Question 1

What does a car history check reveal?

Accepted Answer

A **vehicle history check** — HPI check, or equivalent from several providers — searches industry and government databases for facts about a specific vehicle that a seller may not disclose. It is one of the cheapest pieces of insurance available when buying used.

**What it typically reveals:**

**Outstanding finance.** The most important item. If a car is still subject to a hire purchase or conditional sale agreement, **the finance company legally owns it**. Buy it privately and the vehicle can be repossessed, leaving you with no car and no money. This is common enough that it is the primary reason to run a check.

**Whether it has been written off**, and under which category — including whether it was repaired and returned to the road.

**Whether it is recorded as stolen** on the Police National Computer.

**Mileage discrepancies**, cross-referenced against MOT and service records — the evidence of **clocking**.

**Plate changes**, previous registrations, and whether it has been imported or exported.

**Number of previous keepers**, colour changes, and scrapped or exported status.

**Basic specification** — engine size, fuel type, CO₂, tax band — useful for confirming the car matches its description.

**What a check does not tell you:** the mechanical condition, whether it has been badly repaired, whether it was damaged without an insurance claim, or whether it has been well maintained. **It complements an inspection; it does not replace one.**

**Free checks exist and are limited.** The UK government's free MOT history service shows past MOT results, advisories and recorded mileages, and the DVLA vehicle enquiry service confirms tax and MOT status. Both are genuinely useful and neither shows finance or write-off data.

**Practical advice:** check the VIN on the car matches the documents and the report, be suspicious of a seller reluctant to give the registration in advance, and buy the check yourself rather than accepting one supplied by the seller.

Question 2

What should you check when viewing a used car?

Accepted Answer

Paperwork first, then the body, then mechanical — in that order, because a documentation problem makes everything else irrelevant and costs nothing to discover. Before you go: run a history check for

Question 3

How do you spot a clocked car?

Accepted Answer

By checking the recorded mileage history against the odometer and against the vehicle's physical condition — and mileage adjustment is easier than it has ever been, because digital odometers are

Question 4

What is a car's service history, and does a full one actually matter?

Accepted Answer

The documented record of maintenance carried out on a vehicle — and it matters substantially, both as evidence of care and as a direct effect on resale value, which is usually the largest cost of

Question 5

How do I check whether a car has an outstanding recall?

Accepted Answer

By checking the vehicle identification number against the manufacturer's and the regulator's records — and it is worth doing, because recalls are frequently unactioned on used vehicles that have

Question 6

What is involved in importing a car?

Accepted Answer

A sequence of customs, safety, tax and registration steps that must happen in the right order — and the cost is routinely underestimated because the purchase price is frequently the smaller part. The

Question 7

What is a V5C, and does the registered keeper own the car?

Accepted Answer

No — and this is the single most important thing to understand about the document, because it is routinely misunderstood in ways that cost people money. What the V5C is. The vehicle registration

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