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June
2017.
mycarcheck.com: high price tag is no guarantee of a clear history

Mycarcheck.com busts myth that expensive used carsare more likely to have clear history... new data suggests the opposite!

 

 

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New data from mycarcheck.com shows that, when it comes to the UK's five most popular used car makes, a high price tag is no guarantee of a clear history. Of all the cars it checked last year, BMWs were 21% more likely to have a warning against them than Fords, despite being, on average, around £10k more expensive.

 

Most-checked makes

Top 3 models

Average value

% with warning

  1. Ford

Fiesta Zetec

Fiesta Zetec Climate

Fiesta Style

£4,442

37%

  1. Vauxhall

Corsa SXI

Astra SXI

Corsa SXI A/C

£4,761

38%

  1. VW

Golf GT TDI

Golf GTI

Golf S

£7,252

38%

  1. BMW

M3

320D SE

118D M Sport

£15,358

58%

  1. Audi

A3 Sport TDI

TT Quattro 225

A3 SE TDI

£12,247

53%

 

Worryingly, some of the fastest-rising risks are the most serious. Write-offs were up from 29% of all warnings in 2015 to 33.6% last year, while finance was up from 13.8% to 18.1%.

 

Gavin Amos, head of valuation services at mycarcheck.com, says: "People presume that more expensive cars must be a safer bet, but our data busts this myth. They can actually be much higher risk, for example, for outstanding finance or plate transfer.Whether you're spending a few hundred pounds or tens of thousands, investing a tiny percentage of that to check if it is stolen, previously written-off or has debt against it is surely a no-brainer?"

 

With information from the police, DVLA, insurers and finance houses,mycarcheck.comholds comprehensive data on every vehicle on UK roads - things that buyers should be aware of before making an offer.

 

CDL Vehicle Information Services, which ownsmycarcheck.com, performs over a million look-ups a day for companies including AutoExpress, CompareTheMarket, Go-Compare, Moneysupermarket, Swiftcover and Tesco.