You’ve probably heard of ‘MyCarCheck’ as they are just one of the companies that can investigate the past of a car you are considering to buy. Well MyCarCheck has just revealed research which shows that 1 in 6 cars we buy have previously been written off.
That’s a massive 17.3% of the cars on British roads and if you then go on to add vehicles that are classifies in the ‘outstanding theft’ category, that number jumps up to 1 in 4 cars on our roads having some kind of insurance marker on them.
So what happens to these cars? Do you know the background of your car? Do you actually want to know, now that you own it? Well research has shown that 21% of people would buy a previously written off vehicle and do you know what, in many cases, that’s a clever call, as cars that carry some history of this type, don’t make as much as a car with a clean history would and as such, if you buy the right one, they offer fabulous value for money.
Clearly, if a car has been written off because it has had a slight bump, or perhaps been stolen and recovered, or maybe be vandalised on the bodywork, well its only right it shouldn’t be thrown away as it would be a complete waste of a good vehicle and even if a car is more substantially damaged, providing its been repaired correctly, again, it deserves a new life.
Any vehicle that has been written off will show that on its history and should also show it on the cars V5 registration document and because of that, you would not expect to pay the same amount for a car that hasn’t got that blemish on its record, however you also have to remember that when you come to sell it, you are going to get less back for it and find less buyers who will want to purchase it from you.
My advice if you want to minimise the possibility of a car having been previously written off is to try and buy one from the used sales of a main dealer that holds the franchise for that vehicle, as normally, quality dealers such as those holding franchises will check their cars out thoroughly before they take them in and I know, from experience that if they do find a car they are offering has a dubious past, that they will pull them from sale to the public and place them under the hammer at an auction as its just not worth damaging their reputation by selling a vehicle that’s not 100% correct.
