▸ Valuation · UK Network
instantvehiclevaluation.com 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. Instant UK vehicle valuations. Enter a reg, get trade, retail and private sale prices in seconds.
Data sourced live from DVLA, MIAFTR, PNC 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.
/ Insurance shortcuts
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Quote impound cover →via Tempcover ImpoundedAnnual comparisonAnnual fully comprehensive quotes from the UK panel of insurers, with named-driver, telematics and classic-car options included on the same quote stack.
Compare annual →via Confused.comWe earn a commission on policies bound through these partners. The commission does not affect the price you are quoted.
Trade value is what a dealer would expect to pay another dealer or auction. Retail value is the advertised forecourt price after preparation. Private value sits between the two and reflects what a typical private seller actually achieves. The check returns all three on the same screen so you can compare the gap a dealer would expect to take.
Other UK valuation services use different reference datasets, different definitions of trade vs retail and different update cadences. A 5 to 10 percent variation between two reputable services on the same vehicle is normal. A 30 percent variation usually means one of the two is using stale data or has misidentified the trim level.
The data shown here is pulled at lookup time from DVLA's vehicle record, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency MOT history, the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register (MIAFTR) for write-offs and the Police National Computer feed for theft markers. Finance information is matched against the UK lender register. Nothing is cached for more than 24 hours, so a check run today reflects the record as it stood today rather than a stale snapshot.
/ Brand consolidation
instantvehiclevaluation.com has consolidated into Expert Car Check, the UK valuation and history service many of its users already cross-referenced. The data sources are unchanged: DVLA's vehicle record, DVSA's MOT history, MIAFTR for write-offs, the Police National Computer feed for theft markers and the UK lender register for outstanding finance. The team, the underwriting partners 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 instantvehiclevaluation.com continue to resolve here. If you were referred to instantvehiclevaluation.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
Different services use different datasets, different definitions of trade vs retail and different update cadences. A 5-10% variation between two reputable services on the same vehicle is normal.
No. Private sale typically lands between private and retail. Trade value is the floor a dealer would offer, not the ceiling a private buyer would pay.
From a rolling window of UK transaction data: auction hammer prices, dealer trade-in figures and listed private adverts. Updated continuously rather than republished annually.
No. Comparable transaction data is sparse for classics and the standard model under-reports value. The report flags such vehicles and recommends a specialist valuer's opinion as the primary figure.
/ Also in valuation
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Today's price. Today.
The trade's price book.
/ Begin
One field. A typical lookup completes in under a second, using the same UK vehicle records relied on by trade buyers and insurers.