Car reg checks are a way for you to find out if a used car that you are interested in buying has been stolen. You can also discover whether the car has been reported stolen or has been recovered after a theft. This type of check is available to anyone and can be done using your mobile phone or for a more comprehensive report you can use the internet.
Usually the general public would not have access to the information to be able to do a stolen car check. However there are now a number of companies in the UK can provide you with a comprehensive history of any used car by providing the car registration details. With more and more cars being sold with a hidden history being able to do instant car reg checks means that you are able to find if the car you are intending to buy is one of the 400,000 cars that are stolen and could then be sold on to unsuspecting people every year.
Buying a used car these days is not just a case of giving it a once over, checking the tyres and listening to the engine. Sure you have to make sure that the car appears to be in good working condition but one thing you cannot check is whether or not the car you are looking at has a previous hidden history.
Every year in the UK more than half a million cars are written off by insurers as they are write offs or beyond economic repair. Some of these cars make it back onto the roads even after they have been scrapped according to DVLA records. You could be buying a car that has been in an accident and then cosmetically repaired. This means it may look fine from the outside but it could quite literally fall apart and most likely crumple in any sort of car impact risking both the lives of you and anyone in the car.
Around a fifth or 1 in 5 cars that have been checked out have shown to have outstanding finance on them. This means that if you buy one of these cars you will not own it, it will be the company providing the finance that does. There are about 10 million cars that are bought with finance or a HPI (hire purchase agreement).
By doing an online car reg check you can find out the complete history of the vehicle you are buying before you hand over your hard earned check. A quick and simple check can potentially save you thousands and a lot of unnecessary hassle. Imagine trying to explain why you are driving a stolen car to the police.