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Is buying a second hand car really a bargain?

Jayne Henry
Personalised Number Plates

Did you know that 1 in 3 cars checked out had a hidden history?

Hidden History such as:

  1. Outstanding Finance – 1 in 4 cars checked had outstanding finance
  2. Stolen Cars – 30 cars are stolen on average per day
  3. Cloned Cars
  4. Clocked Cars – 8 in 100 cars checked had a discrepancy in their mileage
  5. Insurance Write Off

Do NOT buy a car if:

  1. The Car looks too cheap
  2. The Seller is insisting in cash
  3. The car is not being sold from the address shown on the V5C registration certificate

There are many different examples of cars, please find below the most common two:

The Paper Car: 

Usually an online advert that can only be contacted via e-mail, where owner is out of country and vehicle is being shipped back to UK, with all vehicle documents.  Vehicle is being offered at practically less than half the current value, and payment has to be sent to a Shipping company. Customer sends money to shipping company, but car doesn’t turn up. The Shipping company does not exist and the website was fake.

Customer lost the money he paid

The Clone Car:

Advert is advertising a vehicle usually £10,000 less than market value. Seller will be really helpful and suggests meeting half way, but needs payment in cash. Customer meets the Seller, who shows him a foreign driving licence as ID and drives off with vehicle. It is only when Customer goes to tax the vehicle that he discovers the V5C is forged, and told the vehicle is cloned and was stolen.

Customer lost the money he paid

So when purchasing a second hand vehicle, my advice would be ask to the V5C ownership document of the vehicle. You can check on the DVLA website to confirm that the V5C is genuine using  www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk.

Have you been a victim of the Second Hand Bargains?