How It Works

Four steps, start to finish

From typing the plate to reading the report is usually under two minutes.

Enter the registration

Type the reg into the plate box and we check it's a real UK plate before you go any further. Every format is fine: the current two-letter style, older prefix and suffix plates, dateless registrations and Northern Ireland ones. Because we validate the plate up front, a typo or a made-up reg can't take your money.
Pay the flat £5.00 fee

Checkout runs on Stripe, the payment company behind millions of online shops. You pay by card on Stripe's own secure page and come straight back. No subscription, no account needed just to pay, and your card details never touch our servers.
We pull the record together

The moment your payment clears, we query an industry vehicle-data provider and assemble the results into one report: the car's identity and spec, its full MOT history, mileage readings over time, tax position and more. It usually takes a few seconds.
Read it, save it, share it

The report opens in your browser and is saved to your account for good. Download it as a PDF, CSV, image or plain text, or have it emailed to you, which is handy if you want to forward it to a partner or a mechanic before you go and view the car.

Where the data comes from

The report is only as good as what's behind it, so it's worth being clear about that.

Official and trade sources

We use an established industry data provider that aggregates official records and the sources the motor trade relies on: the same well a dealer draws from before taking a car in.

Nothing to trace back to you

A check is passive. It doesn't alter the vehicle's record, and the current keeper is never told a search has been run. You can look at a car quietly before deciding whether to view it.

Guidance, not gospel

Records can lag or carry the odd gap, so we'll always tell you to check the report against the V5C logbook and a look over the car in person. It's there to steer you, not replace your own eyes.

What's in the report, and what isn't

We'd rather be upfront about the edges than have you find out after paying.

What you get

Make, model, engine, fuel, colour and body style
Every MOT test on record, with advisories and failures
The full mileage trail: the way clocking shows up
Tax status and the vehicle's registered details
A vehicle photo where one exists
Downloads: PDF, CSV, image or plain text, or emailed to you

See a sample report

What we don't cover

Outstanding finance or HPI-style loan checks
Insurance write-off categories (Cat A/B/S/N)
Stolen-vehicle (police) markers
Anything personal about the current or past owners

Those checks need a dedicated finance/HPI provider, and we'd sooner say so plainly than pretend otherwise. Our finance check guide explains where to get them.

Your money and your details

The bits people quite reasonably worry about.

Payments handled by Stripe

Your card is processed on Stripe's own secure checkout, the same infrastructure countless online shops use. We never see or store your card number.

No result, no charge kept

If a reg turns up nothing usable, the £5.00 lands back on your account as credit automatically. You put it towards the next check. No forms, no waiting on a refund.

Your data stays yours

We hold your account and your reports, nothing more, and you can export or delete everything from your account settings at any time. See the privacy policy for the detail.

Why a check is worth five pounds

A used car is one of the bigger things most people buy without much to go on beyond an advert and a friendly seller. A history check is the cheap insurance against the stuff that advert won't mention: a mileage reading that quietly went backwards, an MOT record full of the same failing part year after year, or a spec that doesn't match the plate. Spotting any one of those before you hand over the money pays for the check many times over.

The order that tends to work best is to weed out the obvious no-hopers for free first. Our free MOT check tells you whether a car holds a valid MOT and how its last test went, and the free car check page gathers the rest of the no-cost tools in one place. Once a car has passed the sniff test and you're serious enough to go and see it, that's the point to pull the full report and read it properly. If you want to see exactly what lands in your inbox first, there's a full sample report to look through, and if you'd like to know who's behind all this, our about page lays it out.

Questions people ask

How long does a vehicle check take?

Seconds, in almost every case. Once your payment clears we query the data provider straight away and the finished report opens in your browser. It's also saved to your account, so if you get interrupted you can pick it back up later without paying again.

Where does the data come from?

We use an established industry vehicle-data provider that brings together official and motor-trade sources, the same kind of data a dealer checks before taking a car in part exchange. Running a check is completely passive: it doesn't change the vehicle's record and the current keeper isn't notified.

What happens if the reg returns nothing?

You're not left out of pocket. If a registration comes back with no usable data, the fee is put back onto your account as credit automatically, and you can spend it on another check whenever you like. No refund form, no email to chase.

Do I have to create an account?

Not to pay. But a report needs somewhere to live, so you'll set up a free account (it takes under a minute) and every check you run is kept there. That means you can reopen a report months later or download it in a different format without paying again.

Is it legal to check a car I don't own?

Yes. The details in the report (MOT history, mileage, tax status, make and spec) are the sort of information a buyer is entitled to check before parting with money, and the check is anonymous. What you won't get is anything personal about the owner; the report is about the vehicle, not the person.

Can I check several cars in one go?

Yes. The multi-check page takes a list of registrations and runs them as a single order, with each vehicle getting its own report. It's built for auction day or when you're weighing up a shortlist.

Ready to check a car?

Type the reg in and you'll have the full history in seconds: MOT, mileage, tax and spec, all in one report.

Check a vehicle · £5.00