These days buying a car can be a bit of a minefield, you never know exactly what you are buying until its too late. Whilst you can look over the physical aspects of a car there is no way to tell anything about the history of a car by just looking at it.
A car registration check is a way for you to find out more about a cars history before you part with your money. A HPI check allows you to find out about the history of a car, the car that you are looking to buy may still have outstanding finance on it. The previous owner may have not finished paying off the finance for the car and may be trying to sell it on without notifying the new owner. They may have taken out a loan against the car previously, if they have not paid off the loan or do not intend on doing so then legally the finance company still owns the vehicle even if you have paid the previous owner for it.
A car data check or vehicle history check is your way of making sure that the used car or van or even motorcycle that you are buying has no hidden past. It could be that the car has been stolen and they are trying to sell the vehicle on. Every year thousands of people unsuspectingly purchase a vehicle that has been flagged as stolen on the police database. At the very least this will cause a lot stress and hassle as you will end up being stopped regularly by the police. The worse case scenario is that you will have to return the car to the previous legal owner or to the insurance company.
Do you know if the used car that you are looking to buy has previously been written off by the insurance company. Cars that have been involved in accidents can often be patched up and sold on. One such method that is used is that two cars are joined together, each half from the good part of a previously written off vehicle. This is commonly referred to as being a cut and shut vehicle. A car registration check will allow you to get the information to tell you if a car has been previously written off by an insurer. Often these cars are so badly damaged that they cannot be safely repaired. Unscrupulous people do patch them up and sell them on meaning you could be potentially purchasing a death trap