How we check a vehicle

How MotorMkt gathers, combines and interprets official vehicle records — and the rules and limits behind every finding on a report.

By the MotorMkt teamPublished Last updated

Check the actual vehicle

Checking a vehicle?

Enter its registration to check the official tax, MOT and mileage record free. If you need provenance for a purchase or ownership decision, add finance, stolen and write-off checks.

Free: vehicle identity, tax/SORN, MOT history, mileage and buyer red flags.

Full history: adds outstanding finance, stolen, insurance write-off and other paid provenance checks.

The full report is optional. Review the free official record first if you are unsure. Payment is completed securely on the next screen.

In short

Every MotorMkt report is assembled from official records and read by deterministic rules — not predictions. We fetch the DVLA vehicle record and DVSA MOT history for the free check, and (for a paid full history check) provenance data supplied by UK Vehicle Data (UKVD). We combine those sources, apply plain rules to surface risks, and clearly mark anything a source did not return.

1. Gather official records

The free check queries the DVLA vehicle-enquiry service (make, model, colour, fuel, tax and MOT status) and the DVSA MOT history (test dates, results, mileage readings and advisories). A paid full history check adds provenance data supplied by UKVD.

2. Combine, never invent

Each source is treated as a separate sourced record. Where sources overlap we prefer the authoritative one and note discrepancies. A field a source did not return is shown as unavailable — never inferred, and never treated as a clean result.

3. Apply deterministic rules

Risk findings are simple, explainable rules over the returned data — a mileage-anomaly flag when a later reading is lower than an earlier one, an outstanding-finance flag when a finance record is present, a write-off category surfaced exactly as recorded. There is no scoring model, no machine-learned prediction and no invented value.

4. Frank explains, but does not value

Frank, our AI advisor, explains what the record means in plain English. Frank only reads data already on the report, never fabricates markers, and is explicitly not a valuation tool. See our editorial policy for how we keep content independent and accurate.

Limitations

A check reflects only what the source databases hold at the time of the request. Very recent events may not yet appear, and no data check replaces an in-person inspection and test drive. Always verify the V5C, VIN and the seller's identity in person.

Frequently asked questions
Does MotorMkt guess or predict anything about a car?
No. Every finding is a deterministic rule applied to the records returned by our data providers — for example, flagging a mileage anomaly when a later MOT reading is lower than an earlier one. We never invent data or predict values a source did not return.
What does a missing field mean on a report?
A missing field means the source did not return that data — it is never treated as a positive or negative result. We show what the sources hold and clearly mark anything unavailable.
How fresh is the data?
Free DVLA and DVSA data is fetched live (with short-lived caching to protect the source APIs). Paid full-history data is fetched at the time you unlock a report; each unlocked report stays accessible for 30 days.