TopCarCheck original research
What our car history checks found in October 2026
By TopCarCheck · Published
Our own October 2026 customer-check data showed a finance or recorded insurance write-off record in 38% of checks with available results — more than 1 in 3.
These are findings from TopCarCheck customer reports generated between 1 and 31 October 2026. They describe the vehicles our customers chose to check, and are not an estimate for all UK used cars.
October 2026 findings
| Recorded finding | Share of checks |
|---|---|
| Finance or a recorded insurance write-off | 38% |
| A finance record | 20% |
| A categorised insurance write-off | 18% |
Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole percent. The combined finding counts each check once, even if more than one type of record is present.
How October compares with September
Finance or a recorded insurance write-off appeared in 38% of our October customer checks with available results, compared with 23% in September.
- September 2026
- 23%
- October 2026
- 38%
The share of our customer checks with these records increased by 15 percentage points, using the rounded percentages.
The vehicles customers choose to check can differ from month to month. October's finance records included dealer stock funding. This comparison does not establish a rising rate of problems across the UK used-car market.
Source and method
Source: TopCarCheck's own saved customer reports. This analysis summarises the vehicle-history results supplied in those reports; it is not a customer survey or third-party market estimate.
Timeframe: October findings use reports generated from 1 to 31 October 2026; the comparison uses 1 to 30 September 2026 under the same criteria. Dates use Europe/London calendar days. The analysis was prepared on 2 November 2026.
Included checks: Customer reports attached to completed production orders, including credit-funded checks. Development reports and known internal-account reports were excluded.
Unavailable results: A missing finance or insurance result was excluded from the relevant percentage, rather than treated as a clear result.
Counting: Each report was assessed individually and counted once per finding. The combined measure uses either finding, without double-counting a report. The headline is about checks, rather than an estimate of the wider vehicle population.
Verification: Report-level results were reconciled against a separate database aggregation. The findings use the saved reports as held at the time of analysis; no vehicle report was regenerated for this research.
What these records mean
Finance record: A finance agreement returned by the vehicle-history provider. This includes hire purchase, PCP, contract hire and dealer unit-stocking finance. Dealer stock funding can be a normal arrangement used to hold a vehicle for sale. A record does not independently confirm the current balance or settlement status.
Recorded insurance write-off: An explicit insurance category A, B, C, D, S or N. Insurance records without an explicit category were excluded from this measure. This does not count every accident: unrecorded or privately repaired damage may not appear.
Historical records: Findings reflect the information recorded in the saved check. They do not prove that an issue is still unresolved, that the seller concealed it, or that the buyer was unaware of it.
Citing these findings
TopCarCheck (2026). What our car history checks found in October 2026. Published 2 November 2026. When citing a percentage, retain the October 2026 timeframe and make clear it relates to TopCarCheck customer checks.
For questions or corrections, contact TopCarCheck.