▸ Vehicle History · UK Network
freevehiclereport.co.uk exists because most UK buyers do not want to pay £20 to find out whether a car has tax. The free or low-cost summary here covers the questions that matter first, and only escalates to a paid report when the data behind it actually warrants one. A free vehicle report covers basic data. Here's the full picture of what you get — and what requires a paid check. The sections below cover what the report contains, what it cannot see, and how to use it in a real negotiation.
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.
Each registered keeper since first registration is returned with the date that keeper took ownership and the duration they held the vehicle. Short tenancies clustered around an insurance event, or a previous registered keeper recorded as a UK auction house, are useful prompts for further questions.
The check returns every MOT test on record: pass and fail outcomes, the testing station name where DVSA publishes it, the mileage figure entered at the test and every advisory issued. Repeated advisories on the same component across multiple tests, where the report shows no corresponding work, are worth raising directly with the seller.
For vehicles over £10,000, ex-fleet stock, anything advertised as 'just imported' or any car where the registered address sits a long way from the listing, treat a summary check as a starting point rather than the verdict. a full vehicle history report, a pre-purchase inspection at the seller's address and a finance settlement letter where applicable are the three layers that catch the cases a quick lookup will not.
/ Brand consolidation
freevehiclereport.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 freevehiclereport.co.uk continue to resolve here. If you were referred to freevehiclereport.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
Previous keeper count and dates, full MOT pass and fail history with advisories, recorded mileage at every MOT, plate change history, SORN periods, import marker if applicable, and the recorded VIN, engine number, colour and fuel type from DVLA.
Yes. The PDF is shareable. A seller who raises an objection to a specific finding is a useful early signal in the negotiation.
Digital MOT records start in 2005 in England, Wales and Scotland. Older tests pre-date the digital register and are not retrievable.
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.
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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.