UK Vehicle & Trade Glossary

An HPI check is a UK vehicle history report that confirms whether a car is stolen, has outstanding finance, has been written off, has mileage discrepancy, or has had its plate, colour or keeper details changed.

Vehicle provenance is the verified history of a UK vehicle's ownership, status and incidents - covering stolen markers, finance, write-offs, mileage, plate changes, and keeper history.

Category A is the most severe UK insurance write-off classification - the vehicle must be scrapped in its entirety with no parts salvaged for re-use.

Category B is the second-most-severe UK write-off - the body shell must be destroyed but salvageable mechanical parts may be sold for use in other vehicles.

Category S means a UK vehicle has been written off due to structural damage but has been (or can be) repaired and legally returned to the road.

Category N means a UK vehicle has been written off due to non-structural damage - cosmetic, electrical or component-level - and can be repaired and legally returned to the road.

Outstanding finance means a UK vehicle has an active hire purchase, PCP or other finance agreement registered against it - and the finance company has the legal right to repossess the vehicle even after sale.

A mileage discrepancy occurs when a UK vehicle's recorded mileage decreases between MOT tests or other records - the leading indicator that the odometer has been illegally tampered with.

A trade valuation is the price a UK motor trader would pay for a vehicle as trade stock - typically the wholesale or auction value rather than the retail (forecourt) asking price.

Part exchange value is the amount a dealer offers against a customer's existing vehicle when they buy a new one - usually equal to or slightly below the trade valuation.

The V5C is the official UK vehicle registration document issued by DVLA, showing the registered keeper, vehicle technical details and ownership history.

Service history is the documented record of every service, repair and maintenance event a vehicle has had - typically held in the service book, on the manufacturer's dealer system, or in a digital service record.

A digital service record is the manufacturer-held electronic log of a vehicle's servicing, written to by franchised dealers (and some licensed independents) in place of the stamped paper service book, and retrievable by VIN or registration.

Full service history (FSH) means every scheduled service in a vehicle's life is documented at the manufacturer's intervals; FDSH means all of it was done by franchised dealers, and PSH (partial service history) means some services are missing from the record.

MOT history is the record of every annual MOT test a UK vehicle has had since 2005, including pass/fail status, mileage at each test, expiry dates, advisories and recorded defects.

Vehicle tax status is the current DVLA record of whether a UK vehicle has valid Vehicle Excise Duty (VED, commonly "road tax") in place - and if so, when it expires.

A VRM (Vehicle Registration Mark) is the unique alphanumeric code displayed on a UK vehicle's number plate, used by DVLA, insurers and ANPR cameras to identify the vehicle.

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor call external tools and data sources; an MCP server exposes those tools, and the DealerPricing MCP server exposes vehicle valuations, comparables, MOT and service history and vehicle history checks.