Used Car Scams
Buying a used car can be stressful enough, without having to worry about whether or not the vendor is trying to rip you off. Unfortunately there’s a high chance of this, as one in every three HPI checks flags up some sort of problem. It could be that the car is subject to outstanding finance, it may have been clocked or it could have been involved in an insurance claim at some point. Alternatively it could be stolen, or there’s an array of other ways you could get caught out – so here’s how to protect yourself.
Top 10 car accessories
We love our cars and we also love to personalise them, whether that’s to make them more distinctive, safer or more comfortable. So if you’re putting together your Christmas list, these are the top 10 car accessories that should be on it. Sat-nav When sat-navs came out they allowed to navigate from one place to another – and for that alone they’re incredibly useful. But they’ve grown up since then to the point where they now do so much more. They’ll route you round jams, find specific points of interest, allow you to have a phone conversation via bluetooth, can be voice-controlled and you can stream music or even television through them too. Prices start at just £50 for an entry-level unit and go up to £300 for something with plenty of bells and whistles. Dash cam If you’re involved in a crash that’s not your fault, having footage of what happened can save you a huge amount of hassle and grief. With the rise of no-win no-fee lawyers, you need something to protect yourself if somebody tries to take action against you when you’ve done nothing wrong. No wonder dash cams have become so popular. Prices start at £50 and run to £300 or so, the posher models featuring dual lenses plus an ability to record your time and location via GPS. Action camera You probably don’t have any great desire to capture your crawl around the M25, but if you’re undertaking a more aspirational trip an action camera could be just what you need. The best known is the GoPro and thanks to the huge range of available accessories it’s easy to recommend. But much cheaper alternatives can be picked up for well under £50 and while the image quality might not be quite the same, you can still record some spectacular footage of those mountain passes or coastal drives on your holidays.
How To Tell If A Car Is Stolen
Expert advice on how to spot if a car is stolen. Last year, fewer cars were stolen in the UK than at any time in the last half a century. But there were still almost 70,000 cars separated illegally from their owners, some of which will have been broken for parts or shipped overseas. A large proportion of these stolen cars will have been sold on to unsuspecting buyers – all of whom were likely to be left massively out of pocket. That’s because if you buy a stolen car, it belongs to the insurance company that paid out for it when it was pinched. So fail to do your homework and you’ll end up losing your car as well as your money.