All the DVLA data they'll give you — in one place, free.
DVLA holds the central record of every vehicle registered in the UK. Through their open Vehicle Enquiry Service (VES) API, a number plate reveals the make, model, colour, fuel type, engine size, first-registration date, CO2 emissions, tax status and MOT expiry. SortedCheck pulls all of this for free, with a clean layout and no paywall to see the basics.
Everything the DVLA's open register releases for a UK reg plate.
Free DVLA vehicle details — plus full MOT history and ULEZ compliance. Free PDF report by email.
The free DVLA & MOT check above is informational only — no data-accuracy guarantee. Upgrade for stolen, finance, write-off and mileage checks, backed by a £10,000–£30,000 guarantee.
Enter a registration above to start. All paid checks include a professional branded PDF report emailed to you.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), based in Swansea, holds the official register of every motor vehicle and driver in Great Britain. A free DVLA check pulls from the agency's Vehicle Enquiry Service (VES) — the same public dataset that powers the lookup on gov.uk. Northern Ireland has its own register administered by the DVA.
The free Vehicle Enquiry Service publishes the following fields for any vehicle registered in Great Britain:
VES is deliberately scoped to give buyers the information they need to make a purchasing decision without exposing the personal data of the keeper. It does not include:
The V5C registration certificate (the "logbook") is the document that proves who the registered keeper is. It lists the make, model, colour, engine capacity, VIN, engine number, and the chronological history of keepers. When buying a used car, ask to see the V5C in person and check that:
Any mismatch is a serious flag for cloning or "ringing", where a stolen vehicle's identity has been swapped with a legitimately registered one.
Free DVLA data tells you the vehicle exists, what it is, whether it is currently taxed and MOT'd, and how it stands for emissions. It does not tell you whether it has outstanding finance, whether it has been stolen, or whether it has previously been written off. Those records live with finance houses, the Police National Computer and MIAFTR respectively. SortedCheck's paid tiers add those layers on top of this free DVLA data.
DVLA is the statutory record holder, so the data is as accurate as the keeper's most recent submission. Make, year of manufacture, fuel type and emissions are reliable. Colour can drift if a respray was not notified to DVLA. Tax and MOT status are live to the minute.
Keeper details are personal data and are protected under the UK GDPR and the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002. Only specified parties — police, insurers, local authorities, parking operators with reasonable cause — can request that information. A buyer wanting to verify the seller should ask to see the V5C in person and match it against the seller's ID.
DVLA records the fuel type declared by the manufacturer at first registration. For a few hybrid models the V5C and DVLA database show the primary combustion fuel only. Cross-check with the model variant — but treat any discrepancy with caution and ask to see the V5C to confirm.
Either the registration was entered with a typo, or the vehicle has been scrapped, exported, or transferred to the cherished register and re-issued. Try the registration again with no spaces, then check the V5C reference number with the seller.
Make, model, year of manufacture, colour, fuel type, engine capacity, CO2 emissions, Euro status, tax status and MOT status. We pair it with full MOT history from DVSA — also free.
Yes — we query DVLA's live VES API on every request, so the data is as current as their database. Records are updated whenever the vehicle is taxed, MOT'd or re-registered.
The keeper's name and address aren't public for GDPR reasons. The keeper history (number of previous owners and date ranges) is commercial data — available in our paid tiers.
Only the registered keeper can request the V5C. If you've just bought the car, the seller should hand you the V5C and the green new-keeper slip (V5C/2).
Yes. The basic vehicle data we show (make, model, colour, tax, MOT, CO2) is explicitly made available by DVLA through their open API for this exact purpose — enabling buyers to verify a car before purchase.