What are used car history sites worth?

More and more companies are offering drivers looking to buy a used car a vehicle history report. But between inaccuracies and a severe lack of relevant information, these reports seem far from essential, given that the government provides the correct information for free…

With the price of new cars continuing to rise, motorists are increasingly turning to the second-hand market, which is now three times higher than the price of new cars. Sensing a good deal, many companies offer, for a fee, to send you a history report on a specific vehicle. All you have to do is provide a few details online (license plate or VIN number) and pay to receive a document on the history of the desired car, almost instantly.

In addition to the official and free public service Histovec , Que Choisir has chosen to test reports from 3 different companies: Autoviza, Car Vertical and Autorigin. The vehicle chosen for this test was chosen for a good reason: after being registered new in Belgium in 2006, it was imported into France in 2022. It is a Mazda MX5 2.0 Performance.

Against all expectations, these history reports turned out to be very approximate, all to varying degrees and for various reasons. Of the four service providers considered, the Car Vertical report (charged €35.99, the most expensive) was not even able to provide the most crucial information, namely that the car had been imported into France! The others mentioned a high probability that the vehicle had been imported, without ever being able to determine the country of origin. This information is nevertheless important. While Autoviza (€20) considered that the person who was going to acquire the Mazda would certainly become “the third owner  “, Autorigin (€19.95) did no better, it also mentioned two previous owners. Only Histovec was able to be relevant: “The exact number of owners cannot be calculated with precision, first registration abroad.”

Undoubtedly, tracking mileage readings is the crux of these history reports. The CarVertical study announces 9 available readings, but only highlights one. Unfortunately, the company fails to mention the context in which this mileage was recorded. This is a shame, especially since Car Vertical was the only company able to provide the mileages recorded during the first 8 years of the car’s life in Belgium. But, once again, this information is delivered raw in a diagram (no trace of the country of origin or the issuer), which greatly alters its value. Besides Histovec, only Autorigin ultimately provided convincing history data, mentioning the 2024 technical inspection record, which shows the vehicle’s mileage at that time. This service provider even went further, informing the owner of the test car that his car had been damaged and repaired in 2008 in Belgium! Details of the affected parts were even provided. After investigation and cross-checking with the car’s examination, it appears that the information is perfectly plausible: astonishing, indeed!