VIC checks to stop, a good thing or bad?

[KevJTD]

i know they were never meant to check for the quality of any repairs, but is it a step backwards?

i'd have thought they'd be better off continuing the scheme but making more checks on basic roadworthiness. but then, they probably leave that to the mot to pick up....but that doesn't neccesarily cover poor repairs, especially if hidden.


https://www.gov.uk/government/news/frau ... ists-money

[lee16v]

Bad idea imo.
An MOT wont pick up on chassis alignment etc and all manner of bodges will be out there. The reason it was brought in was for that surely?

Another bad idea was the scrapping of MOTs for pre '60's cars.

[KevJTD]

Bad idea imo.
An MOT wont pick up on chassis alignment etc and all manner of bodges will be out there. The reason it was brought in was for that surely?

Another bad idea was the scrapping of MOTs for pre '60's cars.

trouble is the VIC check didn't check for any bodges in the repairs either, is merely a system to check a vehicle hasn't been cloned
a Vehicle Identity Check
just checks the car is what it is supposed to be.

i think they should actually check the quality of repairs, but they don't

now with vosa checking stations closing down though it doesn't make it very likely

[Johnboy]

Morning chaps

Well I always saw this as another tax. If there just checking to see if the cars been cloned , then couldn't you MOT boys do this when said car is being moted ? As lee said they don't check if the car is straight or a banana.
When I had the gtv vic'ed it took about 10-15 minutes . Plus you have to put down, what was done to the car. So that's a big Gray area

[lee16v]

Well Kev you learn new things everyday. I always thought that the vic check was brought in to check repairs were done to a roadworthy level. Just to check the identity of a car seems like a huge waste of time to me and something the mot boys could have done in a jiffy.

[KevJTD]

it is true, an mot would (should) pick up if the vin number matches the reg number that matches what dvla have

wouldn't stop a clone getting through though, as long as the numbers matched.

the whole thing with crash damaged cars being able to be put back on the road without any specific safety checks being done is still a scary prospect. the fact is that anyone can still buy an accident damaged car, "fix" it in their yard and continue driving it, without any safety checks being done.
scary for the unsuspecting buyer.
i've had it several times, customers who have just bought cars and they are driving strange. until you point out to them that the wheel on one side is way back in the arch and the twisted chassis rails they are oblivious to what they are buying.

the VIC scheme didn't need scrapping, it needed expanding so that a check could be made over whether the car was repaired to an acceptable standard or not.

once again a government agency wildy misses the point....

[vecchioalfa]

True but the total loss categories should prevent any really badly damaged car ever returning to the road, my understanding of it is/was:
CAT A - total scrap - nothing at all can be taken from car & usually axe is put through the roof panel in a few place - you need to be a scrap metal dealer / waste licence holder to buy it
CAT B - shell is scrap - although parts can be taken off, again axe through the roof panel, again I think you need a waste licence and DVLA will not re-issue log book
CAT C - repairable but beyond economic repair for insurance company
CAT D - repairable but insurance company decided against it

There is as you say nothing to check the standard of repairs but it should be impossible to repair a really damaged car and return it to the road
I suppose the worse cases are:
Ringing - a nicked car becoming the identity of a CAT C car
A non insurance loss - a badly damaged car that was insured 3rd party only (yes some people do do it on expensive cars), not recorded anywhere and it being repaired

[KevJTD]

true, the catagories are still in place and are about what you mention. Cat A cars are usually fire damaged cars

cat c & d ones though are where the troubles lie.

take these ones here. all can be brought privately, repaired in your back garden and sold on to unsuspecting buyers. ok, a hpi check would flag up the damage status, as long as an insurance claim was put in that is...

my beef is that there is no regulation in place to check the effectiveness, and more importantly the safety, of the repairs being taken.

then again, is it any worse than what we do with suds?

guess not...

this one has been over by the looks of it, but repairable
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2008-FIAT-500 ... 3ce2424273

this one has been hit hard enough, bottom arms pulled out from subframe, chassis rails distorted, who knows if the car is still straight? but panels can be bolted over the damage to cover things up pretty easily

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2009-VW-GOLF- ... 5665cd36c4

can't see how this one got a cat C though! check the back end

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volkswagen-Go ... 2c85547ff2


the worry is though that these cat c cars can be bought and repaired by anyone.

with the way a lot of modern cars are with large plastic front ends that can be made to fit then damage is easy to hide from the buyer who doesn't know what they are looking at.

[KevJTD]

you're bang on about ringing, that's what the vic check was brought in to try and cut out.

where a crashed car would be bought, a car of the same type stolen then the chassis numbers etc chopped out of the crashed car and fitted to the stolen one, pretending it had been repaired.

apparently over the years that VIC checks have been in place only a handful were ever discovered!

[Johnboy]

you're bang on about ringing, that's what the vic check was brought in to try and cut out.

literally
The trouble is these boys are very good at it, they don't just cut round the vin plates anymore , there cut a whole section out along the factory spot welds now . On the plus side a lot of these cars are going out of country to Eastern Europe . It's big business . I see transporters every day heading to dover