Free Car Check · Free
Free Car Check & Instant UK Vehicle History Report
Verify a car's tax, MOT, mileage and identity before you buy. Built from live DVLA and DVSA records.
- Tax, MOT & SORN status, live from DVLA
- Full MOT history with pass/fail and advisories
- DVLA-recorded mileage timeline
- Make, model, fuel type, CO₂ and tech spec
- Plate change indicator and V5C issue date
Your free car check is built from live DVLA Vehicle Enquiry and DVSA MOT history records. Records reflect data held at the time of the report. See our terms for full details.
Free Car Check for your vehicle
- Instant results
- No signup
- DVLA & DVSA data
Want finance, write-off and stolen checks too?
Add Experian's full Vehicle History Check for just £14.99. Outstanding finance, write-off, stolen markers and mileage anomaly analysis.
What you get with your free car check
A free ServiceStamp check pulls the key DVLA and MOT data you need to understand a vehicle's legal status, usage history and basic identity before you buy.
| Data point | What you'll see |
|---|---|
| Tax & SORN status | Current tax class, expiry date and any active SORN declaration. |
| MOT status & expiry | Whether the MOT is currently valid and the date the next test is due. |
| Full MOT history | Every recorded MOT test: pass, fail, advisories and the mileage logged at each test. |
| DVSA mileage timeline | MOT-recorded mileage plotted chronologically so you can spot drops or unexplained gaps. |
| Make, model & body type | Manufacturer, model, body style and the DVLA-recorded identity of the vehicle. |
| Fuel & engine | Fuel type and engine displacement coded against the DVLA-registered chassis. |
| CO2, Euro standard & ULEZ | CO2 output, Euro emissions standard and a derived ULEZ compliance indicator. |
| Year & registration date | Year of manufacture and the month the vehicle was first registered with DVLA. |
| Colour | The DVLA-recorded colour, useful for spotting a respray or mismatched plates. |
| V5C logbook issue date | The date the V5C logbook was most recently issued. |
This free check provides the essential overview needed to confirm a car matches its description and is legally on the road. For finance, write-off, stolen markers and multi-source mileage analysis, the Vehicle History Check (£14.99) adds the deeper risk and ownership data.
How It Works
A free UK vehicle check in seconds. Tax status, MOT history, mileage and identity, pulled live from DVLA Vehicle Enquiry and DVSA MOT records.
1. Enter Your Reg
Type the UK number plate of the car you're considering. No signup, no email required.
2. We Check DVLA & DVSA
ServiceStamp pulls live records from DVLA Vehicle Enquiry and the DVSA MOT history database.
3. Get Your Instant Results
See tax, MOT, mileage and spec on-page in seconds. Upgrade to the Vehicle History Check for finance, write-off and stolen markers.
Verify vehicle identity and prevent fraud
Verifying a car's identity is one of the most important steps before buying a used vehicle. Offenders routinely clone registration plates, alter logbooks or tamper with VIN markings to disguise stolen cars, and the only reliable defence is matching the physical car in front of you against official DVLA-held records. Your free ServiceStamp report makes that comparison fast: it returns the DVLA-recorded identity of the vehicle so you can check whether the on-car details, stamped chassis numbers and registration documents all agree.
A vehicle's VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is its unique identity code, and it appears in several places on the car: commonly at the base of the windscreen, on the driver's-side door frame, inside the engine bay, and stamped into the chassis itself. Every one of those numbers should match the VIN held by DVLA, and any inconsistency is one of the strongest warning signs of cloning or tampering. If you only have a VIN to hand, you can also look up records using our VIN-based service history check.
Number-plate cloning is increasingly common. Criminals copy the registration of a legitimate vehicle and attach the cloned plates to a different car to avoid detection, often leaving the real owner with parking tickets and speeding fines they never incurred. Frequent plate changes, mismatched dates, or a plate history that doesn't line up with the vehicle's age are all signals worth investigating before you hand over money.
A cloned car can still appear to have a perfectly normal MOT history, because the records you see belong to the legitimate vehicle whose plates were copied, not the fake one in front of you. That's why identity verification has to happen at the car itself, with the VIN and chassis numbers compared against the report, not just at the registration level. For a full PNC stolen check alongside identity data, the Vehicle History Check (£14.99) is the next step.
MOT status, history and advisory patterns
Your free MOT check shows when the next test is due, the most recent test result, and a chronological list of every MOT entry on file, including advisories, failures and the mileage logged each time. That history is one of the clearest windows into how a vehicle has been maintained, and how honest the seller is being about its condition.
The pattern of advisories matters as much as any individual test result. When the same warning appears year after year, such as worn tyres, brake imbalance, suspension play or corrosion under the sills, it usually means the issue was never properly resolved, only patched enough to pass the next test. A vehicle advertised as “immaculate” should not have a history of recurring mechanical advisories, and a sudden absence of any advisories on an older car can also be a flag: it can suggest test-centre shopping or rushed prep rather than genuine condition.
The chronological mileage logged at each MOT is also where you spot early signs of odometer tampering. Mileage should rise steadily and predictably; sudden drops or long flat periods between tests are the patterns to investigate before you commit.
Does the free car check include full MOT history?
Yes. The free ServiceStamp report includes every MOT test recorded by the DVSA, with passes, failures, advisories and the mileage logged at each test.
Mileage verification and odometer accuracy
Mileage is one of the strongest signals of a car's real condition, reliability and resale value. The free ServiceStamp report uses DVSA-recorded MOT mileage to build a timestamped pattern of usage over the vehicle's life. When those readings rise steadily and predictably, the mileage is almost certainly genuine. Sudden drops, flat lines, or large unexplained gaps between tests are the signals that something is off, and they're the patterns to investigate before you commit.
Mileage fraud is more common than most buyers realise, because modern tools have made odometer manipulation cheap and quick. A seller can use a handheld programmer to roll back a digital cluster, swap in a low-mileage instrument from a scrapped car, or modify ECU values so the vehicle reads as lightly used. The physical signs (worn pedal rubbers, a polished steering wheel, scuffed seat bolsters on a “30,000-mile” car) often tell you more than the dashboard does.
The free check is enough to spot the obvious cases, but DVLA data has gaps. Cars that have been off the road, stored, leased through a fleet provider, or sold between MOTs can show frozen or missing mileage entries that hide tampering. The Vehicle History Check (£14.99) cross-references DVLA records with BVRLA and RMI data (the same sources used across the trade), so ex-lease and frequently-traded vehicles get the deeper verification they need.
When the mileage trend looks unnatural, treat it as a high-risk warning. It affects insurance, resale value and, if the car is being sold misrepresented, the legality of the transaction itself.
Stolen, finance and write-off risk checks
There are three risks the free check cannot answer, and they are the three that most often cost buyers thousands: outstanding finance, write-off history and active stolen markers. Each of these requires data that DVLA and MOT records don't hold, which is why they sit inside the Vehicle History Check (£14.99) rather than the free report.
Outstanding finance
If a vehicle is still on a finance agreement (PCP, HP, conditional sale or lease), the legal owner is the finance company, not the seller. Buying a financed car without confirming the agreement has been settled can lead to repossession, even if you paid in good faith and have the V5C in your name. Our outstanding finance check returns the lender's name, the type of agreement, the start date and whether the agreement is marked as settled. If the seller claims the finance is “about to be cleared,” ask for a settlement letter from the lender before any money changes hands.
Write-off categories
Insurance write-off categories indicate how severely a car was damaged and whether it can lawfully return to the road:
- Cat N: non-structural damage, often cosmetic or electrical, but still requires proper repair.
- Cat S: structural damage. Must be professionally repaired and made roadworthy before use.
- Cat B: severe structural damage. Parts only; the shell must be crushed.
- Cat A: total destruction. Nothing can be salvaged.
A Cat N or Cat S car can be repaired and driven legally, but it will affect insurance premiums, resale value and, depending on the quality of the repair, long-term safety. Our write-off check returns the full category, the date of the incident, and any salvage notes held by MIAFTR (the insurance industry's write-off register).
Stolen and export markers
Stolen markers come directly from the Police National Computer and indicate that a vehicle is currently recorded as stolen. If a stolen marker appears, you should not proceed under any circumstances: the police can seize the car at any time, and as the buyer you have no legal right to compensation, even if you paid in good faith. The free check does not include PNC data, so an unflagged car in the free report is not a guarantee.
Export markers show when a vehicle has been declared exported or re-registered abroad. If a car is shown as exported but is physically being sold in the UK, the mismatch points to cloning, identity manipulation or fraudulent registration. Walk away.
Vehicle specification and technical data
A free ServiceStamp report includes the vehicle's full DVLA-held identity: registration date, make, model, body type, colour, fuel type, engine size, transmission and the manufacturer-coded technical specification. Specification mismatches are one of the most common forms of misleading advert. Sellers copy generic data from a template listing, use the wrong trim level, or rely on a third-party source that hasn't been updated. Comparing the advert against the DVLA record is a quick way to catch that before you drive out to view.
The report also includes BHP, torque output, drivetrain type, kerb weight and the performance profile coded against the vehicle's chassis. These figures matter because they tell you what the car will actually feel like (fuel economy, insurance group, acceleration) rather than what the listing claims. If the advert quotes power or performance figures that don't match the DVLA-recorded spec, the car has either been modified or the advert is wrong, and both are worth a conversation before viewing.
CO2 emissions, Euro emissions standard and environmental classification are also included, because they drive the car's running costs and clean-air zone eligibility. ULEZ, the Scottish Low Emission Zones and the growing list of city Clean Air Zones all key off this data, and the difference between a Euro 5 and Euro 6 vehicle can be hundreds of pounds a year in daily charges.
Legal status: tax, MOT and insurance indicators
The free ServiceStamp report brings the key legal indicators together in one view, so you can confirm at a glance whether the vehicle is safe and permitted to be driven on UK roads. You'll see the tax class, the exact date current tax expires, whether the car has been declared SORN, and the next MOT due date. Driving an untaxed or untested vehicle can lead to fines, enforcement penalties and vehicle seizure, so it's worth verifying this before you arrange a viewing, and definitely before you drive the car home.
The report also includes an insurance-presence indicator, which tells you whether an active policy appears on the Motor Insurance Database. It won't show policyholder details or insurer names (those are protected), but a complete absence of cover on a car being sold as roadworthy is worth a question.
For a wider pre-purchase legal picture that includes finance status alongside tax and MOT, the Vehicle History Check (£14.99) adds the agreement-level data the free check can't reach. The full used-car buying checklist walks through how all of these pieces fit together at the kerbside.
Free check vs Full History Check
The free check covers the basics. For peace of mind on finance, write-off and stolen markers, upgrade to the Full History Check.
| What's included | Free CheckFree | Full History Check£19.99 · save £5 |
|---|---|---|
| Tax & SORN status | ||
| Full MOT history | ||
| DVLA mileage timeline | ||
| Technical spec & CO2 | ||
| Outstanding finance check | ||
| Write-off & salvage history | ||
| Stolen vehicle marker | ||
| Mileage anomaly analysis | ||
| Plate & colour change history | ||
| Manufacturer service records |
Pair the report with a physical inspection
A digital history check is essential, but it isn't a substitute for looking at the car. Worn tyres, corrosion under the sills, poor crash repairs, hesitation under acceleration and electrical faults all show up only in person, and a structured walk-around catches things even an honest seller may not have noticed. Our used-car buying checklist takes you through bodywork, tyres, suspension, brakes, fluid levels, electrical functions and the test drive itself.
Together, the report and the inspection give you the two perspectives you need to buy with confidence: what the records say, and what the car actually shows.
Why ServiceStamp
ServiceStamp uses the same trusted data sources relied on across the UK motor trade, so the picture you get of a vehicle is the same picture a dealer would get. Every check pulls live data from DVLA vehicle records, MOT test history, the Police National Computer for stolen markers, and the MIAFTR insurance write-off register. Paid reports add Experian finance data for outstanding HP and PCP agreements, plus multi-source mileage verification through BVRLA, RMI and the National Mileage Register.
Behind the data sits the team's automotive experience: technical knowledge, accurate interpretation of records, and the operational know-how to handle the edge cases that catch generic reg-lookup tools out.
Choosing ServiceStamp means choosing a check designed around accuracy, transparency and the safety of UK drivers, whether you're buying privately, through a dealer, or selling a car of your own. More on why drivers choose ServiceStamp →
- DVLA-sourced vehicle data
- Police National Computer stolen markers on every paid report
- MIAFTR write-off register
- Multi-source mileage verification
Free car check FAQ
Is the ServiceStamp free car check really free?+
What does a free car check include?+
Where does the data come from?+
How do I check MOT history?+
How do I check car tax?+
Can I check if a car is stolen?+
Can I check if a car has outstanding finance?+
Can I check if a car has been written off?+
How many owners has the car had?+
Why is mileage missing or incorrect?+
Does the free check work for Northern Ireland plates?+
How fresh is the data?+
Can I check a car by VIN instead of number plate?+
Does ServiceStamp store my registration number?+
What's the difference between the Vehicle History Check and the Full Check?+
Can I check more than one car?+
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