Write-off/Accident Damage

If a vehicle is recorded as a total insurance write off, also known as a total loss, the private buyer has several problems: it may be unsafe and not repaired to an acceptable standard; the value will drop a considerable amount depending on the category the insurance company have placed it in. A motor dealer does not have to divulge to a prospective buyer if a vehicle has been "written off" or not, unless he is specifically asked the question. If you buy a car that has been written off, whether or not you are aware of the fact, then unless the insurance company are informed at the time the insurance is taken out you may find that in the event of a claim they are unlikely to pay out as they do not checks vehicles for accident damage when they insure you to drive it, the onus is on the motor car owner to tell the insurance company that is classified as an insurance write off, and in what category.

If a car has been seriously damaged as a category A, B or C and this is notified to the DVLA on or after 7th April 2003 (regardless of the date of accident), the vehicle will have to go through a Vehicle Identity Check known as a VIC check carried out at various centres throughout mainland UK, this is a government initiative to help reduce the amount of cloned vehicles in mainland GB, the majority of cloned vehicle come from using the identity of a seriously accident damaged vehicle, and a vehicle is usually stolen with the VIN or chassis number and of course the registration number, changed to mirror the accident damaged vehicle.

It is the most serious form of vehicle fraud and the most difficult to detect as the prospective purchaser will carry out a data check using the registration details of the written off or scrapped vehicle, and off course this will not show up as a stolen vehicle, the next thing the new "owner" will be aware is when he has a visit from the Police and the car re-possessed, you will lose the vehicle and almost certainly the money if you cannot trace who you bought the car from, probably long gone.

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