This is my first post on this wonderful website (which I found out about yesterday).
I been living in the UK for the past 10 years, I'm Irish though.
When you buy a second hand car in UK, you can (for a small fee) find out if the car has previously been the subject of a serious insurance claim. There is a database kept by the DVLA, and when a car is written off, this information is updated for all the world to see, the insurance companies obviously supply the info.
You can also see the number of previous owners, and verify if the VIN (vehicle identification number) matches the VIN of the car when it was first registered. You can also check the mileage, as the Mileage at every MOT(NCT) is logged to the database (although sometimes the mileage is not logged)
In summary, it protects the buyer of a second hand car from seller dishonesty.
In Ireland, is there any similar database ? In Ireland, how is a buyer to know if a second hand car is an insurance writeoff ? You can ask the seller obvioulsy, and make a good visual inspection of the vehicle, but where can you get the proof ?
I am guessing that insurance companies share information about written off vehicles amongst themselves ??? But is this info available to the public ?
I been living in the UK for the past 10 years, I'm Irish though.
When you buy a second hand car in UK, you can (for a small fee) find out if the car has previously been the subject of a serious insurance claim. There is a database kept by the DVLA, and when a car is written off, this information is updated for all the world to see, the insurance companies obviously supply the info.
You can also see the number of previous owners, and verify if the VIN (vehicle identification number) matches the VIN of the car when it was first registered. You can also check the mileage, as the Mileage at every MOT(NCT) is logged to the database (although sometimes the mileage is not logged)
In summary, it protects the buyer of a second hand car from seller dishonesty.
In Ireland, is there any similar database ? In Ireland, how is a buyer to know if a second hand car is an insurance writeoff ? You can ask the seller obvioulsy, and make a good visual inspection of the vehicle, but where can you get the proof ?
I am guessing that insurance companies share information about written off vehicles amongst themselves ??? But is this info available to the public ?