Thousands of cars written-off in the UK imported into Ireland
These cars were found for sale privately and on dealers’ forecourts with ‘All Clear’ histories, MotorCheck has said.
Tens of thousands of cars, salvaged and written off in the UK, have been imported into Ireland, according to MotorCheck.ie.
The company found more than 39,336 affected vehicles, worth over €318m, by cross-referencing the vehicle identification numbers (VIN) of 1.9m Irish vehicles with its UK salvage database.
These cars were found for sale privately and on dealers’ forecourts with ‘All Clear’ histories, MotorCheck has said.
Shane Teskey, co-founder of MotorCheck, said through their research, they were made aware of these “zombie cars”, a name that is given to cars brought back to life but not necessarily identified as insurance write-offs or ex-salvage.
“This equates to €318m leaving traders or their owners to foot the bill when the car’s true history is discovered,” Mr Teskey said.
"With used car prices rising in Ireland by as much as 50%, it’s more important than ever that car dealers and private buyers are made aware of a vehicle's hidden history before they pay well over the fair market value for a potentially dangerous ex-write off.”
In Cork, the current market value of affected vehicles was more than €18.6m, which was the highest in Munster. Kerry ranked the lowest in the province with €3.2m.
The research aired on RTÉ's on Tuesday, with motorists being warned about potentially serious safety concerns and financial liability, and the risks associated with buying a used car in the Republic of Ireland.
Following the broadcast of the show, MotorCheck's website crashed due to the number of people looking to check the status of their car.
The company said it found the website "struggling to keep up with the demand as tens of thousands of people rushed to check their registrations".
Mr Teskey added: "The website was almost brought to a total standstill for five minutes following reporter Conor Wilson’s announcement that visitors could check free of charge whether their registration was affected.
"The company was quick to react and new servers were deployed immediately restoring normal service within minutes"
For a limited time, Irish motorists can check for free if their car is one of the identified vehicles by visiting www.motorcheck.ie.
