Used car buyers warned against changes in regulations over previously wrote off cars

Car experts have warned buyers who are looking into purchasing second hand cars to be extremely vigilant of what they're getting, as many of them have previously been wrote off.

New industry standards mean that there are changes to what constitutes a write-off, and mycarcheck.com have warned that 89 per cent of buyers said they were unaware of the new categories.

In October 2017, the old A, B, C and D categories were replaced with new codes, which focus on safety rather than the cost of repair: A (scrap), B (break), S (structurally damaged repairable) and N (non-structurally damaged repairable).

Mark Bailey, Head of CDL Vehicle Information Systems, which owns My Car Check, said: "We are checking new category write-offs almost daily now, so the fact that 9 out of 10 people are unaware of them is a worry, especially when you consider that 4 of those who did know were motor traders. The survey was conducted by our Glasgow call centre in early February and all of those asked were checking used vehicles worth over £1,000.

"It shows that more must be done to educate buyers about write-offs, so they can either decide they want nothing to do with them, or they go into it with their eyes open, fully aware of the risks. Safety is paramount and written-off vehicles have to be properly repaired in order to perform as they should in the event of a second crash. There might be things the seller doesn't know, or things they'd rather not tell you, so do your own history check to find out exactly what you're getting into."