Quite often dealer stock might show up as "unit stocking" finance on HPI reports.
It's quite common.

This is a form of credit dealers use to buy stock without having to layout lots of money that sits on a forecourt. It's a version of mercantile credit.

Once the car is sold, the finance company loses any rights and title over it and it's just a straight debt between the dealer and the finance company. Any lien on the car is gone. 

It's often a bridge between car auction houses and the dealer.
They get stock from the auction and the finance company pay the auction house, then the dealer has around 90 days to pay for the car (sell and pay, or just pay and keep it in stock)  or return it back to auction.
It means they are usually tied to getting stock from certain auction houses.

If unit stocking finance shows up on a HPI and it worries you, talk to the dealer.
They should have enough float to settle that before you purchase, so between you paying a deposit and picking it up, they should be able to prove the unit stocking finance is cleared.

Obviously this sort of finance arrangement isn't open to every back street/driveway dealer.
Bona fide smaller dealers will probably use unsecured business loans to finance stock, this has no impact on the vehicle.