Checking the history of a car.

[Nuvo]

Can anyone recommend a good site that offers a vehicle status report service?

You know the usual sort of stuff such as :
1. Reported as stolen 2. Insurance write-off 3. Any outstanding finance 4. Mileage discrepancies.

Thanks

[Rusty]

car text check is a quick way to go about things and anything that looks suspect can be double checked with a more in-depth HPI check.

I assume that you're looking for it FOC though, hence not mentioning the above?

[Nuvo]

I wasn't aware that a basic check is FoC, I thought all such services would require a fee.
The car text check sounds like a good way to filter out some of the dross before paying for an hpi check.

I take it hpicheck.com site is the original site for this information and other services are a pale immitation, that is, they access the hpicheck databases anyway?

[Rusty]

Sorry for any confusion but neither of those services are free.

The text check is about £3 and the HPI about £20 for their basic check.

The tex check can be done on the spot and then an HPI check arranged, if all seems OK. A mate avoided a bit of an iffy Porsche thanks to that method.

[Nuvo]

No worries Rusty. Alles klar.

[spink]

Looking at the v5 can be quite eye opening,bottom of front page is where any nastys lurk.Also if you take the doc ref number and type it into the status check and history check

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Mot/DG_10020539

you can see the last 6 or 7 mots and what it failed on and the mileage at time of test and retest,I have caught someone out with this recently

[Nuvo]

Very good info there James, that'll come in very handy I'm sure.

I had been looking through some local car dealers sites the other day and the vast majority of them quote mileages barely pushing 100k regardless of age. Naturally, I am very suspicious of what I see.

If it seems to good to be true then... well, you know.

[Rikki Kitto]

Hpi is great if the info is on there, been caught out in the past with the delay of information getting onto the system.

[bluequattro]

V5 doesn't always show stuff
My last s2 came up as cat c and cat d write off
but nothing on v5
Car text check is good for on the spot impulse
purchases and is mega quick reply

[andy10v]

Looking at the v5 can be quite eye opening,bottom of front page is where any nastys lurk.Also if you take the doc ref number and type it into the status check and history check

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Mot/DG_10020539

you can see the last 6 or 7 mots and what it failed on and the mileage at time of test and retest,I have caught someone out with this recently

Costs nothing and can be useful before you spend money on a check.

[4WheelDrifter]

Also check that the car you are looking at is the one it claims to be. It sounds obvious, but it's amazing how even S2Forum members get caught with this.

Say I have a nice CQ with a spotless history, then I steal an S2, maybe even one with an already dodgy history, then I put the VIN number and registration from the CQ to the S2. All I have to do is cook up some story about the S2 being brilliantly converted from a CQ, and bingo, I'm on to a winner. Any buyer of course is on to a loser.
That's one real life example, that some of us know of.

It didn't apply to that case, but hand stamped VIN numbers are a give away. Yes. I have seen it on an S2 one owner was quite happy with.
Swapping an ID from one car to another of the same type would be easy. Harder for an S2, as one would have to also match the year, due to us geeks knowing the subtle differences between the model years.