Selling Your Car? See What the Buyer Will Find
Every serious buyer pulls the free DVLA and DVSA record on your registration before they ring you. Pull it first. Then you decide what gets fixed, what gets explained and what gets priced in — instead of finding out on your own driveway.
Free · Official DVLA & DVSA data · Instant · No sign-up
What this page is not
MOT Checkup is a vehicle-record site, not a car-buying service. Being straight about that up front is worth more to you than another quote form:
- We do not buy cars, and there is no offer, quote or partner behind any button on this page.
- We do not value cars and do not publish an estimated market price. Nothing here will tell you what to ask.
- We do not list cars for sale and have no marketplace.
- We cannot check outstanding finance, write-off history, stolen markers or previous keepers — those are licensed industry registers we do not hold.
What we can do is show you the record, explain what it says about your car, and tell you what a well-prepared private sale looks like. That is the rest of this page.
What a buyer sees when they type in your plate
All of this is free and public. None of it needs your permission, and you will not know it has been looked at.
Every MOT test you have ever had
Date, result and the exact defect wording the tester typed. Including the fail you had fixed the following morning and had forgotten about.
The mileage recorded at each test
Not the number on your dashboard — the trail. A buyer can see how hard the car was used in each individual year of its life, and any year where it barely moved.
Advisories that keep reappearing
The same advisory three years running reads, to a buyer, as three years of being told about a fault and not fixing it. Fair or not, that is how it lands.
Current tax and MOT status
Live from DVLA, including SORN. Also the date your V5C was last issued, which a careful buyer will compare against how long you say you have owned it.
Open safety recalls
Whether DVSA holds an unactioned recall against the vehicle. A recall is free to have done at a franchised dealer and takes a morning; leaving it open costs you a negotiation.
Where your mileage actually sits
Sellers agonise over the odometer more than buyers do. Here is the distribution it sits inside, built from our own life table over 14,837,990 UK vehicles first used from 2003 onwards.
| Share of the fleet still being tested | Odometer reading |
|---|---|
| 70% | 109,000 miles |
| 50% — the halfway point | 138,000 miles |
| 30% | 172,000 miles |
Source: MOT Checkup's own life table over the DVSA MOT record, snapshot 2026-04-12. Read as the odometer reading at a vehicle's last recorded MOT, with still-tested vehicles censored at their current reading. On the same table, half the fleet has had its last recorded test by 15.8 years old. That is a floor rather than a retirement age — an MOT stays valid for another twelve months after the test that produced it. Full method at /methodology.
The useful conclusion for a seller is that mileage on its own is a weak signal and buyers know it. A car at 138,000 miles with a complete MOT record, prompt repairs and a folder of receipts is an easier sell than one at half that with three years of ignored advisories and no paperwork.
What moves the price is evidence. The national first-time MOT pass rate sits at about 64%, so roughly a third of cars fail first time — which means an unbroken run of first-time passes is genuinely above average and worth pointing at in the advert. If your car has that, say so, because the buyer can verify it in seconds and verified claims are the only ones that count.
What to have ready before you advertise
Nothing on this list is expensive. All of it is the difference between a buyer who feels reassured and one who feels they are being managed.
The V5C log book
In your name, at your current address. If the address is wrong, correct it with DVLA before you advertise — a mismatch between the document and where the buyer is standing is the single most common reason a private sale collapses on the doorstep.
The current MOT certificate
The buyer can pull the record themselves, but having the paper to hand signals you know what is on it. If the MOT has under three months left, consider testing early: you keep the anniversary date if you test within a calendar month of expiry.
Service book and every receipt you kept
There is no national service-history database in the UK, so the paperwork in your folder is the only service history that exists. Receipts for cambelts, clutches and major work are worth real money at the negotiation.
Both keys, and the locking wheel nut key
A missing second key is a deduction every buyer knows the cost of. A missing locking wheel nut key is worse, because it turns the first roadside puncture into a recovery call.
A finance settlement letter, if the car is on finance
If money is still owed, the finance company is the legal owner and you cannot pass good title until it is settled. Get a settlement figure in writing from your lender and be upfront about it in the advert. We do not run finance checks and cannot look this up for you — it comes from your own agreement.
Proof of any recall work
If a recall was done, the dealer invoice closes the question before the buyer opens it.
How to present a car with a gap in its history
Almost every used car has something on the record it would rather not have. The sale is lost by the explanation, not the entry.
A year with almost no mileage
Say why, in the advert, before anyone asks. Lockdown, illness, a company car, a second vehicle, a period abroad — all completely ordinary explanations that look evasive only when the buyer has to drag them out of you.
A run of failed MOTs
Pair each failure with the receipt for the repair. A fail followed by a same-week pass and an invoice is a car that was maintained. A fail with no paperwork is a car that was patched.
A gap in the MOT record
A car off the road on SORN, or one that arrived from abroad, leaves a hole in the DVSA timeline. Explain which it was. Buyers who find a gap and no explanation assume the worse of the two.
No service history at all
Do not pretend otherwise — it is the first thing that gets checked and the first thing that destroys trust. Price it in, and offer what evidence you do have: the MOT record is itself a partial condition history, and an independent inspection at your expense converts a doubt into a sale.
An odometer reading that looks wrong on the record
Transcription errors by testers are common and they sit on the official record permanently. If your car has one, find the certificate that proves the correct figure and have it ready, because to a buyer an unexplained drop looks exactly like clocking.
One thing not to do: hide the registration in the advert.
Blurring the plate in the photos does not stop a buyer checking — it stops them checking before they contact you, which means they arrive suspicious and check on their phone while standing next to the car. Sellers with nothing to hide show the plate, and buyers have learned to read the omission.
Do sellers need to pay for anything here?
Almost certainly not. The free check shows the MOT timeline, the mileage chart, the DVLA record, the tax and MOT status and any open recall, which is everything a seller needs in order to know what is on the record.
The only reason to pay is presentation. Basic is £2.99 and unlocks the most recent mileage readings and the full defect detail on the newest tests, plus a branded PDF report you can print and hand to a buyer alongside your service folder. Premium is £3.99 and adds an AI question-and-answer chat about the vehicle. There is a two-plate bundle at £5.99 if you are selling one car and checking your next one. You can see what the report looks like on the sample report.
We do not bundle the licensed provenance layers — finance, stolen, write-off, keeper history or valuation — so nothing here settles a buyer's finance question for them. Full prices are on the pricing page, with nothing added at the payment step.
Selling your car — FAQ
Why would I check my own car before selling it?
Does MOT history affect what my car is worth?
Should I MOT the car before I sell it?
What mileage is too high to sell privately?
Can you tell me what my car is worth?
Do I need to tell the buyer about advisories?
Is there anything I should do about an open recall?
Checks your buyer will run
Everything on this list is free and public. Worth knowing what it says about your car before someone else reads it.
Full Car Check
MOT, mileage, tax and spec by reg — the free starting point.
MOT History Check
Every test, advisory and failure on the DVSA record — free.
DVLA Vehicle Check
The DVLA registration record and DVSA MOT history in one search.
Car Import Check
No free import marker exists — how to read the four indicators instead.
Mileage / Clocking Check
Spots odometer rollbacks and implausible jumps across MOTs.
MOT Failure History
Pass-rate and recurring-failure patterns from MOT history.
Outstanding Finance
Why unpaid finance can cost you the car — and how to verify.
Stolen Car Check
The warning signs of a stolen vehicle before you pay a deposit.
Write-Off Check
Cat A/B/S/N explained and what a write-off means for buyers.
Cat S / Cat N Check
Insurance write-off categories explained — is it worth buying?
HPI Check Alternative
What each check covers and costs — an honest price comparison.
Car Tax Check
Tax status, due date and SORN by registration — free.
Insurance Group Check
The 1–50 insurance group for any model — what it will cost to cover.
Is My Car Insured?
How to confirm a car's insurance status before you drive it away.
Car Tax Calculator
Estimate the annual VED road tax for any car by reg or spec.
Car Recall Check
Check DVSA safety recalls for the make and model, free.
Service History: Who Holds It
No site can look one up. Who really has the record, by make.
Used Car Buying Checklist
The full step-by-step checklist before you buy a used car.
Buying a Cat S / Cat N Car
Is a write-off worth it? The honest costs, risks and decision rule.
Check Finance Before Buying
Why there's no free finance check — and how to verify before you pay.
What Does HPI Clear Mean?
Why an 'HPI clear' result does NOT mean accident-free.
How to Spot a Clocked Car
The tell-tale signs of mileage fraud before you buy.
What Is a Cat S Car?
Category S write-off meaning — structural damage, explained.
What Is a Cat N Car?
Category N write-off meaning — and why 'non-structural' isn't 'minor'.
Check your own reg before you advertise
Two minutes, free, and nothing on the record can surprise you after that.
Free · Official DVLA & DVSA data · Instant · No sign-up