How current is the data?

It reflects what each register held at the moment the check ran, and every report shows that time. Recent results may be served briefly from cache, which never outlives the point at which the underlying data could reasonably have changed.

Can I get this information free elsewhere?

Yes, in part. GOV.UK will tell you a vehicle's tax and MOT status and show you its MOT history, free. We show the same data with the analysis on top, also free. The paid part is the private registers, which GOV.UK does not cover and which cost money per enquiry.

What if the data is wrong?

We report what the registers hold. If a register itself is wrong, the correction has to happen there, and we will tell you which one and how to contact them. If we have reported a register incorrectly, that is ours to put right, so tell us.

Where our data comes from

Every figure on a report comes from somewhere specific, and this page says where. If a check ever tells you something you want to verify, this is how you find the original.

None of it is scraped, guessed, or inferred from a database somebody assembled years ago.

DVLA vehicle enquiry service

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency holds the vehicle register. It is the source for make, colour, fuel type, engine size, year of manufacture, CO₂ emissions, Euro status, the date the last V5C was issued, and the current tax and MOT status.

It updates as the register updates, so a vehicle taxed a few minutes ago may still read as untaxed for a short while. If you have a confirmation from the DVLA, that is the authority, not this check.

It does not return the VIN, the keeper, or anything about ownership. No public UK source does.

DVSA MOT history

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency holds the MOT record. It is the source for every test, its result, the mileage recorded on the day, and the tester's own wording for every defect and advisory.

The computerised record covers tests from roughly 2005 onwards. Earlier tests exist on paper and appear in no online service, so a very old vehicle can legitimately show fewer tests than it has taken.

Results usually appear within a day or two of the test.

The private registers

Outstanding finance, police stolen markers and insurance write-off records are not public data. They are held by the finance industry, the police and insurers, and reached through a commercial provider that charges per enquiry. That is the only reason any part of this site is paid.

These registers report what has been reported to them. A finance agreement that a lender has not yet filed, or a theft nobody has reported, cannot appear in any check anywhere. A report showing no marker means no marker was found in the registers that were searched at that moment, and the report says exactly that rather than saying the vehicle is clear.

Where a check covers only some of the registers, the report lists the ones it did not cover. Partial cover read as an all-clear is the failure this is designed to prevent.

What we work out ourselves

The analysis is ours, not the agencies'. The DVSA supplies a list of tests; the reading of that list is the part we built.

Testing each mileage reduction against the ordinary explanations before reporting it as unexplained.
Checking each interval against the vehicle's own typical pace, so clocking that never produces a backwards reading still shows up.
Grouping defects by the part of the vehicle they relate to, so a repeated fault reads as one escalating problem.
Tracking corrosion through its graded stages across tests.
Assessing emissions-zone compliance from the Euro status and fuel type.
Explaining which road tax regime applies and what the rate depends on.

Licensing and attribution

DVLA and DVSA data is used under the Open Government Licence. MotorFacts is not affiliated with the DVLA, the DVSA or GOV.UK, and nothing here is an official government service.

GOV.UK provides free services for checking MOT status and vehicle tax, and we link to them rather than pretending they do not exist. What this site adds is the analysis and the explanation, not access to data you could not otherwise reach.

Common questions

How current is the data?: It reflects what each register held at the moment the check ran, and every report shows that time. Recent results may be served briefly from cache, which never outlives the point at which the underlying data could reasonably have changed.
Can I get this information free elsewhere?: Yes, in part. GOV.UK will tell you a vehicle's tax and MOT status and show you its MOT history, free. We show the same data with the analysis on top, also free. The paid part is the private registers, which GOV.UK does not cover and which cost money per enquiry.
What if the data is wrong?: We report what the registers hold. If a register itself is wrong, the correction has to happen there, and we will tell you which one and how to contact them. If we have reported a register incorrectly, that is ours to put right, so tell us.