Salvage Prophet vs the free GOV.UK vehicle check: what's missing

GOV.UK's free MOT and tax checks never cover write-off, finance or stolen status. What they show, what's missing, and how to check the rest for free first.

DATA · 4 min read

The short answer

GOV.UK runs several genuinely free vehicle-lookup tools with no login and no report to buy, but split across separate pages: an MOT history check, a tax and SORN status check, and a DVLA vehicle-details lookup. None of them shows an insurance write-off category, outstanding finance or a real stolen-vehicle marker, which is exactly why HPI, RAC, the AA, Experian and carVertical exist as paid providers in the first place. Our own free Vehicle History Checker pulls the same official MOT and mileage picture into one page, and if a real gap remains, our Full HPI Report at /hpi-check now covers the write-off, finance and stolen data GOV.UK never touches.

What GOV.UK's free tools actually cover

The MOT history check (check-mot.service.gov.uk) shows every test result since 2005 for a car, the mileage recorded at each one, the next MOT due date, and for GB tests the specific items that failed or were flagged as advisories, plus downloadable certificates. The separate DVLA vehicle-details lookup shows current tax status and expiry, SORN status, first registration date, engine size, fuel type, CO2 figures and export status. A third page checks tax and SORN status on its own. All three are entirely free and ask for nothing but the registration number, run by the government rather than a commercial provider, which is exactly why the data on them is trustworthy.

What none of GOV.UK's tools cover, and why

Nowhere across those three services is there an insurance write-off category, an outstanding finance check or a genuine police stolen-vehicle marker. That is not an oversight, it is because none of that data is held as public government record. The insurance write-off register (MIAFTR), finance company records and the DVLA/police stolen marker are commercial data, licensed to a small list of approved providers, HPI, RAC, the AA, Experian, carVertical and, since 2026, us. GOV.UK's own tax-check page points elsewhere too, sending drivers to askMID for insurance status rather than covering it itself, which is the same pattern: government publishes what it holds directly and licenses the rest out.

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What our free checker adds on top of GOV.UK's own pages

We read the same official DVSA MOT history API GOV.UK's own MOT tool draws from, but bring it into one page alongside a mileage timeline built from every recorded test, rather than three separate government pages to piece together yourself. If the specific car passed through a Copart UK auction we have logged, that shows up too, first-party auction data that sits on no GOV.UK page and no other provider's report, because we captured it ourselves rather than licensing it from anyone.

Where you now have a direct alternative once GOV.UK's free data runs out

If GOV.UK's free MOT and tax pages leave a genuine gap, confirmed write-off category, outstanding finance or a real stolen-vehicle marker, that data sits in registers only licensed commercial providers can query, and GOV.UK itself will send you to one of them rather than provide it directly. Our Full HPI Report, 5 credits per lookup with no subscription, pulls that same MIAFTR write-off, finance and stolen-marker data on top of the free MOT and mileage picture, in one report, on the same site you already ran the free check on.

The practical order to do it in

GOV.UK's own MOT and tax pages are a perfectly good place to start if you only want the raw official record and do not mind checking two or three separate pages. Our free checker gives you the same official MOT and mileage data pulled into one page, plus any Copart history we hold, which is usually the faster route to the same answer. Either way, once you are ready to spend real money on a car, that is the point to run a paid report, ours or another provider's, for the write-off, finance and stolen data no free government page will ever show you.

Run our own Full HPI Report, 5 credits, no subscription

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