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CarCostCheck's finance check uses Experian AutoCheck's finance register. It is not a public record: lenders register their finance agreements with it, and other registers are kept separately. When you run CarCostCheck's history check, it shows:
- Whether the car has outstanding finance recorded.
- The lender's name (if any).
- The agreement type (for example HP or PCP).
- The agreement start date and term.
If the check shows no finance, that is a strong sign the car is clear, though no check can promise to catch every agreement. If it shows outstanding finance, do not proceed. Tell the seller you are walking away unless they can provide a settlement letter from the lender confirming the agreement has been paid off.
If a seller claims the finance "has just been paid off" but your CarCostCheck report still shows it, ask for a settlement letter. This is a document from the lender confirming the agreement has been fully settled and the car is no longer tied to it. A seller who has genuinely settled their finance should be able to get one from the lender quickly.
If they cannot, or if they make excuses about why they do not have it, walk away. The cost of a missed finance check is thousands of pounds; the cost of walking away from a suspicious sale is zero.
A dealer should clear any outstanding finance before selling a car, and if a car you bought from a dealer turns out to have finance, the Consumer Rights Act gives you a claim against the dealer. Private sales give you less protection, and a private seller can be hard to trace if something goes wrong. That is why private sales need a finance check most of all.
Our recommendation: always run the £4.99 CarCostCheck history check on any private sale before handing over money. With dealer purchases, the check is still worth running as a sanity check, but the risk is lower because of consumer protection law.
CarCostCheck's £4.99 history check covers stolen, outstanding finance and write-off, and the free report gives you MOT history, a mileage check, a reliability score and running costs. £4.99 is less than most checks that include finance.
- 12 checks free, no sign-up. Full MOT history, MOT and tax status, mileage check with clocking detection, reliability score, red flag alerts, running costs, fuel costs, road tax, common faults, safety recalls, ULEZ and clean air zone compliance, and the export marker.
- Premium history for £4.99. Stolen (Police National Computer), outstanding finance with the lender and agreement details, write-off with category (A, B, S, N and the older C and D), date, insurer and damage, the date of each recorded keeper change, VIN check, plate and colour changes, import and export markers, scrapped and high-risk markers. The data comes from Experian AutoCheck.
- Valuation for £2.99. The local dealer value from live UK listings, a private sale price range and how quickly similar cars sell near you.
- Bundle for £6.99. The history check and valuation together.
- No subscription, ever. Every CarCostCheck report is a one-time payment. One payment, one report, done.
- Reliability score. A single 0-100 health score worked out from the car's own MOT history: pass rate, recent failures, advisory trend, recurring faults and mileage.
- Results in seconds. From DVSA, DVLA and Experian data.
Our premium data comes from Experian AutoCheck: stolen records from the Police National Computer, write-offs from MIAFTR and outstanding finance from Experian's finance register. We keep the price at £4.99 by keeping our overheads low. Every paid check is a one-off payment: your report appears on screen, and we email you a link to it that does not expire.
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12 checks included free. Full history from £4.99. Valuation from £2.99. No subscription, ever.
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