Why you can’t trust Auto.ru and Avito services for checking cars for legal cleanliness
A few years ago, services appeared on the largest online platforms for the sale of used cars, allowing a potential buyer to obtain additional information about the car by the VIN number indicated in the ad. Why these services should not be trusted, and how to really check the legal purity of the vehicle, the AvtoVzglyad portal found out.
If earlier buyers looking for a car on the Internet had to take the sellers word for it, now - sort of - they can not worry about the accuracy of the data indicated in the announcement: the number of previous owners, "accident" history and legal issues. Merchants indicate the identification number of the car in the publication, and the services automatically load information available to anyone.
At first glance, the service is very convenient. Yes, that's just nosy swindlers, earning their iPhones with frauds with "beushki", have learned to "bypass" it too. How? When writing ads, they list the VIN number of another car - the same model, the same color, about the same model years, but less problematic. Gullible buyers blindly believe them: few people think to check - just in case a firefighter - a combination of numbers from a publication with a sign under the "headband" or TCP.
ANCESTRAL
As for the online sites themselves, boasting of “breakthrough” functions, they don’t really care about the reliability of VIN codes, as well as their customers. So, representatives of Avito told the AvtoVzglyad portal that they do not have checks for compliance of the indicated identification numbers with real cars.
At the same time, for the Avtoteka service, the company does not hesitate to charge users 99 rubles for detailed information about the car, including the history of insurance repairs (data from Audatex) and maintenance. The information is certainly interesting. But is there any point in paying for them, given the fact that Avito - as we have already said - does not compare the VIN numbers declared by the sellers with the vehicles or their titles indicated in the ads? Well, you get the data - where is the guarantee that they are related to the car you like?
AUTO RU
Avto.ru works differently. According to representatives of the company, checking the compliance of the identification codes with the cars put up for sale takes place in several stages. And recently, in other regions, sellers are also required to indicate the state number of the vehicle, which to some extent protects the wallets of potential buyers. However, there were ads with false data on the portal.
The portal does not have a fixed price for information on the wine number from Autocode. They can demand both 97 rubles and 297 - obviously, it all depends on the luck of the buyer. Free of charge, Avto.ru informs customers only about the compliance of the actual technical characteristics of the car with the specified ones, about the presence of legal restrictions and the history of the accident. And if you want to know if this car has ever been resold through this site before, please donate rubles. And why, you ask...
ULA
Perhaps the only online service for the sale of used cars that is more or less loyal to its customers is Yula. “We already know how to determine how VIN matches the model that is placed in the ad. And in case of discrepancy, such announcements are blocked, ”an official representative of the company told the AvtoVzglyad portal.
By the way, Yula's function of checking the legal purity of a car by VIN code is completely free. True, there is not much sense from it. All those information about the cars for sale that are uploaded to the ads are in the public domain.
Be that as it may, it is pointless to use the services of checking cars at Avto.ru, Avito and other Internet flea markets in any case - and it doesn’t matter whether they ask for money for “top-secret” information of the site or not. And that's why.
Data on the technical characteristics of the car, the number of owners, participation in an accident, being wanted and the presence of restrictions - in general, all the most necessary information - can be obtained on the official website of the State Automobile Inspectorate. The service is free, and to use it, you only need a VIN number.
So the “super services” of the services mentioned above are nothing more than marketing tricks, image touches. The information for which they ask for money is not very useful. Judge for yourself: why does a buyer need a history of body repairs if he can come for an inspection with a thickness gauge? Real mileage? Now to check it out - time to spit. It doesn't matter - on your own or with the help of competent persons right in the course of getting to know the car.
In general, if you are looking for a used car, then it is better to ask the seller for photos of the TCP or demand to demonstrate it at a meeting. After all, the only way you can learn about the car sometimes even more than you wanted.
As an example, let's recall the scandalous story of the show diva Olga Buzova, who presented her fan with a problematic Mercedes - you can find out the details here. With only the VIN on hand, we managed to find out that the car had two owners. And when you look at the TCP there were four of them. How so?
Yes, just the last two preferred not to re-register the car in the traffic police, and therefore they did not get into the database. But it seems that Yula, which checks everything and everything, whose service published an advertisement for the sale of Mercedes-Benz Buzova, did not say a word about this. As, however, he did not report that in reality the car was not made in 2014, but two years older.
