Many HPI Check Write-Offs On Gumtree

[Rossua]

On looking for a second-hand car on Gumtree over the past few weeks, I have noticed a huge number of cars failing the HPI Check with :-

"An insurer has declared this vehicle a total loss (write-off)"

I checked 7 Corsa's, around 2012 plates, and 5 of them were declared write-offs by an insurance company.

I e-mailed some of the sellers and some replied they couldn't understand why their car was declared as a write-off as it had had only a minor accident.

Others I phoned sounded a bit shady.

The question is does this HPI Check warning flag necessarily mean a bad car - eg previously stolen, or very badly damaged. Or could there be some other explanation ?

Is it a total no-no to even consider such a car ?

 

[Burnerman]

Write off categories have changed somewhat but I believe C and D category vehicles can be still put back on the road -there’s also group N now.
I’ve no idea what your existing insurers would have to say about your cover though and that could be a good place to start.
John

 

[^woody^]

Write-offs used te be required to be scrapped, but the the Government changed the rules in 2015.

Since then this has led to more right-offs being repaired and sold on on the usual sites. More often than not this is via unlawfull "chop-shops" and has in turn fueled the rise in stolen vehicles and car-jacking for parts, and even just the parts being stolen to order from vehicles. It's a proper industry with the repaired vehicles being sold from associate's pretending to be normal private sellers.

Failed HPI check does not automatically mean a bad vehicle, but the high number of write-offs now, means that its more likley than not that the vehicle has been badly repaired in a chop shop and assisted by other crime.

 

[oldcardriver]

My car was a category C write off, and about a year after I had it repaired, the DVLA demanded that it be checked by them. Consequently, one would assume that an HPI Check would not flag it up, however when I went to part exchange it for a new car two years later, the garage said that my car was a write off, so maybe the write off report stays with the car forever. For interest, I didn't by the new car and am still legally driving the write off three years later.

 

[oldcardriver]

When contacting the seller, ask if they have a "Vehicle Identity Check Pass Certificate", I was given this after my car was checked by the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency.