trading in crashed car?

[The ONE]

i'm going to trade in my car in the new year and i was wondering if you have to tell the garrage if it had been crashed. i was thinking you had to, but i've heard that you don't have to say anything let the garrage find out themselves.

[TimD]

Legally, it depends on whether the damage has appeared on the insurance and whether you get asked!

First of all, if it's been a "category D", in other words, a financial write-off, it'll appear on the HPI databases and so the garage, with access to those records, will be able to tell. If it's a not so recent car, this may be as little as a dinged wing and can be explained quite easily. On a relatively new car, that will mean big damage and probably welding. The garage will look very, very closely at it then.

On the second point, if you get asked "Has it been in an accident?" if you don't say yes, then you are guilty of misrepresentation and they'll have legal comeback on you. Best to own up straight away.

It's worth bearing in mind that a motor trade professional will be very well versed in spotting repaired accident damage, no matter how well sorted. It can be quite alarming. Having bought more than a few cars in my time, I've never had quite the reaction that I did once when inspecting a Vauxhall Carlton. The front corner was ever so, ever so slightly out of true, so I asked "Tell me about the accident..." and pointed to the repair. The guy selling it looked as though all the wind had gone out of his sails and admitted that eight years earlier, he'd run into the back of a horse-box. He'd almost forgotten the incident and was freaked that it was so obvious.

Having said that, once he'd explained it, I was still happy to recommend buying the car. It was light damage and still good value. Lasted for years!

[The ONE]

thanks for clearing that up for me