When you see a car check advertised for around £3.99 or £4.99, read the feature list line by line. Not every low-priced check drops finance, but it is the check that most often disappears at those price points:
- Outstanding finance. Total Car Check Silver (£3.99), MyCarCheck Basic (£4.99) and Full Car Checks Standard (£5.99) all leave it out, and CheckCarDetails Basic (£3.99) and Gold (£6.99) do not say they include it.
- Finance agreement details. RAC's Basic check (£9.98) flags finance but does not show the agreement details. Those are in its Full check, at £14.99.
For a buyer of a used car, outstanding finance is one check you cannot afford to skip. If the car still has finance on it, the lender may try to recover it, even after you have paid the seller in full.
CarCostCheck has one history check, at £4.99, and it always includes outstanding finance, with the lender, agreement type, start date and term when finance is found. There is no cheaper tier that leaves it out.
An outstanding finance check tells you whether the car you are about to buy has a finance agreement registered against it, such as Hire Purchase (HP) or Personal Contract Purchase (PCP). If it does and the seller has not cleared the balance:
- The lender, not the seller, owns the car until the agreement is paid off.
- The lender may try to recover the car from you, even after you have paid the seller.
- With hire purchase and conditional sale (which include most PCP deals), a private buyer who bought in good faith without knowing about the finance is usually protected by the Hire Purchase Act 1964, but proving it can mean a dispute with the lender. With a lease or another kind of loan, you could lose the car, because the seller had no right to sell it.
- Getting your money back from a private seller can mean going to court, which is slow and uncertain.
This is one of the biggest financial risks in a used car purchase. Every car check that drops finance from its cheapest tier leaves buyers who choose that tier exposed to it.
Twelve free checks every visitor gets straight away, plus 12 history checks from Experian AutoCheck unlocked by the £4.99 upgrade:
Free (no sign-up)
- Full MOT history with pass/fail, advisories, and mileage at each test
- Mileage clocking check (flags any fall in recorded mileage, or unusually low mileage between tests)
- Reliability score (0-100) based on the car's MOT record
- Red flags such as recent MOT failures, dangerous defects or rising advisories
- Common faults from the car's MOT tests, with typical repair costs
- Running cost estimate: fuel, road tax, MOT and predicted repairs from MOT advisories
- Fuel cost per year, per month and per mile (using an estimated MPG)
- DVSA recall check
- ULEZ and Clean Air Zone check
- CO2 emissions and road tax (VED) band
- MOT and road tax status, with expiry and due dates
- Vehicle details (make, model, year, colour, engine, fuel type)
Premium at £4.99 (Experian AutoCheck)
- Stolen check from the Police National Computer
- Outstanding finance check with the lender, agreement type, start date and term, included at £4.99, never an upgrade
- Write-off check with category (A, B, S, N and older C, D), date, insurer and damage
- Previous keepers, with the date of each recorded change
- VIN check
- Private plate transfer history
- Colour changes (with the date where recorded)
- Import and export markers
- Scrapped vehicle marker
- Engine number
- DVLA identity checks
- How many times the car has been checked before
CarCostCheck's £4.99 check includes outstanding finance, along with stolen, write-off, keepers with the date of each recorded change, plate transfers, colour changes, import and export markers, VIN and scrapped status. That is less than most UK checks with finance: most others charge £6.95 or more, or sell a cheaper tier that leaves finance out. The price is low, but the checks are not cut: finance, stolen and write-off are in every £4.99 report.
Ready to Check a Car?
12 checks included free. Full history with finance from £4.99. Valuation from £2.99. No subscription, ever.
Check a Car Now