▸ Classification · MOT, Tax & ULEZ
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.
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.
First-year VED is calculated on CO2 emissions for cars registered after 2017. Year-two onwards uses a flat standard rate plus a £390 supplement for cars over £40,000 list price (years 2-6 only). The check returns the band, the current annual rate and whether the supplement applies.
A passed MOT is valid for 12 months from the test date, but you can test up to a month before expiry and keep the existing expiry date — effectively giving 13 months of cover. The check returns the current expiry date and the earliest date you can re-test without losing the surplus.
/ Brand consolidation
freecartaxcheck.com 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 freecartaxcheck.com continue to resolve here. If you were referred to freecartaxcheck.com 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
No. The seller is refunded the complete remaining months and the buyer must tax the vehicle before driving it away, regardless of how much time the previous owner had left.
Broadly: petrol Euro 4 (2005 onwards), diesel Euro 6 (2015 onwards), motorcycles Euro 3 (2007 onwards). The check returns the recorded Euro classification rather than guessing from year.
Advisory and minor are recorded but don't fail the test. Major is a fail. Dangerous is a fail and means the vehicle can't be driven away from the test station. The report distinguishes all four.
Yes, outright. A diesel with a factory-fitted filter fails if it has been removed or tampered with, or if the exhaust emits visible smoke, which matters when buying anything advertised as having had a 'DPF delete'.
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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.