On Christmas Day 2015, whilst the rest of us were opening our presents and increasing our waistlines with turkey and booze, the Indian Economic Times were reporting a helpful and revealing new text message service that can unveil the entire history of a used car before it is bought.

This new service allows interested potential buyers to submit the car’s registration number to a devoted databank and receive the full history of the car on official record in a matter of seconds.

Such information could include:

• Any accidents it may have previously had.
• Any reported incidents of it being stolen.
• The amount of previous owners.
• The time it has been on the road.

This information could prove to be vital to interested customers and provides answers to key questions about a used car’s past with a few taps of a finger on a screen. It’s also a bonafide remedy to dodgy dealings and will force dealerships in India to go legit or go out of business.

A web application has also been developed for people to potentially enquire ahead of visiting a showroom from information available on the dealership’s website.

Will We See It In The UK?

It’s possible but we would wager on the side of it being unlikely.

Whilst it has its obvious advantages and is a useful resource to have available, particularly in uncovering the specifics of a used car’s past, including its drivers and incidents, the biggest hurdle it would need to overcome is money.

Such a scheme would need funding from the government and an external agency or affiliate of the DVLA establishing to manage it and funds at this point in time are especially tight.

It’s worth remembering that the impetus to establish the scheme in India only occurred because of a strong series of complaints nationwide about dishonest dealerships and flawed information.

In the UK, dealerships are highly regulated and have a well-earned reputation of being honest and legitimate. The need of the customers for this kind of service is not as strong and with easy access to online resources via our mobile phones and widespread phone internet there’s an argument it would already be obsolete.

One such online service is provided by the DVLA itself, where you can find a host of information about any given car by providing its registration number.

Conclusion

Whilst the need for an SMS service of this kind in the UK seems obsolete, one message we could take from India’s initiative is to make sure we perform our checks before buying a used car.

The UK has a strong reputation for honest car dealing, yes, but there’s still always specifics about a car’s past that might not be mentioned in purchase, just simply because it is not vital to the sale of the car.

At Motor Range, we take pride in being as open and honest about all our car’s history and if you have any enquires about any specifics of any of our cars’ past, you can:

• Ask in-house at our showroom;
• On the phone via 0843 770 3239;
• Email us through our contact form;
• Or use the live chat application available through our homepage.

Whether it’s with us with any of these options or any UK dealership with support from the DVLA, the lesson we can learn from India is to make sure we do our research. A car purchase of any kind is a big investment and we respect that it deserves an equal amount of time and thought to make sure it’s the right investment for you.