What Documents Do You Get With A Used Car?

Buying a car is an indisputably exciting time as you prepare to upgrade to a new motor. When it’s time to collect your car, you should have a handover booked on the day of collection, so that you can finalise any payments, grab the keys, be shown the ropes, and get that all-important handover pack. But what should be inside? Here we’re going to discuss what documents you get with a used car, so you know exactly what to expect when purchasing a second hand vehicle. Read on to find out more.

What documents do you get with a used car?

1. The vehicle logbook 

The V5C, commonly referred to as the vehicle logbook, is the legal documentation that details the official registration of the car, including the owner and the keeper of the car. 

The owner and the keeper can be the same person, or they can be different, but the likelihood is that you’ll be both the owner and the keeper. 

In either case, this needs to change by law when the car is sold to you. If you’re purchasing the vehicle from a dealership, they’ll fill out the relevant section of the existing V5C and send it off to the DVLA. This will trigger a replacement vehicle logbook to be sent out to you, which will make you the official owner and/or keeper of the vehicle. 

If you’re selling your existing car to the dealership as part of the deal, you’ll need to fill out section 9 of your vehicle’s logbook in order to transfer ownership to the dealership. 

2. Service history 

Knowing how well looked after your vehicle has been in the past is not only peace of mind for its performance while it’s with you, but it also preserves the value for when you go to sell it. 

What you’ll need is a service book that tells you every time the vehicle has been serviced, the mileage each service has been carried out at, and at what service centre. Bonus points if it also comes with receipts of previous repairs, so that you know when various parts have been replaced. 

A full main dealer service history is, of course, the holy grail, and some manufacturers can provide this history online. 

3. Any warranty documents

With many manufacturers, such as Toyota, Hyundai and Kia offering anything between 5-7 years warranty, and with so many young used cars on the market, chances are you may find that you’re buying a car with a portion of its original warranty remaining. 

Some confirmation of this should be provided to you when you buy the car, so that you know how to make a claim on it if anything goes wrong in the future. 

If the vehicle you’ve gone for is out of the manufacturer's warranty, you may have chosen to take out a used vehicle warranty. This acts similarly to the original manufacturer warranty, which protects you against surprise repair costs if something fails on your car.

The policy you’ve taken out should form part of your handover pack, so you can refer to the small print if something goes wrong. 

4. Finance agreements and/or a receipt 

As with any purchase, you’ll expect a receipt for the amount you’ve paid, whether you handed over the full purchase price upfront, or you put down a deposit ahead of a series of monthly payments in the form of a finance agreement. You should receive this receipt, and all the information associated with your finance agreement including, most importantly, the terms and conditions.

Find your next used car in West London  

At West Motors, helping you choose the right car is just the start of the journey - the handover is just as important as far as we’re concerned. Making sure you drive away happy in your new-to-you car is our priority, so you can expect all of the above, plus the assurance that you’ll be talked through everything you need to know about your new car. 

Set the ball rolling today by choosing your next used car at West Motors.