Relax - Its All Checked Already!

The HPI Guarantee

 

At HPI, we work hard to ensure that the data we receive and manage is the best available but no data source is perfect. That's why your HPI vehicle check includes the HPI Guarantee. Subject to the HPI Guarantee Terms & Conditions, the HPI Guarantee provides up to £30,000(£15,000 for written off vehicles) reimbursement of financial loss you suffer arising from inaccurate or incomplete information we supply to you as part of the HPI Check. As you'd expect from HPI, the cover is the most comprehensive available today.

Here is a summary of the main conditions:



 

What do HPI® check?

 

Outstanding finance

HPI uses the UK's most accurate database of finance agreements, with over 7 million current records. 24 out of every 100 vehicles checked with HPI turn out to have outstanding car finance. If the loan remains unpaid when the car changes hands, you stand to lose the car or the money outstanding on it.

 

Stolen vehicles

Nearly 30 vehicles a day are identified as stolen by the HPI Check. By sourcing information from the Police National Computer, the HPI Check will tell you if the vehicle you are looking at is currently recorded as stolen.

The HPI Check will not provide details of vehicles that have been recorded as stolen but have subsequently been recovered without damage. If the vehicle has been recovered and written off by an insurance company due to the theft, this will be moved from the stolen register and show on the write off/condition alert register.

 

Written-off

4 out of every 100 vehicles checked with HPI has been written-off as a result of damage or theft. Although some can be safely repaired and put back on the road, others are only fit for scrap. Since 1997, the HPI Check has used the Association of British Insurers' coding on the level of damage sustained, helping you tell the difference.

Vehicles written-off within categories A, B or C will have a 'VIC marker' put against them by DVLA. The 'VIC' is a Vehicle Identity Check, and it is a scheme designed to help stop stolen cars being passed off as repaired accident damaged cars - also known as 'ringing'. The DVLA will not issue a V5 for any vehicle with a VIC marker against it, unless the vehicle has passed a VIC test. Any vehicle that requires or has passed a VIC test will have this noted on the V5. A VIC test IS NOT a test on the repair of the vehicle or its road worthiness. In certain circumstances (for example, self-insured vehicles) a VIC marker may be applied to a vehicle without an insurance company formally writing the vehicle off. The HPI Check will state the result of any VIC test the vehicle has been subject to.

 

Inspection report

The HPI car history check will tell you if a vehicle that was previously declared a total loss has passed an independent structural examination and is now deemed as being roadworthy. If the seller cannot provide a Thatcham-approved inspection report, copies of most inspections are available from HPI at additional cost.

 

Mileage Problems

The HPI Check uses the database of the National Mileage Register to search around 125 million records. It provides the best intelligence available to protect against clocking and will help you decide whether the car that's showing a mileage of 32,000 may have actually covered 132,000 miles.

 

Vehicle Identity

The HPI Check will reveal if the GTi that's caught your eye is really a CL in disguise. Using over 60 million entries recorded at the DVLA and DVA (N. Ireland), it confirms the make, model, derivative, where possible, (i.e. different types of a particular model such as special and luxury editions), door plan, vehicle's current colour & prior colour, transmission, and engine size, as well as how many times it has changed hands. You'll also be told the year the car was manufactured and the date it was first registered.

 

Stolen V5 Document Check

Check if the V5 document is part of a batch recorded as stolen. If the V5 Document is stolen, the vehicle is unlikely to be legitimate.

Plate transfer

20 out of every 100 cars checked by HPI has at least one plate change. Usually there is nothing to worry about, but a change of plate can be used to hide a car's past. By searching nearly 4 million records stretching back over 10 years - further than any other source - the HPI Check will list the plate changes and reveal potential problems such as if the car was a write-off in a former life.

 

Number Plate and VIN/Chassis number match

HPI will tell you whether the VRM and VIN correspond to DVLA and DVA (N. Ireland) records. If they don't, you may be looking at a ringer. Always check that the vehicle's identification numbers stamped into the bodywork, on the chassis plate and behind the windscreen match the documentation and look original.

 

Security Watch

Many types of organisation (such as car rental companies) use HPI's Security Watch service to register vehicles that should not be put up for sale. The HPI Check will tell you if the car you want to buy is one of 120,000 vehicles that could be being sold illegally.

 

CO2 Rating

Using data from DVLA, we are able to tell you what the CO2 rating* is on the car you are considering buying. Providing you with this information is our way of helping you do something positive about the environmental impact of your next car purchase. The CO2 bandings are intended as a guide to emissions of the vehicle checked and equate to the current Vehicle Excise Duty bandings.