$ ecc query --domain carfraud.co.uk --category finance & write-off
› carfraud.co.uk is a trade-facing entry point to the UK vehicle registers. It assumes you already know what a Category S marker means and what an open finance agreement does to a deal, and gets out of the way accordingly. Cloned plates, clocked mileage, hidden write-offs — car fraud costs UK buyers millions every year. Check before you pay. The material below assumes you want the reasoning as well as the result.
Data sourced from DVLA, MIAFTR, contracted stolen-vehicle data and the UK lender register at lookup time.
Typical lookup completes in under one second from the UK.
Built and supported in the UK as part of the trade-facing side of the network.
A clean check confirms that, at the moment of lookup, no UK insurer has filed a total-loss marker, no lender has registered an open agreement and no police force has reported the vehicle stolen. It does not confirm mechanical condition, repair quality, or work carried out in cash and never declared to an insurer. Treat the report as the legal and financial backstop to an in-person inspection, not a replacement for one.
When a UK lender funds a vehicle on HP or PCP, the lender registers the agreement against the vehicle's identification on a central register. The agreement legally follows the car. If you buy a vehicle under an open agreement without the lender's settlement, the lender retains the right to repossess the car from you and pursue the previous owner for the debt separately.
Bank transfer to an account in the registered keeper's name, made from the buyer's own account, at the address on the V5C, is the pattern that leaves the clearest evidence trail. Cash at a service station, third-party accounts and 'escrow' services suggested by the seller are the recurring features of vehicle fraud reports.
/ Brand consolidation
carfraud.co.uk is now part of Expert Car Check — the consolidated UK vehicle-data platform that several of these older brands have joined. The data sources are unchanged: DVLA's vehicle record, DVSA's MOT history, MIAFTR for write-offs, contracted UK data providers for stolen-vehicle markers and the UK lender register for outstanding finance. The team and the support contact are the same. What's changed is that the work that was previously spread across several smaller brands now sits in one place, which keeps response times tight and the underlying registers maintained against current DVLA schemas. Bookmarks and historic links to carfraud.co.uk continue to resolve here. If you were referred to carfraud.co.uk by a previous report, broker or print listing, this is the right page — there is no further redirect to chase.
Visit expertcarcheck.com →/ Common questions
Get a written settlement letter from the named lender, dated within 7 days of completion, confirming the balance and the lender's discharge on receipt. Pay the settlement portion to the lender directly, the residual to the seller.
Hire purchase ends in ownership after the final payment. PCP leaves a balloon payment to settle or refinance before title passes. Lease and contract hire never confer ownership, so a private seller cannot pass good title on one.
Under the Consumer Credit Act, a regulated HP or PCP agreement can usually be voluntarily terminated once half the total amount payable has been paid, with the vehicle returned in fair condition. Damage and excess-mileage charges can still apply.
V5C doesn't match the DVLA-recorded keeper postcode; seller can't show photo ID matching the V5C name; V5C serial doesn't verify with DVLA; asking price meaningfully below market; insistence on cash and a quick handover off the registered address.
/ Also in finance & write-off
Cat-checked. Confidence-cleared.
See whether a UK car carries a stolen-vehicle marker on the register we query.
Loans, PCP, HP and logbook finance — all in one search.
Cat A, B, S or N? Find out.
Free stolen vehicle check for any UK car
Don't buy someone's debt.
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One field. A typical lookup completes in under a second, using the same UK vehicle records relied on by trade buyers and insurers.