Free car check by registration

The car's identity from the DVLA, with car tax status and due date, MOT status and expiry, CO2 and tax band, and ULEZ compliance. The same DVLA check you could run on GOV.UK, with the MOT record laid out next to it.

Enter any UK number plate and the free vehicle check brings back the car's identity straight from the DVLA: make, model, colour, engine size, fuel type and year of manufacture, with the current car tax status, tax due date, MOT status and MOT expiry date beside them.

You also get the CO2 figure and tax band, whether the car meets ULEZ standards, and whether it is marked for export. It is the same DVLA vehicle check you could run on GOV.UK, with the MOT and mileage record laid out next to it so you type the registration once.

• -Car tax check and tax due date
• -MOT status and MOT expiry date
• -Vehicle specification and CO2 band
• -ULEZ compliance and export marker

Every MOT test since 2005 with each advisory and failure, the mileage drawn as a chart so a drop stands out, and a plain-English reading of what keeps coming back and what to ask the seller.

Every MOT test the car has had since 2005, from the DVSA record: the date, the result, the mileage at the test, each advisory, and every minor, major or dangerous defect behind a failure. The mileage is drawn as a chart so a drop or a gap stands out, which is how most clocked cars are first spotted.

Then we read the record for you. Advisories that keep coming back on tyres, brakes, suspension or corrosion are grouped and explained in plain English, with the questions worth putting to the seller. Our reading is kept apart from the facts, and it is not an inspection.

• -Full MOT history with advisories and failures
• -Mileage history chart and discrepancy flag
• -Recurring advisories grouped by part of the car
• -Questions to ask the seller

Outstanding finance, stolen marker, insurance write-off category, keepers, plate changes and a VIN check, from the finance, police and insurance registers. Silver is £5.99 and Gold £9.99, each the whole price.

The public record cannot tell you whether a car has outstanding finance, is recorded as stolen, or was written off by an insurer and put back on the road. The full vehicle history check draws on the finance, police and insurance registers to answer those three questions, and adds keepers, plate changes and a VIN check.

Silver, at £5.99, checks the insurance write-off and police stolen records. Gold, at £9.99, adds outstanding finance, keepers, plate changes, a VIN check and Gold extras, with a PDF to keep. Each is the whole price, with no subscription. We buy the data only once you have paid, so the report is never out of date.

• -Outstanding finance check
• -Stolen vehicle check
• -Insurance write-off check, Cat A to Cat N
• -Keeper history, plate changes and VIN check