Hello everyone

How reliable is the info from a HPI check. The reason I ask is because here in Dublin we have one or two companies that do these sort of checks but from what I can tell the mileage checks are very vague. Another words its four years from new before an irish car has to have a NCT test(national car test) and on the cert you get after passing out is the cars mileage on the day of the test. As you can imagine in these four years you can clock up alot of miles and then alter the speedomoter before the test. Also I have not clarified it yet but I have been told the irish companies that do background checks on cars here to not even get their mileage checks from the NCT.

I have been looking at buying a second hand Superb 1.9TDI 130bhp from the UK and wondered how much I could rely on a HPI report especially in the mileage dept.

1)Do your cars get a MOT from when there a year old onwards or the same as us, only when they are four years old and then every two years after that

2)Does the HPI search check to see if it was ever registered/used as taxi

3)Where to the HPI get their mileage info from

Thanks alot and hopefully it wont be too long before I find the right one, was thinking 03/04 year. Is there anything nasty that reared their heads in these years

Cheers

Partial answer :

AFAIK, in the UK, HPI, The AA, RAC, carcheck.co.uk, etc. get mileage(s) recorded before MOTs from information supplied on a voluntary basis by the servicing dealers. It may or may not appear for a specific car. It is another verification that the service history supplied with a vehicle is accurate (or that both sources of information are equally inaccurate).

Be careful that you have some idea of your VRT liability and the additional VAT bill if you are importing.

Any "nasty stuff" from the last 3/4 years would most likely have appeared here.

1)Do your cars get a MOT from when there a year old onwards or the same as us, only when they are four years old and then every two years after that

Hi & welcome

No, the first MOT is when the car is three years old, then every year after that.

AFAIK thr HPI check doesnt say if the car was registered as a taxi.

Tells you VIN and mileage stuff.

Might be wrong though. You get a discount if you're an RAC member.

The HPI check may possibly show mileage, but not always. What it does show is any plate changes that are recorded against the VIN number, if the car has been involved in a total loss claim (write off), if there is any outstanding finance, or if there is any police interest. The HPI check does not show any insurance claims paid out for minor accidents where the car was repaired.

The V5 will show the current taxation class, but the HPI check doesnt track any changes historically so you wont know if its been a taxi or not.

Yep, mileage is very difficult to verify. This information is normally asked for at change of ownership on the V5, but I'm not sure how many people actually fill it in. Other than that, its simply collected from MOTs.

The best way to verify mileage is to look through the service history and check it tallys. Then speak to the relevant dealer and ask for a history print out based on the reg/chassis number. Other than that, use traditional methods - is the steering wheel and gearkn.ob overly shiny for the miles? Is the seat worn? How stone chipped is the front etc etc...

Another good method with VAG diesels is using a fully registered latest version of VAGCOM. The ECU independantly calculates mileage, and is normally fairly accurate, although a discrepancy of about 5% is acceptable. This would be virtually impossible to edit, probably only realistically possible by swapping the ECU with a lower mileage one. Do note, this is completely independant of the instrument cluster.

It will only flag up as a Taxi if the owner registered it as a Hackney Carriage, which is unlikely as the cost benefit for taxing a car this way was removed some years ago.

Thanks for all the info lads. Shame about the mileage verifying as I feel this is a big issue when buying a second hand car. Here in Ireland there is a standard road tax rate for taxi's/hackneys of approx €70 no matter how big your car is so its an ensentive to register it as one. Also not 100% sure but nearly sure when you go into your local council to get your taxi license there is a stipulation that the car is registered as a taxi on the log book.

Also not 100% sure but nearly sure when you go into your local council to get your taxi license there is a stipulation that the car is registered as a taxi on the log book.

Nope, it doesn't have to, your only hope would be to contact every council in the UK with the reg number.

Alternatively

If you see one you like there are tell tales to look for, the door card grab handles will be flaking off the top surface, the rear door shuts will be scratched, plus the seat fabric will be bobbled, and there will probably be excess wires from the battery, hth.

Hi Supurbia

Should have added into that statement that Councils in Ireland and not the UK but thanks for the tips. I suppose for me I was hoping that the HPI check was more indepth and verified as it would take the guess work out of it for me. Also because I am doing alot of looking on the net here in Dublin I am hoping not have to go to the UK until I find the car, will keep an eye on here

Cubix