Best way to check car history.

[Olderisbetter]

I always like to see a dealer sticker in the back window and number plates with the same info on them at the bottom, At least it makes me think it has never been in a bump and saying something has 1 doctor owner is a good selling point unless you are like me and think Dr Shipman......

 

[SHogan]

I'd apply a degree of caution to the 'doctor owner' thing. While I'm reasonably practical many of my fellow doctors haven't got the first clue about either domestic or car-related DIY and also can't be bothered to get things seen to when needed. My brother-in-law is an orthopaedic surgeon and so works with power tools on a daily basis. He doesn't even have a tool-kit at home and when his boiler recently packed up they ended up boiling pans of water as he didn't know that there was such a thing as an immersion heater on the hot water tank. I give up...

 

[Ruffian]

The 1.4 pd tdi engine is a fairly good engine,
Around 120k miles the oil pump chains can fail,
(Common fault as wear the chain rings easily)

They are sensible cars,
the front arm rear bushes are prone for wearing, rear axles can corrode on the Axle mounts and window regulators can fail often due to a people openin them when frozen.

Take it at face value, go have a look for yourself as to me it looks fairly genuine car
Brakes, clutch and tyres are all easy to check.

but it is the last of the early shape.
Electric power steering pumps can fail also.

But besides that are generally bullet proof.

 

[jsf55]

Spammer !!

 

[Nomad]

Already said, MOT checker is the first place I look, great for mileage checks and to see the history of MOT fails & advisories.
Also ask how long they've owned it and if it has receipts for work done - cambelts etc are a high priority for me if history is unknown so factor that into the price.
HPI (paid for but not expensive) shows if it's been written off and the insurance paid out but won't show if it was crashed and DIY repaired ...

The adverts also reveal a lot, I've been looking at cars this week to buy a new cheap runabout:
If the advert says £1 it's a dealer / chancer wanting top dollar.
I noticed some rare cars advertised cheap recently that sold and are now readvertised by semi-trade car dealers pretending to be individuals, often with price +50%
A nice classic was advertised locally with the main photo showing 90% of the car - other photos in the advert showed the "missing" corner had lost a fight with a lamppost !
Yesterday I looked at something advertised as "Impeccable" - it has lots of niggles so I've offered to buy it for near scrap not the top-dollar advert price (expecting a call after the weekend).

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Spammer !!

Aye, I have been happily reading through an old thread . I wish there was some way to stop threads like this being shown as being with 'new' posts, maybe by picking up on very old dates....

 

[James1979]

Aye, I have been happily reading through an old thread . I wish there was some way to stop threads like this being shown as being with 'new' posts, maybe by picking up on very old dates....

Did you get caught again?!

 

[Wozzaaah]

Did you get caught again?!

No but I think you did.
Yet another spammer bumping this thread.

 

[gerrymoore]

I sold my BMW 320D a few years ago and the guy lived a long way from me. He paid (a lot) for a specialist to come and give the car a thorough check over (it was a cat D repaired) . Anyway he had a very good look around and took it for a test drive and gave it a clean bill of health. I asked the buyer if I could see his report and was very surprised to read that "the oil level could not be checked as engine has no dipstick" ... yes it has!!!??? An expert eh??

 

[Craig-SM]

MOT history and mine would sound horrendous but anything failed or marked as advisory is fixed straight away.

HPI checks are OK for outstanding finance but so many cars are repaired without going through the insurers now. There is a group on Facebook that posts cars that have been wrecked and then repaired without ever appearing on a register and sold for the full amount and usually big retailers too. I would welcome a little damage, a scratch here and there or a trolley ding to know it’s honest.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Thanks. Mot checker is usefull. I use it for older cars to chech for advisories on rust.

Checked this car and the mileage looks correct but failed a number of years for stuff that should have been found at services so a few alarm bells.

You can also use it to check for any outstanding safety recalls which haven't been carried out.

 

[Brad93]

I have seen more than one car advertised with less mileage than what has been recorded on the MOT history so another +1 on this

Yeah but bear in mind sometimes the MOT garages are just idiots. Our local garage hired a school leaver. He recorded the mileage as about 83,000 instead of 53,000z

 

[armalites]

I always like to see a dealer sticker in the back window and number plates with the same info on them at the bottom, At least it makes me think it has never been in a bump and saying something has 1 doctor owner is a good selling point unless you are like me and think Dr Shipman......

Never trust that as meaning anything, my best mate worked at a garage that rented their forecourt out to a couple of car dealers. When they had a car in they would get number plates made by the local main dealer for the brand as it always made the car look better.

There are places on the internet where you can actually buy reproduction plates with a car's original supplying dealer details on.