From reg plate to full vehicle history in four steps.
SortedCheck pulls live vehicle data from DVLA and DVSA — the two UK government agencies that keep records of every car on British roads. Our paid tiers add Experian's commercial provenance data (stolen, finance, write-off) and back it with a data-accuracy guarantee of up to £30,000. Here's how a check works, end to end.
Type any UK registration number — standard or personalised, with or without spaces, upper or lower case. The plate is the only thing we need to start.
We query DVLA's Vehicle Enquiry Service and DVSA's MOT history API in real time. You'll see make, model, colour, fuel, engine, CO2, tax status, MOT expiry, full MOT test history back to 2005, mileage over time, and ULEZ / Clean Air Zone compliance. No sign-up, no credit card, no limits.
If you're about to buy the car, add an Experian-backed check from £4.99. It reveals stolen-vehicle register flags, outstanding finance (HP, PCP, conditional sale), insurance write-off category (Cat A/B/S/N), plate and colour changes, keeper history, mileage anomalies, and — on the higher tiers — salvage auction records. Every paid check is backed by a £10,000 to £30,000 data-accuracy guarantee.
Both the free and paid checks can be emailed to you as a professional, branded PDF report. Share it with the seller to confirm what you've verified, with your insurer when quoting, or with your finance company when applying for a loan.
DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) provides the vehicle register — make, model, colour, fuel, tax, emissions. DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) provides the MOT register — every test, every pass/fail, every mileage reading since 2005. Both are UK government data sources, queried live on every check.
Experian's commercial vehicle provenance dataset, sourced from the Police National Computer (stolen), UK finance houses (HP/PCP/loans), and the MIAFTR insurance write-off database.
If a record we report turns out to be materially wrong — for example, we say "no outstanding finance" but the car had an active HP agreement we missed — you can claim up to the tier's guaranteed amount (£10K, £20K or £30K). Terms apply; see the full guarantee wording before purchase.
No. The basic DVLA data we use (make, model, tax, MOT) is explicitly public and designed for exactly this purpose — verifying a car before buying. The keeper's name and address are not released to us and we can't access them. Running a check is completely private.
Yes. The whole point of SortedCheck is to help buyers verify a car BEFORE they buy it. You don't need to be the registered keeper. You just need the number plate.
The free check results appear in 2–5 seconds directly on the page. The PDF version is emailed within a minute or two. Paid checks are typically delivered within 10–15 seconds of payment, with the branded PDF in your inbox shortly after.
Start with the all-in-one Free Car Check, or browse every free check we offer.