Telematics car insurance news
25/11/2010
Prospective vehicle buyers urged to look out for cheap car insurance write-offs
People with telematics car insurance might be interested to hear that used car salesmen are selling vehicles which should really have been scrapped.
Some engineers are fully prepared to give the cheap car insurance write-offs a new lick of paint and a once over, before passing them over to dodgy car dealers.
Nicola Johnson, Consumer Services Manager at HPI, said, "The Government's Scrappage scheme gave the UK new car market a fantastic boost, but the continuing lack of good quality second hand cars for sale, means unscrupulous sellers are using a variety of ways of conning used car buyers out of their money.
"Criminals have been capitalising on this shortage by disguising Category B write-offs as a good buy. An HPI Check will give a used car buyer the complete picture of a vehicle's history, including revealing if the car has been an insurance write off and if so, which category."
Vehicles which have been involved in road accidents are categorised under five separate headings, depending upon the level of damage. Some write-offs will be fit for the road after minor repair work, others will be sent directly to the scrap merchants.
Telematics car insurance providers are required to tell the DVLA which vehicles are recognised as being under salvage categories A, B, C and D. Such vehicles are branded with a 'VIC marker', which may be discarded after the motor has successfully passed a stringent VOCA test.