I think insurance companies do always advise but sometimes there is a time lag and like any database isn't perfect. Most do get recorded though.

The bigger issue is that loads of written off cars get exported, re-registered abroad, left to sit in a field in Poland somewhere, repaired quickly and then re-imported and re-registered which loses the flag.

It is quite a big industry.

Yesterday's edition highlighted the perils of relying on HPI and RAC history checks to validate whether a vehicle has been written off. They highlighted two cases where buyers paid for the checks and later found the cars had been written off and repaired . Apparently the code for insurance companies to advise DVLA is voluntary. They estimated around 80,000 cars are put back on the road each year after been written off. Some major car outlets were named too , in order to show they are not immune from the scandal..

Where is the 'rip off' here. You pay for the check and they check the available info. They can't give you info they don't have so I don't see a rip off.

They estimated around 80,000 cars are put back on the road each year after been written off.

Quite possibly true, but a written-off car is not necessarily a hazard on the road, or even any worse than an identical unwritten-off one. When the cost of repairing a car exceeds its pre-accident value (less its scrap value) it will normally be written off by the insurers. It follows that the older the car, the less damage is necessary to write it off.

My own car was written off at 9 years old after a minor front-end collision. I drove it home after the accident and decided to have it repaired, which after the third-party insurer's contribution cost me about £250. I have driven it for another two years, and it looks and drives exactly as it did before. I am sure this history will affect its value and saleability, but in absolute terms that conclusion is unjustified.