News Highlights
- May 2013 Used Car Market Editorial
- May 2013 Used LCV Market Editorial
- MyCarCheck.com responds to Department for Transport’s VIC consultation results (published 22 April): Extend it, don’t scrap it!
- MyCarCheck.com enables UK used car buyers to check a car’s history for less than the price of a pint… just £2.95
- MyCarCheck.com/Trade launched!
- Short History of Vehicle Data or HPI Checks
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Guide To Car Data Checks
Performing a check - Personalised Numbers
The other significant reason for getting no return when entering a registration plate, is that the vehicle has previously been subject to a cherished or plate transfer.
There are many ways this can happen: one example is that the vehicle being registered (when new) using a standard age-related plate. The next owner then decides to have a personal number plate on his new vehicle, such as his initials, let's say PJ 999. This number then replaces the original age-related number on the vehicle itself and on the DVLA record.
When the current owner decides to sell their car or vehicle they will usually tell the prospective buyer that the number plate currently shown is not included in the sale and advises the buyer of the old (or original) number. Consequently the DVLA will have not yet completed the transfer of data and the vehicle does not return when a customer enters the original number. This is due to the records taking some time to be added onto the DVLA database and then passing this data onto a vehicle-checking database such as ours.
This can be made more difficult if the prospective buyer of the vehicle also has a personal number plate that they wish to put onto the vehicle - if this vehicle is then sold there are three numbers that have been associated with this vehicle.
Imagine if a vehicle has been in a major accident - e.g. with the PJ 999 number and subsequently recorded as a total loss by the insurance company. This number is then transferred onto a new vehicle that has never been involved in an insurance claim. It may worry the prospective buyer that information stating that PJ 999 was involved in a serious accident, when in reality it was an entirely different vehicle.
This could be resolved by the vehicle-checking companies but plate transfers can be problematic as there can often be multiple numbers on one vehicle - 8 or 9 different number plates is not uncommon! That is why companies, such as ourselves, use the VIN and not the registration number for identification.
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