Vehicle Check

You should inspect a used car inside and out, and look for any signs of damage, cloning or anything suspicious.

If you want to check the car even more thoroughly and go the extra mile for your peace of mind, you can purchase our full 26-point Vehicle Check, which provides a complete background history of the car.

Once you’ve made sure the car’s history is clean and it’s safe to purchase, you should ask the seller if the car’s had a regular MOT test, and ensure that the car comes with all necessary documents, listed here.

You can check a car’s history for free on Autotrader. All vehicles listed on Autotrader undergo a free, five-point car check, based on the registration supplied. The check covers whether a car has been stolen, scrapped, written off, imported, or exported – the car’s results are shown on the advert on Autotrader. You can read our terms and conditions here.

If you want to know more about a vehicle’s background, you can buy a full Vehicle Check which covers key information like number of previous owners, colour changes, outstanding finance and risk of third-party trace. It also includes full vehicle specs like colour, number of gears and engine capacity, alongside vehicle data like the engine number, date of registration and CO2 emissions. You also get a data guarantee worth up to £30,000 if you purchase our full Vehicle Check for £4.95.

Getting a vehicle check can be worth it, as buying a car can be a big investment of your money and a long-term commitment. It’s important that you buy a car that’s safe and matches the description as what’s promised, especially when it comes to used cars to minimise the risk of getting a damaged, stolen or clocked car.

Vehicle Check at Autotrader does a number plate check and uses information from various trusted sources, including the police database, DVLA, insurance companies and finance houses. This information provides you with a complete picture of the vehicle’s background to help you make an informed purchase decision about the car.

You can carry out a Vehicle Check on Autotrader in two simple steps:

1. Enter your number plate and sign-up on Autotrader.
2. Register your personal details and your method of payment (don’t worry - we don’t store your payment details to keep them secure).

That’s it! Once the payment has been made, you’ll get your Vehicle Check Report which provides you with all details about the car’s history. You can access this report any time and as many times as you want.

Autotrader’s Vehicle Check provides a full environmental report for the car, including data related to CO2 emissions, the year of manufacture, and annual road tax rate.

These car details are becoming increasingly important as the government and local councils are taking measures to reduce transport emissions by introducing clean air zones (CAZ) and ultra-low emission zones (ULEZ).

Using Vehicle Check, you can find out if the used car passes the CO2 level requirements of the area you live in and how it’ll impact your carbon footprint.