Salvage Prophet vs HPI Check: which one do you actually need?
HPI Check is the UK's best-known vehicle history brand, but the name is not the data. What HPI covers, and how our free checker and Full HPI Report compare.
DATA · 4 min read
The short answer
HPI Check is a paid, single-report UK provider best known for confirming outstanding finance, insurance write-off category and stolen status, the licensed data that sits behind the HPI name. Our free Vehicle History Checker gives you the official DVSA MOT history, mileage timeline and any Copart UK auction record we hold, at no cost, before you spend anything. If the free check leaves a gap, our own Full HPI Report at /hpi-check now covers that same licensed write-off, finance and stolen-marker data directly, so you are not sent elsewhere to buy it.
What the HPI name actually covers
HPI is one of the oldest brands in UK vehicle history, and the name has become a generic term people use for any history check, in the way people say Hoover for any vacuum cleaner. Its paid report is built around data licensed from the same core UK sources every provider in this space uses: the MIAFTR insurance write-off register, finance company records, and the DVLA and police stolen-vehicle databases. That licensed data is genuinely useful and is not available free anywhere. What you are paying for with HPI specifically is that data plus a long-established brand name.
What our free checker does that HPI's basic report doesn't
We read directly from the DVSA MOT history API, so the full MOT and mileage timeline down to individual advisories is free and instant, no report purchase needed. If the specific car passed through a Copart UK auction that we have logged, our checker shows that too, which is first-party auction data no general provider holds because it is not licensed data, it is ours. For a straightforward UK car with no import history, most of what buyers actually check, mileage consistency, MOT advisory pattern, tax and MOT status, is covered by our free tools alone.
Where you now have a direct alternative to HPI
The confirmed insurance write-off category, outstanding finance and stolen markers sit in registers that are only licensed to approved commercial providers. HPI is one; we are now one too. Our Full HPI Report, 5 credits per lookup with no subscription needed, pulls the 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. You no longer need to leave to get that data confirmed.
Do not pay for the name alone
Buyers often reach for HPI first purely because it is the name they have heard of, then buy a second report from another provider out of habit, and end up paying twice for overlapping data. Compare on what a report actually contains, MOT history, mileage, write-off, finance, stolen, rather than the logo. If you already have the free MOT and mileage picture from us and the car's paper trail has a gap, our own paid report is usually the simpler next step, not a fourth open tab.
The practical order to do it in
Run our free MOT, mileage and status check first, always, it costs nothing and takes seconds. If nothing looks wrong and the car has a clean UK-only paper trail, that is often enough to bid with confidence. If you are about to commit real money, or the car's paper trail has any gap, run our Full HPI Report for the confirmed write-off, finance and stolen data, or any other licensed provider if you prefer a second opinion. Never buy five reports across five cars: filter free, then pay once on the one you are serious about.