Five Things to Check Before Buying a Used Car
You wouldn’t buy a house without a survey, right? So why do so many people hand over thousands of pounds for a used car after just kicking the tyres & having a quick glance under the bonnet? I’ve seen it happen more times than I can count. A mate of mine once bought what he thought was a bargain motor, only to discover it had been written off twice and had more finance attached to it than a politician’s expense account. Don’t be that person.
The thing is, buying a used car doesn’t have to be a gamble if you know what you’re looking for. There are proper checks you can do, and most of them won’t cost you a penny if you use the right tools.
Motorscan’s free car check, for instance, pulls together loads of critical information in seconds. But before we get into the nitty gritty, let’s talk about what actually matters when you’re standing in front of someone’s driveway wondering if their 2015 Ford Focus is going to be your next ride or your next nightmare.
Service History Tells You Everything
A full service history is like a car’s medical records. It shows you everything that’s been done, when it was done & who did it. If someone can’t produce a service book or digital records, alarm bells should be ringing. LOUD ones.
I once looked at a car that supposedly had ‘full service history’ which turned out to be three receipts from a dodgy garage in Bolton and a handwritten note saying “oil changed maybe 2019”. Perhaps that tells you everything you need to know about that particular seller. A proper service history means regular maintenance at recommended intervals, preferably at main dealers or reputable independent garages. You want to see evidence of oil changes, brake checks, timing belt replacements (if applicable) and all the boring but essential stuff that keeps engines running smoothly.
Cars without service history aren’t always terrible, but they’re a risk. You simply don’t know what’s been neglected. That £2,000 saving might seem brilliant until your timing belt snaps three months later & you’re facing a £1,500 repair bill. Or worse.
When you run a check through Motorscan, you can quickly verify if the car’s mileage seems consistent with its age and service records. Discrepancies show up fast.
MOT History Reveals Hidden Problems
The MOT history is absolutely CRUCIAL and it’s completely free to check online. Every MOT test lists failures, advisories & mileage readings. It’s like a timeline of the car’s health.
What you’re looking for here isn’t just passes or fails. It’s patterns. Does the car fail every year on the same issue? Has the owner been ignoring advisory notices for three consecutive tests? Are there gaps in the MOT history that don’t make sense? I remember checking a car once that had supposedly done 45,000 miles, but the MOT history showed it had clocked 62,000 miles two years earlier. Funny that.
Advisories are particularly revealing because they show developing problems. Slight corrosion mentioned once might be fine. That same corrosion getting worse each year? That’s a car slowly dissolving from underneath you. Pay attention to advisories about suspension components, brake discs, exhaust systems & structural rust. These aren’t cheap fixes.
Motorscan pulls MOT data into their reports automatically, so you don’t have to manually cross-reference everything yourself. Saves time & makes it easier to spot inconsistencies at a glance.
Tax Status Isn’t Just About Money
Checking if a car is taxed seems basic, but it tells you more than you might think.
First off, you can’t just transfer tax anymore when you buy a car. The seller gets a refund for any full months remaining & you need to tax it immediately. But checking the tax status before purchase shows you if the current owner has been keeping it legal. An untaxed car sitting on a driveway for six months suggests it might not have been driven recently, which raises other questions. Why wasn’t it being used? What’s wrong with it?
Also, knowing the tax band tells you what you’ll be paying annually. Some older diesel cars fall into surprisingly expensive tax brackets. That £3,000 BMW might look tempting until you realise it’s £600 a year to tax. Suddenly it’s less appealing, isn’t it?
The DVLA database shows current tax status instantly, and services like Motorscan include this information in their free checks. It’s one less thing to worry about & helps you budget acurately for ownership costs.
Outstanding Finance Can Ruin Everything
This is where people get absolutely stung. Badly.
If a car has outstanding finance attached to it, the finance company technically owns that vehicle until the debt is cleared. Even if you buy it innocently, not knowing about the finance, the finance company can legally repossess it. You lose the car AND your money. I’ve seen it happen & it’s devastating.
The seller might not even be trying to scam you. They might genuinely think the finance is settled when it isn’t. Or they might have bought the car with finance still attached without realising. Either way, it becomes YOUR problem the moment you hand over cash. Always check for outstanding finance before commiting to anything. Always.
Finance checks used to cost money, but Motorscan’s free car check includes this information. You just need the registration number & you’ll know within seconds if there’s finance registered against the vehicle. If there is, walk away unless the seller can provide written proof it’s been settled. Actually, even then, I’d probably walk away. Too risky.
Write Off Categories Matter More Than Ever
Cars get written off for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it’s minor cosmetic damage that wasn’t economical to repair through insurance. Sometimes it’s because the car was literally underwater for a week.
The categories you need to know are Cat S (structural damage) & Cat N (non structural damage). The old categories were Cat C & Cat D, which you’ll still see on older vehicles. A Cat N write off might be perfectly fine if it was just cosmetic panels that got damaged. A Cat S write off means the structure or chassis was compromised, which is more serious. Cat A & Cat B write offs shouldn’t even be on the road anymore, so if you see those, something’s very wrong.
Here’s the thing though. Insurance write offs TANK resale value. Even if the car’s been perfectly repaired & is mechanically sound, you’ll struggle to sell it later. Future buyers will be just as wary as you should be now. Some insurance companies won’t even cover Cat S vehicles, or they’ll charge significantly more. Banks often won’t finance them either.
That bargain price suddenly makes sense, doesn’t it?
A proper vehicle check reveals write off history immediately. Motorscan includes this in their free report, so there’s really no excuse for not checking. If the seller hasn’t mentioned it & the check reveals it, that tells you everything about their honesty.
Stolen Vehicle Checks Are Non Negotiable
Buying a stolen car is a nightmare scenario. The police will seize it, you’ll lose your money & you might even face questions about how you came to possess stolen property. Not fun.
Most stolen vehicles get flagged on the police database pretty quickly, but some slip through, especially if they’ve been given false plates or the VIN has been tampered with. Professional car thieves are surprisingly sophisticated. They clone identities from legitimate vehicles & suddenly you’re buying what looks like a legit car but is actually stolen.
The registration number check picks up most of this. If a car’s been reported stolen, it’ll show on the database. If it hasn’t been reported yet (maybe the owner’s on holiday & doesn’t know yet), that’s trickier, but at least you’ve done your due diligence.
Look for signs that something’s off. Does the VIN plate look tampered with? Do the numbers on the chassis match the V5C document? Is the seller reluctant to let you check these details? Trust your instincts.
Why Free Checks Like Motorscan Actually Work
You might be thinking, “If it’s free, what’s the catch?” Fair question.
Services like Motorscan offer basic checks for free because they pull from publicly available databases. DVLA information, MOT history, tax status, these are all public records that anyone can access. What the free check does is aggregate it all in one place so you’re not clicking through five different government websites & trying to make sense of it all. It’s convenience, basically.
The more detailed checks cost money because they access private databases that track insurance write offs, finance agreements & stolen vehicle reports. But honestly? Even the free basic check catches most of the major problems. It’ll show you mileage discrepancies, MOT failures, tax status & other red flags that should make you think twice.
I’ve used it myself multiple times. Takes about thirty seconds & has saved me from viewing cars that turned out to be absolute lemons. One car I was interested in showed five MOT failures in three years & advisory notices about serious structural rust. The seller’s photos somehow didn’t mention that.
The Bottom Line
Buying a used car shouldn’t feel like a lucky dip. There’s too much money at stake & too many ways to get burned if you’re not careful. The five checks we’ve covered, service history, MOT records, tax status, finance status & write off history, are your safety net. They’re not foolproof, but they catch the vast majority of problem vehicles before you hand over a single penny.
Using free tools like Motorscan removes most of the effort from this process. You don’t need to be a car expert or spend hours researching. You just need the registration number & a few minutes of your time. That’s it.
I suppose what I’m really saying is this. Don’t rush. Don’t let a seller pressure you. Don’t ignore red flags because you’ve fallen in love with the alloy wheels or the leather seats. A car’s more than its appearance. It’s a complex machine with a history & that history matters. Check it properly, ask awkward questions & walk away if something doesn’t feel right. There’s always another car. But there’s only one you & your hard earned cash deserves better than being wasted on someone else’s problem.