Corsa - Many HPI Check Write-Offs On Gumtree

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Mon 20 Aug 2018 18:23
Corsa - Many HPI Check Write-Offs On Gumtree - blueshore

On looking for a second-hand car on Gumtree over the past few weeks, I have noticed a huge number of cars failing the HPI Check with :-

"An insurer has declared this vehicle a total loss (write-off)"

I checked 7 Corsa's, around 2012 plates, and 5 of them were declared write-offs by an insurance company.

I e-mailed some of the sellers and some replied they couldn't understand why their car was declared as a write-off as it had had only a minor accident.

Others I phoned sounded a bit shady.

The question is does this HPI Check warning flag necessarily mean a bad car - eg previously stolen, or very badly damaged. Or could there be some other explanation ?

Is it a total no-no to even consider such a car ?

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Mon 20 Aug 2018 18:39
Corsa - Many HPI Check Write-Offs On Gumtree - BMW Enthusiast

Is it a total no-no to even consider such a car ?

Absolutely. Beware of people selling duff cars on Gumtree who are actually dealers pretending to be private sellers.

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Mon 20 Aug 2018 19:44
Corsa - Many HPI Check Write-Offs On Gumtree - SLO76
The only cars to consider which have been an insurance write-off would be older low value cars that have been written off by minor damage such as a cracked bumper or minor paint damage. A small dent in a door is enough to write off most sub £2k cars. You need details of when it was written off and how much damage was done. Do not consider anything more valuable which will have required a lot more damage to be an uneconomic repair. Cars which have had cheap non-insurance approved body repairs deteriorate quickly and often have glaring flaws which are never rectified properly. Pay more for a better car or buy a good but older example instead.
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Wed 22 Aug 2018 19:32
Corsa - Many HPI Check Write-Offs On Gumtree - Andrew-T

On looking for a second-hand car on Gumtree over the past few weeks, I have noticed a huge number of cars failing the HPI Check with :-

"An insurer has declared this vehicle a total loss (write-off)"

As SLO says, only older cars which had relatively low value at the time of the write-off. If they were flagged as Cat.D (or whatever the new lowest category is) they were easily repairable, but not within their assumed trade-in value.

My Pug 207 suffered a gentle collision 18 months ago (not enough to trigger the airbags) just before its 9th birthday. A similar replacement was valued at £3500. Rebuilding the front end cost me around £2500, nearly all of which came from the insurers. The car was fully driveable away from the accident; most of the cost was in new bodywork parts. As far as I am concerned the car is unchanged, but no doubt there would be few buyers if I were to advertise it. In other words its resale value has fallen, that's all.

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