Every year across the UK millions of people unwittingly buy a used car without checking the full facts about its past.  Many of these people could end up buying a car which is unsafe to drive or still on finance and at risk of being repossessed. To find out the importance of an HPI Check, read our car buying horror stories below.

1. Architect buys a write off and loses the lot

Stefan Mordue, an architect from Newcastle, had just passed his test and wanted to buy his first car, a sporty little Citroen AX GT. He found exactly what he was looking for in the motoring classifieds and went to view the car with his mum and his cousin. The car seemed just about perfect, it looked great, had all the right paperwork and was within his budget, so he went ahead and bought the car.
Really pleased with his bargain purchase, Stefan decided to have “his new baby” serviced by the local mechanic, so it would run like a dream.  Unfortunately as the mechanic was examining the car he unearthed some serious mechanical problems.
Concerned that he might have bought a dud, Stefan decided to do an HPI Check so he could understand the full history of the car he had just purchased. Unfortunately for Stefan the HPI Check revealed his car was actually a category C write-off.  With further investigation and assistance from Trading Standards, it turned out the car was actually bought from a scrapyard and made to look like a bargain, when in fact it was un-roadworthy and absolutely worthless.

2. Beemer on finance nearly cost a packet

Andre Bemand, a train driver from Southport had a close shave when he was looking to buy himself a car, and only his mum’s sound advice prevented him losing all of his savings.
Having worked hard, scrimped and saved for what felt like an eternity, Andre had his heart set on a BMW 7 series which he found in the motoring classifieds for the bargain price of £5,000. He took his Dad along to view the car, everything looked good and the seller seemed like a good person.  When Andre got home he talked to his mum about what he’d hoped would be his dream car; sensing his enthusiasm and worried that he was getting carried away, his Mum urged him to check the car out with an HPI Check.
His mum’s advice turned out to be very sound, as the HPI check revealed £1,400 worth of outstanding finance which the car’s owner still owed to the finance company. If Andre hadn’t followed his mother’s advice he could have ended up buying a car with outstanding finance and become liable for any monies owed on the vehicle.  He could have even been left with no car, and no money if the finance company had repossessed the car to recover its debt.

3. Write off nearly wrote off Naomi’s Savings

Naomi Copestake, a youth worker from Plymouth had her heart set on a great little run-around she’d found via an advert in the motoring classifieds but it nearly cost her, her entire £2,000 savings.
At the time Naomi was a student so she had very limited funds but she desperately needed a car. She spotted an advert for a Peugeot 206 which seemed to tick all the boxes, pretty local, low mileage and a great price.  She went to view the car at the seller’s house but not really knowing anything about cars she wasn’t sure whether to take the plunge.
A gnawing voice in the back of her mind was saying, “Don’t just wing it and gamble away your money!”. Instead she chose to carry out an HPI Check and she was very glad she did, since the check showed the car was a category D write off which had not been adequately repaired and was not fit to return to the road.

Don’t become the victim of your own horror story [su_button url=”https://hpicheck.com/” target=”blank” background=”#dc651e” size=”4″]HPI Check[/su_button]

 
If you have a story you’d like to share with us, we’d love to hear about it. Get in touch with us @hpicheck , on our Facebook page or leave a comment below.