▸ Classification · Vehicle History
Data sourced from DVLA, MIAFTR, contracted stolen-vehicle data and the UK lender register at lookup time.
Typical lookup completes in under one second from the UK.
Built and supported in the UK as part of the consumer side of the network.
A vehicle check returns information about the vehicle, not about people. Previous keepers appear only as a count and a sequence of dates; names and addresses are protected and are never returned. Your own search history is held against your account for support and dispute purposes and is not sold on.
Where DVSA publishes the testing station, a consistent location over several years suggests a settled owner and a regular garage. A different station every year, particularly across distant regions, is worth reconciling against the keeper record — it can indicate a vehicle moved repeatedly through trade hands between private sales.
MOT advisories are the closest thing to a free service history. A car with corrosion advisories that recur year after year has been tested but not repaired; one where an advisory appears once and never returns has probably had the work done. The pattern over five tests tells you more than any single result.
/ Brand consolidation
carcheckapp.co.uk is now part of Expert Car Check — the consolidated UK vehicle-data platform that several of these older brands have joined. The data sources are unchanged: DVLA's vehicle record, DVSA's MOT history, MIAFTR for write-offs, contracted UK data providers for stolen-vehicle markers and the UK lender register for outstanding finance. The team and the support contact are the same. What's changed is that the work that was previously spread across several smaller brands now sits in one place, which keeps response times tight and the underlying registers maintained against current DVLA schemas. Bookmarks and historic links to carcheckapp.co.uk continue to resolve here. If you were referred to carcheckapp.co.uk by a previous report, broker or print listing, this is the right page — there is no further redirect to chase.
Visit expertcarcheck.com →/ Common questions
A Statutory Off-Road Notification means the vehicle was declared as not used on public roads. A long, recent SORN can simply mean the car was laid up, or it can indicate post-incident storage. Reconcile it against any insurance markers found in the report.
Usually a SORN period, a repair layup or a late test. The report shows SORN periods alongside test dates so the two can be reconciled; a gap with no SORN is the one worth asking the seller about.
Digital MOT records start in 2005 in England, Wales and Scotland. Older tests pre-date the digital register and are not retrievable.
Yes. The PDF is shareable. A seller who raises an objection to a specific finding is a useful early signal in the negotiation.
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One field. A typical lookup completes in under a second, using the same UK vehicle records relied on by trade buyers and insurers.