Guides
Everything we know about checking cars, written down. No jargon, no scare tactics: just what to look for and why it matters.
A used car checklist you'll actually use
Most checklists are ninety items of padding. These are the checks that actually stop people buying the wrong car.
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MOT
How to check a car's MOT history (and actually read it)
The test record is free to look up and most buyers never read past the pass/fail line. The interesting part is everything underneath it.
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Fraud
Car clocking: how to spot a wound-back odometer
A £100 gadget can take 60,000 miles off a digital dash in minutes. The paper trail is much harder to wind back.
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Registrations
UK number plate formats, explained
A reg plate quietly tells you where a car was registered and roughly when. Here's how to decode all five formats still on the road.
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Write-offs
Cat N and Cat S write-offs, explained
A write-off marker isn't automatically a death sentence; sometimes it's a cracked bumper on a slow news day for the insurer.
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Tax
Car tax, explained without the spreadsheet headache
Three different tax systems are running at once, and which one applies depends entirely on when the car was first registered.
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Stolen
How to check if a car is stolen (before it's your problem)
If you buy a stolen car, the police return it to the real owner and you're left chasing a seller who has vanished. Prevention is everything.
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Paperwork
The V5C logbook: what it proves, and what it really doesn't
Printed on the front of every V5C: "this document is not proof of ownership". Most buyers never read that line.
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Finance
Outstanding finance on a used car, explained
On HP and PCP the debt follows the car, not the seller. Buy one that still has finance owing and the lender can repossess it from your driveway.
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Electric
Buying a used electric car without the guesswork
On a used EV the battery is the engine, the gearbox and half the price all at once. Judge the car on that and the rest gets simpler.
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Imports
Imported cars: what the paperwork does and doesn't tell you
An import can be the same car for less money, or a spec you can't insure with a history that stops at the border. Knowing which is which is the whole game.
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Registrations
Transferring a private number plate, step by step
Moving a personal plate isn't hard, but one missed step (an expired retention, a car that's not taxed) and you're stuck. Here's the order to do it in.
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Buying
Buying a car at auction without getting burned
At auction the hammer is the contract: no test drive, usually no warranty, no returns. The winning is the easy part; the homework is what saves you.
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Insurance
Car insurance groups, explained
Two cars the same price can be a world apart on insurance. The group number is the clue most buyers ignore until the quote lands.
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Buying
Car warranties, explained: what's actually covered
Not all warranties are the same animal. One is a manufacturer standing behind the car; the other is an insurance policy with a claims department hoping you won't read the exclusions.
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Selling
Part-exchange or sell privately? The honest maths
The convenient option and the profitable option are rarely the same one. The gap between a part-ex figure and a private sale is where the decision lives.
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Buying
Dealer or private seller? Know your rights before you buy
Buy a dud from a dealer and the law has your back. Buy the same dud privately and you're largely on your own. The seller matters as much as the car.
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Insurance
Dashcam footage and insurance claims: what really counts
A good clip can turn a your-word-against-theirs claim into an open and shut one. A badly set-up camera just records the sky and the time wrong.
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Write-offs
When is a car worth repairing? The write-off decision, explained
A write-off isn't about whether a car can be fixed; almost anything can. It's about whether the sums add up for the insurer, which is a very different question.
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Running costs
Petrol, electric or hybrid: what actually costs less to run?
The cheapest car to run isn't always the obvious one; it depends on your mileage, where you charge, and how long you keep it. Here's how to work out your own answer.
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Tax
How to tax a car you've just bought
The seller's tax is refunded the day they sell, which means the car is untaxed from the second you own it. Here's how to fix that before you drive off.
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Fraud
Number plate cloning: how to spot it
Cloning copies an innocent car's plate onto a dodgy one, so the paperwork looks perfect while the metal tells a different story. Here's how to tell.
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Ownership
SORN explained: taking a car off the road
A Statutory Off Road Notification is how you legally stop taxing and insuring a car you're not using, and a gap you should ask about when buying one.
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Buying
How to check a car's service history
No official database holds service records. Here's where they actually live, how to read them properly, and how to prove a stack of stamps is real.
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Write-offs
Category A and B write-offs, explained
Cat A means crush the whole car; Cat B means crush the shell. Neither should ever be driven again. So why do they occasionally turn up for sale?
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Buying
Free vs paid car history checks: what do you actually need?
Most bad cars die on the free checks. The paid ones exist for three flags nothing public will show you, and this is which tier to use when.
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Buying
What's a good mileage for a used car?
Forget the 100,000-mile death sentence; it's decades out of date. Multiply age by 7,000, then worry about whether the miles are genuine.
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Write-offs
How to check if a car has been written off
The free DVLA data won't tell you: write-off status lives on an insurance register most buyers have never heard of.
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Buying
When is the best time to buy a used car?
Plate-change gluts and quarter-end targets are real; most "best month" advice isn't. When prices genuinely soften, and why the right car still beats the right month.