Red Flags in Car History Reports

• Used Cars,
• Mar 01, 2019

 

Not all car history reports are equal. In fact, some could be quite shady or even cost you more money than necessary. So, before you head off to get a vehicle history report, let’s review some of the red flags you should be on the lookout for.

Red flags in getting a vehicle history report

Firstly, we will review what to know when searching for an online car history report platform.

·Finding a reliable vehicle check report platform

Once you type in a search for car history report Australia, you’ll get a lot of companies coming up. So, how can you determine which one to choose?

First, make sure the company is reputable. Look for satisfied customer reviews. Also, ensure they have a Privacy Policy and a Terms and Conditions Policy on their site. You’ll know that they are serious about their business AND their customers.

Next, you can check what they are offering in their report versus how much they charge. Is it giving you value for money? Will it carry the details you need? The basic items that your report should include are:

Registration status check

Stolen vehicle status

Finance owing status

Written-off status

PPSR certificate

If the report is offering other items such as odometer reading or vehicle value etc. at a higher cost, you may want to reconsider buying. This type of information is never normally available for a used car and are often guesstimates based on industry trends. Therefore, it’s not accurate information.

So, it doesn’t make sense to pay extra money for a vehicle history report that’s giving you estimated information.

 Free car history checks in Australia and the costs of vehicle history reports

Now you may be wondering why pay for a car history report when you can get it for free? If a site is offering a car history check free, they may not be giving you all the information you need to make a decision. After all, the data pulled from the Australian government for a car history check is not free.

Instead, if you want to pay as little as possible for a quality report, just compare QuickRevs’ rate with the rest on the market and you’ll see how much you could save with us.

Red flags in your car history report

In the actual report itself, these are the red flags you should note before committing to buying a vehicle.

Stolen status check: if this section carries details indicating it was reported stolen, contact the authorities.

Finance owing: if the seller owes money on the car, ask him/her how they plan to clear it before you take possession of the vehicle.

Written-off status: check the type of damage based on the written-off code. Then you can decide whether you want a car that was damaged by hail, or the airbag was deployed, etc.

Registration details: if the vehicle VIN does not match the description in the report, then the seller may be trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Buying a second-car can be expensive. Just don’t get ripped off. Take note of these red flags before you buy.