MotorCheck

Thousands of cars written off in the UK are driving on Irish roads and no one knows if they have been properly repaired.

If that's a snapshot of the real situation, then this is quite serious, given the numbers you're talking about." I think there should be something more, the State needs to step in here." With Brexit and other supply issues having pushed the cost of second-hand cars to unprecedented levels, due diligence is more important than ever. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission told Prime Time that: "It is a criminal offence for a trader to provide false or misleading information about crash history. These ranged from a distorted track control arm that put the steering at imminent risk of failure to litanies of electronic faults, including in the airbag system. "At least if you go to a dealer, the car has to be of marketable quality, it has to be as described. It has to be fit for purpose. Secondly, if a car has a write-off flag against it, it's known to be worth at least 20% less than what an equivalent car that doesn't have a write-off flag would get." There is a wide spectrum of reasons for vehicles to be written off by insurance companies. Using the data obtained by MotorCheck, Prime Time identified dozens of cars currently for sale here. Posing as buyers, we approached three dealers about buying the cars they'd advertised for sale. "We need to be safe and confident that the repairs have been carried out to a high standard.