Millions of motorists are buying second-hand petrol and diesel vehicles without conducting basic checks in a major concern, according to motoring experts at carwow.

The used car marketplace warned casual buyers were “not car experts” with many unlikely to know “what they are looking for”.

John Rawlings, consumer editor at the group, even stressed not checking vehicles could backfire with motorists “liable” for issues once they have exchanged cash.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, John said: “You’ve got to check a car before you buy it.

“I would still do some background checks on it myself. Not many people are car experts are they? So they don't know what they are looking for.

“You’ve got to make sure it is safe and genuine really. You don’t want to find or uncover any problems once you've bought it because you're liable for it and that can be expensive.”

His remarks come after a new poll conducted by carwow revealed that only 64 percent of respondents believed they perform the correct vehicle checks before buying a second-hand model.

The data suggests around 2.6 million motorists who purchased a used car last year may have been left in the dark before parting with their money.

Further analysis of the statistics showed that a whopping 38 percent of road users said they didn’t consult the vehicle’s logbook (V5C) before making a purchase.

Meanwhile, A baffling 37 percent of buyers did not even look at a car's MOT history before deciding to go ahead with the sale.

Around one in ten British motorists admit they don't conduct any checks whatsoever before securing a vehicle.

When asked if he thought the number of motorists conducting checks should have been a little bit higher, John commented: “Yeah, definitely, yeah.”

The expert warned that the data was “scary” as it suggested millions knew hardly anything about the quality of their cars.

John told Express.co.uk: “Last year there were over seven million used cars sold so that’s a lot of cars. If you think about that percentage in terms of actual cars on the road that’s quite a scary amount of cars that potentially they don't know anything about.

“You can't always see things, you can look at the paintwork and go ‘oh yeah it looks nice’ but unless you're a trained mechanic you just don't know what you’re looking for.”