• Establish that the vendor actually does own the vehicle.
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• Make sure you carry out an HPI check if this reveals there is outstanding finance on the vehicle, then dont pay any money to the seller on the understanding this will be used to pay it off instead, pay the relevant portion of the purchase price yourself direct to the finance company to clear it.
• Check the details of the warranty thoroughly refer to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 because the warranty provider may use different terms for what is covered than those you expect and misunderstandings can be expensive.
• Finally, get an engineer to carry out a check on the condition of any secondhand vehicle before buying it yes, its an up-front cost, but could save you money and heartache later.
• For more information, see www.hpicheek.com