What a full vehicle history check covers
- Free: MOT history with advisories and failures, every mileage reading, vehicle details and outstanding recalls.
- Basic report, £4.99: the mileage verdict, previous keepers, plate changes and a valuation.
- Premium report, £9.99: everything in the Basic report, plus the outstanding finance, insurance write-off and stolen checks.
Why a car history check matters
The three costliest surprises in a used car are finance still owed on it, an insurance write-off and a stolen record. None of them shows on the car itself, and the seller may not tell you.
The smaller ones matter too: more keepers than the advert says, a plate change that hides an earlier life, or a mileage that does not add up.
Car history check by registration: how it works
- Enter the registration number above and see the free check.
- Choose the Basic or Premium report.
- Pay by card or PayPal. The report opens straight away, is emailed to you and can be printed or saved as a PDF.
When to run the check
Before you travel to see the car, and in any case before you pay a deposit. If the history is bad you have saved the journey; if it is clean you can spend the viewing on the car itself.
What a history check cannot tell you
A check reads records, not the car. It cannot see an accident that no insurer was told about, or the state of the engine today. Take a test drive, read the service book, and compare the VIN on the car with the V5C logbook.
Where the data comes from
MOT history and mileage come from the DVSA. Finance, write-off, stolen and keeper records come from licensed UK data providers. We are an independent service, not affiliated with the DVSA, the DVLA or GOV.UK. See a sample report.