Car history check

A car history check tells you what's happened to a used car before it reached the seller's driveway. It pulls together records from the DVLA, DVSA, finance companies, insurers and the police, and puts them in one report so you can see problems a seller might not mention, or might not even know about.

You don't need anything from the seller. The registration from the advert is enough.

What our car history check covers

The Full check (£8.99) includes everything in the free check, plus:

• Outstanding finance. Whether there's a PCP, hire purchase or conditional sale agreement still on the car, and who the lender is. More on this in our outstanding finance check.
• Log book loans. Whether the car has been used as security for a loan.
• Insurance write-offs. The category (A, B, S or N), the date of loss and the damage recorded. See our write-off check.
• Stolen and high risk markers. Whether the car is recorded as stolen or flagged as high risk.
• Salvage history. Whether the car has been through a salvage auction, often with details of the damage.
• Advanced mileage check. Every recorded reading checked for anything that doesn't add up, with a chart.
• Keepers and plate changes. How many people have owned it and every registration it has carried.
• Ex-taxi check. Whether the car was licensed as a taxi or private hire vehicle.
• Valuation. Private sale, part-exchange and dealer values, so you know whether the price is fair.

At the top of every report there's a simple result, Passed, Warning or Failed, with each finding linked to the section that explains it.

Why a history check is worth doing

Most used car problems aren't visible. A car can look spotless and drive beautifully and still have £6,000 of finance owed on it. Another can have been a Cat S write-off, repaired well enough to fool anyone who doesn't check. Clocked mileage leaves no trace on the dashboard at all.

Each of those costs real money. Buy a car with finance on it and the lender can try to recover it from you. Buy a hidden write-off and you've probably overpaid by thousands, and you'll find out when you try to sell it or insure it. A history check costs less than a tank of fuel and tells you in seconds.

When to run the check

Twice, ideally. First when you find a car you like, so you don't waste a trip to see one with a problem. Then again just before you pay, because finance can be taken out against a car at any time, including the week it was advertised.

On the day, make sure the check is for the car you're actually buying. Read the registration off the car, not just the advert, and match the VIN on the windscreen and door pillar to the V5C logbook. A cloned car wears another car's plates, so its history check will come back clean for the wrong car. Our guide on how to spot a cloned car covers this.

Car history check vs HPI check

People often say "HPI check" to mean any vehicle history check. HPI is one company's name for its product. What matters isn't the name on the report but what's in it: make sure any check you buy includes finance, write-off and stolen data, because those are the ones that protect your money. Ours does, and our guide to what an HPI check is explains the rest.

What a history check can't tell you

A history check covers records, not condition. It won't tell you the clutch is worn or a service is overdue, and damage that was never reported to an insurer won't appear as a write-off. Use it alongside a proper look round the car and a good test drive. Our used car checklist takes you through the rest.

Checking more than one car?

If you're comparing a shortlist, bundles of Full checks bring the price down to £3.00 a check. The coupons are emailed to you and never expire.