Car history check warning

dmcsweeney

I was recently looking to buy another car as a runabout.
Having spoken to the owner of one particular car I became suspicious about it's history.

I used a popular history check website and sure enough, the report made very interesting reading.
It contained a condition alert (with no specifics), but the owner, NCT and tax history told it's own story.

From what I could work out, the car had been a Cat C write off, sat with a salvage dealer for almost two years, was badly repaired and couldn't get through an NCT and then got shifted on pretty quickly.
Another history check company advertised that they had more detailed reports so I paid up, in the hope of getting the write off category, and the car came up completely clear!! I mailed said company with a screen shot of the other report, demanding a refund.

They have so refused, stating that they won't share condition alerts from the insurance database unless they have the full facts and therefore they attach no condition alerts. I had a friend in a brokers call a few insurance companies for quotes and they all refused to insure the car.
It could have been a very expensive lesson for someone who used that company and then found themselves with a a defective car that they couldn't insure.

ohnonotgmail

Do people not get an insurance before even going to look at a car? why would you bother even going to look at a car if the insurance is too high? You said it was a cat c writeoff. Is that term not an english one, is it even used by irish insurance companies?

dmcsweeney

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Do people not get an insurance before even going to look at a car? why would you bother even going to look at a car if the insurance is too high? You said it was a cat c writeoff. Is that term not an english one, is it even used by irish insurance companies?

I think you missed the point. Insuring that make and model was no issue whatsoever, the reason they would't insure it is the fact that it had been written off. Those categories are used in Ireland;

https://hello.donedeal.ie/hc/en-us/articles/115004557529-Write-Off-Categories-Explained-

ohnonotgmail

dmcsweeney wrote: »

I think you missed the point. Insuring that make and model was no issue whatsoever, the reason they would't insure it is the fact that it had been written off. Those categories are used in Ireland;

https://hello.donedeal.ie/hc/en-us/articles/115004557529-Write-Off-Categories-Explained-

No i meant get a quote on the specific car. I've always done that before going to look at a car.

I wasnt aware they were used officially in ireland. This part of your link explains why it was not included on the report you got

In Ireland, a history check will show whether a vehicle is a Category A or B write-off. As there is no official record of Category C or D write-offs maintained in Ireland, Category C or D write-off status is not included in any Irish history check report.

dmcsweeney

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

No i meant get a quote on the specific car. I've always done that before going to look at a car.

I wasnt aware they were used officially in ireland. This part of your link explains why it was not included on the report you got

I check a similar model, then checked the actual car using the self service facility which didn't pick it up so there's still a risk.

dmcsweeney

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

No i meant get a quote on the specific car. I've always done that before going to look at a car.

I wasnt aware they were used officially in ireland. This part of your link explains why it was not included on the report you got

That's interesting in the C & D category. The car check company are clearly lying through their teeth so saying they won't apply a condition alert without knowing the category. The fact that the insurers wouldn't touch that particular vehicle, they must have had something serious on record about it. I've bought and sold a lot of cars, but for those with less knowledge it could have been a disaster trusting the report they paid good money for...

Motorcheck

Hi All,

Very interested to see your conversation and thought we could add a little bit of info.

The Insurance industry in Ireland generally follow the ABI code of practice in categorising write-offs. However, unlike the UK, the unfortunate situation in Ireland is that Insurance companies only disclose data on Category A and B write-offs to the Department of Transport and do not disclose any data on economic write-offs (Category C, D, S, N etc.)

Don't always trust claims of having "more data". At MotorCheck we are very transparent about the fact that not all categories of Irish write-off are available, see: https://www.motorcheck.ie/faqs/car-check-write-off/.

But we also work very hard to independently gather data on accident damage, salvage and economic write-offs from other sources available to us. So much so that we are confident that we have about 90% of the economic write-offs in Ireland covered. We publish these as "Condition Alerts" on our reports as we believe in the consumers right to be fully informed about any material facts that should be disclosed.

Condition Alerts are non-specific in the reports but if you contact our support team we can generally investigate with our data providers and get more details.

In the case of this vehicle we are aware that is was sold as salvage with damage to the front of the vehicle and whilst the exact category is not available it seems to have been a Cat D or Cat C.

dmcsweeney

Motorcheck wrote: »

In the case of this vehicle we are aware that is was sold as salvage with damage to the front of the vehicle and whilst the exact category is not available it seems to have been a Cat D or Cat C.

Thanks for your input, very informative. Can I ask how you know which vehicle was involved as I gave no details of same??

PS; Your service provided the correct information (condition alert). Obviously I won't name the other company. However, there was no indication of what happened the vehicle.

Motorcheck

You're very welcome. Happy to help.

It was easy to identify from our purchase records. Not that many McSweeney's purchased report on Write-offs recently

The condition alert data is from many different sources so we can't always provide detail that's why its fairly non-specific on the report. But as mentioned on the report you just need to connect with the support team to get more details. They can normally investigate and can sometimes even get images of the damage. No images in this case I'm afraid but it was confirmed front end impact and salvage.

Hope you find something better on the next one.

dmcsweeney

Motorcheck wrote: »

You're very welcome. Happy to help.

It was easy to identify from our purchase records. Not that many McSweeney's purchased report on Write-offs recently

The condition alert data is from many different sources so we can't always provide detail that's why its fairly non-specific on the report. But as mentioned on the report you just need to connect with the support team to get more details. They can normally investigate and can sometimes even get images of the damage. No images in this case I'm afraid but it was confirmed front end impact and salvage.

Hope you find something better on the next one.

Haha true, must change my name! That is incredibly helpful to know for the future. It was invaluable as insurers wouldn't touch it. All the signs were there even without seeing it and luckily it made me suspicious. Far better customer service than the unnamed provider! I hope this tread gets more hits so that others can see the same.