Mycarcheck.com busts myth that expensive used carsare more likely to have clear history... new data suggests the opposite!
New data from mycarcheck.com shows that, when it comes to the UK's five most popular used car makes, a high price tag is no guarantee of a clear history. Of all the cars it checked last year, BMWs were 21% more likely to have a warning against them than Fords, despite being, on average, around £10k more expensive.
Most-checked makes | Top 3 models | Average value | % with warning |
| Fiesta Zetec Fiesta Zetec Climate Fiesta Style | £4,442 | 37% |
| Corsa SXI Astra SXI Corsa SXI A/C | £4,761 | 38% |
| Golf GT TDI Golf GTI Golf S | £7,252 | 38% |
| M3 320D SE 118D M Sport | £15,358 | 58% |
| A3 Sport TDI TT Quattro 225 A3 SE TDI | £12,247 | 53% |
Worryingly, some of the fastest-rising risks are the most serious. Write-offs were up from 29% of all warnings in 2015 to 33.6% last year, while finance was up from 13.8% to 18.1%.
Gavin Amos, head of valuation services at mycarcheck.com, says: "People presume that more expensive cars must be a safer bet, but our data busts this myth. They can actually be much higher risk, for example, for outstanding finance or plate transfer.Whether you're spending a few hundred pounds or tens of thousands, investing a tiny percentage of that to check if it is stolen, previously written-off or has debt against it is surely a no-brainer?"
With information from the police, DVLA, insurers and finance houses,mycarcheck.comholds comprehensive data on every vehicle on UK roads - things that buyers should be aware of before making an offer.
CDL Vehicle Information Services, which ownsmycarcheck.com, performs over a million look-ups a day for companies including AutoExpress, CompareTheMarket, Go-Compare, Moneysupermarket, Swiftcover and Tesco.