With the price of used cars soaring in recent years Motorcheck.ie is warning potential buyer to that there are dangers for those shopping for a second hand car.

Michael Rochford, Managing Director of Motorcheck.ie says: "Whenever there is a scarcity of any consumer item, and whenever prices for that item start to rise, unscrupulous traders start to step in. Motorcheck has repeatedly highlighted the dangers of buying a car that has previously been written off, or has had the mileage ‘clocked’ to improve its value further.

"With rising second hand prices, a greater number of the less honest will be tempted into the market, keen to make as big a profit as possible on their badly repaired or clocked cars. Added to which, given the continuing scarcity of 2009-2013 cars in the second hand market, it is to the UK market that many are turning to source cars. That’s fine as long as the seller and the sales process is above suspicion, but the mere fact of the British market being so much larger than ours raises the likelihood of there being problems with a given car."