Which hpi check?

[A3quattro]

Hi all,

Just after some advice on hpi checks as there seem to be multiple costs from £5 to £25.
I've just used the rac vehicle check for £5 which gives plenty of info. My only concern is it didn't recognise the vin i entered. I entered the vin in the decoder (from a previous post) and it de-coded it ok, i think the dealer has given me the correct vin. I haven't the v5 serial number but would think it should still match the vin. Just wondering if because it's a cheaper vehicle check it's not so good, has anyone experienced similar? Also it said the car was a 5 speed manual. It was a 1.8t x reg quattro sport and i thought these were 6 speed. I not seeing the car till the weekend, but thought i'd do a little homework first.

Thanks in advance.

 

[nick-barnes07]

usually do the rac £5 one , does the job for me

 

[nick-barnes07]

they sometimes dont regonise the vin number, some kid who bought my old ibiza cupra r of me done a vin check and he had to do it a couple of times before it regonised it

 

[ash_s3]

Do the proper HPi one, its very thorough indeed and your fully covered if it all goes tits up
It costs about £20 but could end up being the best £20 you've ever spent

 

[jcs356]

Do not rely wholly on the HPI one as they can be wrong. You can find out better quality information elsewhere (e.g. approaching DVLA directly). Not as quick, but better quality information.

Here is my personal experience of HPI:

Car was stolen, I got it back from insurance co, wanted to make sure that insurance co had settled everything correctly and there wasn't a 'stolen' marker left on the vehicle. Paid £40 for HPI check, came back clear, I was happy.

6 months later went to transfer a private plate onto the car. Go to DVLA office with all the paperwork and get told 'we can't process this, the car is shown as stolen'. So HPI had somehow managed to show a clear car whereas the DVLA database had it shown as stolen.

I tried to complain to HPI but got nowhere. Vowed never to take what they report seriously.