help deciphering HPI Report please

[stuballs]

Went to look at a very nice non-turbo impreza for the missues last night. Looked a very straight car and seller seemed very genuine. Was going to pick it up tonight but did a quick HPI check this morning and this came up:

Plate Transfer
The current plate was transferred to this vehicle on 21/04/2008
A4CWT was applied to this vehicle on 17/10/2002
This VRM has been recorded as being written-off
The insurance write-off was recorded on 22/05/2008 against a SUBARU IMPREZA R
The insurance write-off was recorded on 22/05/2008 against a SUBARU IMPREZA
GU02JXT was applied to this vehicle on 16/04/2002

There are no interests recorded against GU02JXT


Then further down it says:

Vehicle Ownership
There are many circumstances where the "owner" of a vehicle is not the "keeper" as recorded on the DVLA V5C document. These circumstances
are described in more detail in the notes accompanying each alert register.
Police stolen VRM and VIN not currently recorded by the police as stolen
Insurance theft VRM and VIN not currently recorded by insurers as a theft
Outstanding finance VRM and VIN not currently recorded as having outstanding finance
Security watch VRM and VIN not currently recorded as at risk on the security register

Plate transfer Interest registered against a previous plate

Vehicle Condition

Condition alert VRM and VIN not recorded by insurers as a "total loss"

Condition inspected VRM and VIN not recorded as a repaired insurance "total loss"


I'm not really sure what that means? Can anyone help? Totally contradictory information.

Thanks

Stu

[Banstead Stig]

I read it as the current plate has a write off recorded after being put on the Impreza you are looking at, which implies that car was written off.

If the write off was before the transfer then I would be less worried. That is what happened with Nige's hawk from memory. The plate had a w/off, but from before it was on his car.

I would ask the seller to explain.

[Banstead Stig]

What is the current plate? Just realised that might be what is confusing matters.

[stuballs]

Thanks for the reply. Current plate is GU02 JXT which was also the original regn.

The more I look at it the more I think this happened:
1. This car registered with original reg
2. Private plate put on this car after a few months in October 2002.
3. Seller upgraded to another Impreza in April 2008 so transferred the private plate to the new car– Original plate transferred back to this car.
4. After a month owning their new car with the private plate they wrote it off/it was stolen. Because the plate was once on this car it shows up on the report.

I'll ask the owner but he's only had it for a year so he might genuinely not even know about this. If it was written off would it not be registered against the VIN and have category A, B, C or D?

[Banstead Stig]

Your summary makes sense.

It is a pain when private plates are involved!

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by stuballs

Thanks for the reply. Current plate is GU02 JXT which was also the original regn.

The more I look at it the more I think this happened:
1. This car registered with original reg
2. Private plate put on this car after a few months in October 2002.
3. Seller upgraded to another Impreza in April 2008 so transferred the private plate to the new car– Original plate transferred back to this car.
4. After a month owning their new car with the private plate they wrote it off/it was stolen. Because the plate was once on this car it shows up on the report.

I'll ask the owner but he's only had it for a year so he might genuinely not even know about this. If it was written off would it not be registered against the VIN and have category A, B, C or D?

Thats probably the case, although I'd be a little cagey about the write off date and last plate transfer happening only a month apart. Do insurance companies record the write-off date as they date that the accident occurred, or the date when the paperwork was filed, after an engineer has inspected the vehicle? (Moley?)

Could the plate change have been triggered by an accident and the previous owner wanting shot of the car - hence taking his private plate off it before the insurance company technically writes it off and ownership passes to them? Someone else then comes along and puts it back on the road after repairs?

[Anger]

My previous plate on my Evo showed up a written of vehicle, but also showed it was a different make of car and my one had a private plate on it at the time

[Scott.T]

Originally Posted by Anger

My previous plate on my Evo showed up a written of vehicle, but also showed it was a different make of car and my one had a private plate on it at the time

Wouldn't your current plate also show up as written off as it was on a tree huggers Evo before ?
Makes me vary warey of private plates, because you could quite easily buy one and then find when you come to sell the car that the plate comes with alot of baggage.

[555_Si]

I am beginning to dislike HPi reports as the scare people unnecessary and I am beginning to also question there accuracy.

my golf since been in my possession has apparently been clocked, which hasn't, I can only think they came to this conclusion since it has done about 100 miles since mot's as I never use it.

also my scoob and private plate relate data on it saying outstanding finance, when it was on a completely different vehicle that had the plate transferred on to it. Is this really relevant to the Scoob?

Also our Jag had data to say clocked, when I went over service history and mot's with fine tooth comb I couldn't see any evidence of this at all.

[stuballs]

Originally Posted by Steve_PPP

Thats probably the case, although I'd be a little cagey about the write off date and last plate transfer happening only a month apart. Do insurance companies record the write-off date as they date that the accident occurred, or the date when the paperwork was filed, after an engineer has inspected the vehicle? (Moley?)

Could the plate change have been triggered by an accident and the previous owner wanting shot of the car - hence taking his private plate off it before the insurance company technically writes it off and ownership passes to them? Someone else then comes along and puts it back on the road after repairs?

My thoughts exactly. The current owner had no idea and was pretty embarrased. He still knows the previous owner so is going to ask her about it. I've not told him what I think happened so it will be iteresting to see what she says.


Thanks for all the replies guys. I agree that HPI can cause a lot of pointless worry. But what else do we have? If it was me, I'd still buy it but try to get some money off. However the missues doesn't want to know and it's her money so we'll probably walk away whatever the seller says now. The search continues...

[stuballs]

So I got to the bottom of the issue having spoken to the dealership who sold the car most recently. My suspicions were correct. The 1st owner put a private plate on this car a few months after buying it new in 2002. In April 2008 he then traded it in for a new Impreza RX 2.0 and a week later transferred his private plate onto the new car. A few weeks after that he wrote off the new car!!

Meanwhile, this car was sold onto the owner before the guy I'm buying from (they actually know each other and that's how I traced it back to this dealership (which is my local dealer!)

So this car has never been written off.

Picking it up tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help guys.

[Steve_PPP]

Cool, glad it worked out well