Hpi written off?

[Conor D]

Just did a check on a car (Mazda MX5) I was looking at, something weird came up about the Reg.. It says:

The current plate was transferred to this vehicle on 01/10/2005

R&&&&& was applied to this vehicle on 31/01/1998
o This VRM has been recorded as being written-off
o The insurance write-off was recorded on 08/10/2004 against a MAZDA MX5

The plate it currently has is a Northern Irish plate, and when I checked it on askmid, it came up as a Golf for some reason.

So, does this clearly mean the car is/was damaged/written off? Or could there be some other reason why this could come up?

Edited by Conor D on Wednesday 1st September 00:27

[Conor D]

Anyone?

[TheEnd]

Conor D said:

Just did a check on a car I was looking at, something weird came up about the Reg.. It says:

The current plate was transferred to this vehicle on 01/10/2005

R&&&&& was applied to this vehicle on 31/01/1998
o This VRM has been recorded as being written-off
o The insurance write-off was recorded on 08/10/2004 against a MAZDA MX5

The plate it currently has is a Northern Irish plate, and when I checked it on askmid, it came up as a Golf.

So, does this clearly mean the car is/was damaged/written off? Or could there be some other reason why this could come up?

try reading the post backwards..



R&&&&& was applied to this vehicle on 31/01/1998
o This VRM has been recorded as being written-off
o The insurance write-off was recorded on 08/10/2004 against a MAZDA MX5

The current plate was transferred to this vehicle on 01/10/2005

[Conor D]

So it means the Mazda was written off, and then a new reg put on it?

Sorry, but I don't understand it.

[TheEnd]

You've HPI'd his private plate which he had on his MX5 before he stacked it.
With the insurance money, we went out and bought a beautiful Golf.
The finest Golf you ever did see.

In respect for the MX5, he transfered his plate over to a his new car, but alas, it couldn't match up to his one true love.

Heartbroken, he decided to sell the Golf, and the plate with it.

Unless of course you are HPIing an MX5, but you would of course mentioned that earlier.

[Conor D]

I did do a Hpi on an MX5.. But I meant that when I put the plate into one of the askmid type sites it came up as a Golf (at least I thought it did - maybe I typed it in wrong though).

The car is the MX5 that comes up on the HPI, but it doesn't have the R&&&&& reg, it has a new Northern Irish plate.

[TheEnd]

Now i am confused...

1. so there is an MX5 for sale.
2. You note down the reg number, and check with HPI, and it says it's a written off MX5.
3.Askmid on the other hand says the car is a Golf.
4. But the MX5 has a different numberplate to the one you HPId

[Conor D]

TheEnd said:

Now i am confused...

1. so there is an MX5 for sale.
2. You note down the reg number, and check with HPI, and it says it's a written off MX5.
3.Askmid on the other hand says the car is a Golf.
4. But the MX5 has a different numberplate to the one you HPId

Okay, I'm staring to confuse myself here, haha.

-There's an MX5 for sale
-I checked the registration with HPI and it came back what was in the original post.
-I thought that I put the reg into another free website and it came back as a Golf, but they all now seem to be coming back as MX5's.

What exactly does the HPI mean? That the MX5 was reregistered after being written off by the Insurance? Or could there be some other way that the MX5 is okay?

[TheEnd]

Has there been some sort of a plate transfer?
I'm not 100% on whether the HPI tracks the car via the chassis or the plate, but it should be the chassis, as that is the important bit, so yes, it looks like it was written off in 2004, and re registered a year later.

I'd ask the seller for a quick simple explanation of what's been going on and if they don't play ball, walk away.

[davepoth]

I'd just walk away, end of.

[Monkeylegend]

It sounds like it was written off in 2004 on its original plate, and somebody has repaired it and re-registered it with the NI plate in 2005,which might possibly have been on a Golf previously. Maybe it was done this way to confuse and cover up the fact it was written off.

Best to walk away and find another, there are a few about

[AndrewTait]

Alternatively - Guy has an MX-5, bins it in 2004, waits for the insurance payout, and goes and buys another MX-5 in 2005, and puts his cherished plate on it, possibly buying a Golf in between, and having the plate on that rather than on retention.

It would not be unknown for someone to buy the same kind of car again after an accident, my brother in law did it when he rolled his Disco. That had a private plate on it, which was then transferred to the new Disco.

Edited by AndrewTait on Wednesday 1st September 09:35

[Conor D]

I know that he only bought the car at the start of the summer though, he posts on a Northern Irish car forum.

He had all the work done to it, so I don't know if he knows it's history.

[tr7v8]

AndrewTait said:

Alternatively - Guy has an MX-5, bins it in 2004, waits for the insurance payout, and goes and buys another MX-5 in 2005, and puts his cherished plate on it, possibly buying a Golf in between, and having the plate on that rather than on retention.

It would not be unknown for someone to buy the same kind of car again after an accident, my brother in law did it when he rolled his Disco. That had a private plate on it, which was then transferred to the new Disco.

Edited by AndrewTait on Wednesday 1st September 09:35

That is my reading of it too.

[CampDavid]

AndrewTait said:

Alternatively - Guy has an MX-5, bins it in 2004, waits for the insurance payout, and goes and buys another MX-5 in 2005, and puts his cherished plate on it, possibly buying a Golf in between, and having the plate on that rather than on retention.

It would not be unknown for someone to buy the same kind of car again after an accident, my brother in law did it when he rolled his Disco. That had a private plate on it, which was then transferred to the new Disco.

Edited by AndrewTait on Wednesday 1st September 09:35

This is what's happened. It's nothing to worry about.

The only concern is that someone will be put off from buying the car in the future because the reg has been in an accident and they're not bright enough to suss out that it was on a different car

[Engineer1]

Is the plate that comes back as a write off the same as the plate that is now on the car?

[Conor D]

Engineer1 said:

Is the plate that comes back as a write off the same as the plate that is now on the car?

The MX5 currently has a Northern Irish Reg JHZ 1234 (for example), the plate that comes back as a write off is an R reg.

And as far as I know the current owner has only had the car for a few months.

Edited by Conor D on Wednesday 1st September 14:22

[Engineer1]

By my reading the car has been written off on the 8/10/04 and back on the road on the 1/10/05 with an NI plate.

I worked it out like this:
So on the 31/01/98 the car was registered as R&&&&&
on the 8/10/04 the car with that reg was written off, that vehicle was an MX5
on the 1/10/05 the car is now back on the road and has the NI plate put on it.
If the MX5 on the NI plate wasn't R&&&&& then they wouldn't mention it.

[JayBM]

Engineer1 said:

By my reading the car has been written off on the 8/10/04 and back on the road on the 1/10/05 with an NI plate.

I worked it out like this:
So on the 31/01/98 the car was registered as R&&&&&
on the 8/10/04 the car with that reg was written off, that vehicle was an MX5
on the 1/10/05 the car is now back on the road and has the NI plate put on it.
If the MX5 on the NI plate wasn't R&&&&& then they wouldn't mention it.

That's how I read it too! I'm sure on the HPI check there is the option of entering the VIN/Chassis number; that could provide more clarification as to whether the car has been written off at any point in its history.