STARTLING figures over which cars are at the highest risk write off have been revealed by mycarcheck.com.

The company, part of CDL Vehicle Information Systems which performs over a million look-ups a day for companies including CompareTheMarket, Go-Compare, Moneysupermarket, Swiftcover and Tesco has announced that serious warnings - including write-off, finance and stolen - have risen again, to 30.8per cent.

The data applies to all checks in the first six months of 2017 and follows an increase from 25.6 per cent in 2015 to 28.5 per cent in 2016.

The Citroen C1 VTR was the highest risk of mycarcheck's 100 most-searched models for write-off, the Vauxhall Corsa SXi AC for finance and the Ford Fiesta Titanium for stolen.

And it is not all about small cars. The Range Rover Sport TDV6 HSE scored a worrying 28.6 per cent readout for risks of outstanding finance.

Mark Bailey, head of CDL Vehicle Information Systems, said: "These new figures show the risks associated with the UK's most popular used vehicles and why it is so important to check before you buy.

"Given its unwanted appearances at the top of our write-off, finance and stolen charts, secondhand Corsa buyers in particular need to know what they're getting into."

The company has information from the police, DVLA, insurers and finance houses and holds comprehensive data on every vehicle on UK roads - things that buyers should be aware of before making an offer.