Girlfriend's Car Woes - HPI?

[Parabola]

Hello.

My girlfriend is having problems with a car she bought a couple of years ago (Before I met her). It's a Nissan Micra 1.2 in Gold (I know, I know)

It looks to have had a new front & rear bumper at some point , a bonnet respray too.

The car is leaking water badly into the boot. You can actually see daylight at the bottom.

She's not sure if the guy she bought it from was a dealer or not, & has no reciept (I know, I know) .
He does have a garage apparently. He's offered to have a look at it on Saturday.

I'd like to run a HPI check on the car, just to see if it has been written off etc.
Are the cheaper checks any good, are any better than others?
Sorry if this has been asked many times before, am on a phone & can't get search!

[SV8Predator]

If she bought it two years ago, it doesn't matter whether she can find a receipt or even whether it's had any previous accident damage that has been repaired.

[Parabola]

SV8Predator said:

If she bought it two years ago, it doesn't matter whether she can find a receipt or even whether it's had any previous accident damage that has been repaired.

I think you're right.
I'd like to know if the car has been previously written off though.

I assume that's the one thing a cheaper HPI check would tell me?

[philoldsmobile]

my text check tells you if its stolen, written off, and has any change of colour or outstanding finance. It also gives the last recorded mileage (if known) and number of former keepers

[hedgefinder]

Parabola said:

I think you're right.
I'd like to know if the car has been previously written off though.

I assume that's the one thing a cheaper HPI check would tell me?

yes, unless it was never recorded.

[Sammo123]

I think mycarcheck.com do a basic one for £2.99 that will tell you if it's been wrtitten off. As has already been said though, it's kind of irrelevant now as you have no comeback on the sale. It will cost you to get it sorted whatever the outcome.

[Parabola]

hedgefinder said:

yes, unless it was never recorded.

I.e the car was crashed badly, then fixed without telling any insurance company?

[Andehh]

Is it worth the bother? Garage will bill her per any other customer, no good will this many years down the road... Patch it up and drive it into the ground over a couple more years...

[Parabola]

Andehh said:

Is it worth the bother? Garage will bill her per any other customer, no good will this many years down the road... Patch it up and drive it into the ground over a couple more years...

Yep, that's the plan really.
I would be interested to know if there's any ropey history on the car though.

I'll let you know the outcome!

[scrubchub]

philoldsmobile said:

my text check tells you if its stolen, written off, and has any change of colour or outstanding finance. It also gives the last recorded mileage (if known) and number of former keepers

I used my text check before I brought my CL in November 2011. Went to a dealer a couple of days ago as I'm thinking of a trade in and they HPI'd it and it came back as a CAT C write off! Ooops.

[daemon]

Parabola said:

Andehh said:

Is it worth the bother? Garage will bill her per any other customer, no good will this many years down the road... Patch it up and drive it into the ground over a couple more years...

Yep, that's the plan really.
I would be interested to know if there's any ropey history on the car though.

I'll let you know the outcome!

Just HPI it then. As its a one off, and you're not doing it regularly, i'd use one of the main players who give you the most info.

Not sure what it proves though. If it is write off, then it sounds like all you'll be doing is opening a can of worms from which you're extremely unlikely to get any satisfaction from, and if its not then she'll still driving a ropey car.

[Riknos]

scrubchub said:

I used my text check before I brought my CL in November 2011. Went to a dealer a couple of days ago as I'm thinking of a trade in and they HPI'd it and it came back as a CAT C write off! Ooops.

Yes - don't bother with the cheap texting ones. Get a proper HPI report done for about £10 or whatever it is. Worth it's weight in gold when dealing with cars over a certain value.

As for the OP - WHY would you mention a receipt? And why would you even consider contacting the garage about it? It's too late now it was years ago. You don't get an unlimited warranty on cars!

Also, not sure I understand how you can see daylight through the bootlid - Unless you're inside the boot looking out?

[Bear Phils]

The only one worthwhile is the proper one. The 3 quid text checks are dodgy and can give mismatching mileages and number of owners

[redstu]

Its clearly been crashed at some point.

I dont see the point in paying to find out whether the insurance wrote it off or that someone else paid out for repairs.

A bad accident is still a bad accident, whether the car is written off only depends on its pre accident value.

[Face for Radio]

Parabola said:

I.e the car was crashed badly, then fixed without telling any insurance company?

Even if it was crashed badly and fixed by the insurance company, it won't show up as written off.

My dads best mate a few years ago stuffed his 2.8 Z3 big style on the M11. It was only when they were part way through repairing it that they realised how bad it all was. They were committed to repairing it, and so what should have been written off would never show up on an HPI as such.

[Deva Link]

scrubchub said:

I used my text check before I brought my CL in November 2011. Went to a dealer a couple of days ago as I'm thinking of a trade in and they HPI'd it and it came back as a CAT C write off! Ooops.

Another issue is it can take a while for cars to appear on the register.

Dealer's are supposed to tell customers if a car is written off, but it's possible when they checked it came up fine.

If the OP finds it was written off then his g/f will have to tell her insurance company and some won't insure written off cars.

[J4CKO]

Just take a look at it, sit in it with a torch whilst she pours water on it, identify leak and replace leaking component, clear drains etc, its not rocket science. With regards to the damage, I get the impression its a good few years old, most cars will have some bodywork at some point, doesnt mean a thing unless it was damaged beyond repair.

I bought a car and put a new bonnet, grill etc on and my mother in law declared it a dangerous wreck (it was, but mainly as it was a Pug 308 from 1990), I had litterally took one bonnet and grille of and replaced it, my father in law smacked her A class in a Shogun, very hard, airbags etc and Mercedes repair that, needed jigging, new suspension etc but as it was pretty new it got repair, but apparently that was "Different"

My point being, take a look, gain some knowledge of it and a feel for what was replaced, rather than just having an uneasy feeling or soem vague concept of it being a wrote off, it isnt.

[Rakoosh]

Surely the correct answer here is dump the gf and find a new one with a better car...