Car Supermarkets: How reliable are Arnold Clark’s Checks?
Arnold Clark may be fairly new to the online scene, but they’ve been operating since 1954 and are one of the UK’s largest independently owned, family-run car retailers.
Arnold Clark may be fairly new to the online scene, but they’ve been operating since 1954 and are one of the UK’s largest independently owned, family-run car retailers. They’ve moved with the times rather than sprung up like Cinch or Cazoo, allowing you to visit their branches or buy a vehicle online with options to collect from a branch local to you or free home delivery subject to availability and distance. Their second-hand cars come with a 60-day Arnold Clark warranty as standard, and they have options for finance and part exchange.
Arnold Clark is an established, independently owned car retailer who has taken advantage of the internet, as have many other businesses, to take advantage of a wider audience. However, they don’t appear to offer the helpful and transparent information that some of the new boys on the block offer, and consequently, they don’t seem to specify what checks their vehicles go through before they’re put up for sale. Instead, as part of a first-time buyer guide, they simply say ‘established retailers will have carried out a thorough inspection’, and their 60-day warranty should give some peace of mind. Still, with such little information available, it would be essential to make those enquiries with the company before handing over your hard-earned cash.
Unfortunately, there is no information to confirm whether or not the company carries out any car checks on their vehicles. However, as a well-established retailer, you would expect them to undertake basic checks to ensure a car isn’t stolen or has outstanding finance, so our only advice here is to carry out your own research and history checks if you’re looking to avoid buying a lemon!
Arnold Clark doesn’t state their position on the availability of service history. However, they will likely supply a vehicle’s service history where that information is available to them. Unfortunately, some cars will be missing service history records entirely, or the official stamps confirming completion weren’t recorded. Consequently, if a full-service history is essential to you, it’s always best to ask the question before committing to purchase.
You would hope not, especially as they are such a well-established company, but we found nothing to confirm whether the company history checks their vehicles before selling them. So, unless they do, there seems to be a clear possibility which demonstrates why it’s so essential to do your own homework and carry out a car history check on any new car purchase—you don’t want to be responsible for someone else’s finance or find that the vehicle you just bought was a write-off!
How is a Motorscan vehicle check different from a Arnold Clark history check?
Arnold Clark seems to be a little short on information about what checks they carry out and how thorough their inspections are on the vehicles they put up for sale. You can’t be too safe where cars are concerned, and with the possibility of some slipping through the net, carrying out a Motorscan history check will provide peace of mind. Our checks deliver 80+ data points on a vehicle, including:
For a fully comprehensive car history, Motorscan checks vehicles against multiple databases. In addition, these extensive checks allow us to quickly deliver the complete history of any car, obtaining crucial data from the DVLA Vehicle checking service, MIAFTR insurance database, the PNC and Experian in just seconds. By carrying out this type of full car history check, you can be confident you’ve done your homework.
With Motorscan, you can obtain basic information about a vehicle for free. This can be super helpful if all you need is to check very basic car information. However, our premium paid options bring you vital facts about a car, allowing you to double-check Arnold Clark’s findings against a more comprehensive report. And our 5-vehicle check option works out at just £5.99 per vehicle; that’s ultimately a very insignificant price to pay for peace of mind!
