MotorEasy Reading: Would You Like Your Own James Bond Reg?
This month new research reveals that it's all too easy to buy a car, with a dodgy history. Meanwhile, the company that can help save you from making a mistake when buying a used car, HPI, reveal that smoking isn’t just bad for you, but also your car’s resale value.
And finally, personal registration plates are more popular than ever as the DVLA help a James Bond fan make their dream come true. However, it's possible to modify yours with a plate change that costs just a few hundred pounds.
Registering Written Off Cars
According to trade-only history check provider, MotorCheck the BBC’s Rip-Off Britain identified a loophole in registering written off cars. Insurers are obliged to tell the DVLA if they've written off a vehicle. However, this information doesn't have to be passed onto the Motor Insurance Anti-Theft Register (MIAFTR). This leaves dealers and their customers vulnerable.
According to a recent freedom of information request, as many as 80,000 vehicles a year that should be listed on the MIAFTR as written off, are not. Instead, they are being repaired and sold on to dealers who, despite conducting provenance checks with leading providers, are unaware of the vehicle’s damage history.
MotorCheck is encouraging dealers to pay extra close attention to the V5C documents and their own mechanical checks when vehicles are sold to them, to check for any historical damage to a vehicle. The company is also lobbying the insurance industry and government for a change in legislation so that insurers update the MIAFTR - sounds sensible to us!
Turns out an air freshener won't solve everythingKeep Your Cars Value
On that basis, it seems that getting a HPI Check may be of little help if trying to avoid a written off car.
They've issued a warning to motorists over how smoking can seriously damage their car’s health, estimating that a car driven by a heavy smoker could easily lose up to £2,000 at trade-in.
The two main impacts smoking has on a vehicle are physical damage to the interior and smell - something many smokers are often unaware of or think it can be resolved by using an air freshener.
Cleaning up the car can cost anything up to £150. In severe cases, the internal fabric and head cloth may have to be stripped out too which can run into hundreds or thousands of pounds.
Clearly then it pays not to smoke inside your car, on top of the health benefits that it brings.
Maintain your car value in 3 easy steps
The DB5 is a classic James Bond carBond Cars - Who Doesn't Want One?
Bond cars, they're iconic dream machines and one man recently got himself one step closer to owning one.
The DVLA helped the James Bond fan get the number plate any fan would dream of.
“It was fate, really. I agreed terms with Aston Martin Works shortly before Christmas to buy and completely restore an original 1965 DB5 to the exact specification of the ultimate Bond car when one of the team joked the only thing be missing from my car to make it complete is the BMT 216A registration.
That set me thinking, so I searched the DVLA’s website to see if an alternative BMT-related registration was available and discovered BMT 216B was actually being auctioned in the online sale."
That cost him £14,010, but at upcoming auctions, the reserves are rather more affordable, for instance, DAN 11K has a reserve of just £300, whilst KAT 355S and MAT 116W are £250.
