Cartell Check Ireland — What It Tells You and What It Doesn't

What does a Cartell check actually tell you?

Cartell.ie is Ireland's primary vehicle history checking service. A full Cartell report (approximately €29–€39) pulls together data from multiple sources and tells you:

The most important thing Cartell misses — UK import history

A very large proportion of Irish used cars were first registered in the UK. For these cars, Cartell only shows the Irish history from the point of import. Any accident, write-off, finance, or clocking that happened in the UK before the car came to Ireland will not appear on a Cartell report.

For any car with a UK import history — identifiable by checking if the car was first registered in Ireland or if the VIN traces back to a UK original registration — you should also run an HPI check (hpicheck.com) on the original UK registration number. This is what dealers and informed private buyers do. It costs approximately €25 and can reveal write-offs and finance that Cartell simply cannot see.

How to tell if a car was imported from the UK

Ask the seller for the V5C logbook history. If the car has any UK documentation or the first NCT was done after initial registration, it was likely imported. You can also decode the VIN — the manufacturing country is encoded in the first character. A VIN beginning with S was manufactured in the UK.

Finance on a used car — the most expensive mistake

If a car has outstanding PCP or HP finance and you buy it, the finance company retains a legal interest in the vehicle. They can repossess it — even from you, the innocent buyer who paid full price. This happens in Ireland every year. Cartell's finance check covers Irish finance agreements. For UK imports, the HPI check covers UK finance. Run both on any import.