In response to the lack of reliable information available to used car buyers, a new web-based car history checking service has been launched in Ireland.
The site, cartell.ie, provides Irish used car buyers with access to information on a vehicle's history before they purchase it.
With 600,000 used vehicles changing hands annually and estimates that one-in-three of those vehicles have an 'undesirable' history, the site's founders, Nicola and Jeff Aherne, felt there was a demand for an online vehicle record service in Ireland.
As a result, in 2002 they approached the relevant government departments and other agencies in an attempt to bring the service to fruition.
Four years later, a website has been launched that offers car buyers the option of a free basic service. This reveals the make and model assigned to a particular registration number, while a more detailed check costs €25.
Buyers also have the option of a full check for €40, which will reveal if the car is an insurance write-off or if it has outstanding finance owing. There is also a full history, insurance and hire purchase check, as well as a test drive and a mechanical examination of the car, for €300.
"It has taken us four years of banging on doors and waiting patiently for the data sources to become available. But now we have the information and cartell.ie is available to help Irish consumers purchase safer vehicles and to provide reputable sales companies with a back-up service to confirm the quality of their vehicles," explained Jeff Aherne. "We work closely with the appropriate government departments and other agencies to bring to light any recorded history on a vehicle."
The website, which accesses information primarily from the Department of the Environment's Vehicle Registration Unit and the Revenue Commissioners, which deal with registering imported vehicles, has also been established to protect car dealers who can find themselves coming into contact with dishonest sellers.
"One of the many examples we have on file includes a licensed car trader who accepted a part-exchange against a vehicle he wanted to sell. After the transaction took place, it became clear the documents of the traded-in vehicle were forged. It turned out that the NCT disc was stolen and the vehicle logbook was forged.
"If the car trader had been able to use cartell.ie, it would have shown, prior to the transaction of the part exchange, that the documentation was forged," explained Ms Aherne.
Currently, the system allows buyers and dealers to check vehicle details such as the make and model, the specification, the number of previous owners, whether it has had its colour or engine changed, whether the logbook or NCT are forged, whether it has outstanding finance, if it has been imported or used as a taxi, and whether it is registered as being exported, scrapped or written off.