Vehicle History Check

A vehicle history check - often referred to generically as an "HPI check" - is a report that confirms whether a UK vehicle is stolen, has outstanding finance, has been written off, has any mileage discrepancy, has changed plate or colour, or has been exported, imported or scrapped. The name "HPI" comes from Hire Purchase Information, the original provider, and is a registered trade mark of its owner; DealerPricing is not affiliated with or endorsed by HPI Group.

£2.50 for DealerPricing subscribers and £3.99 for one-off non-members. A traditional HPI check from HPI Group typically costs £19.99 per check.

Yes, and at a lower price. Our vehicle history check queries the same national databases used by providers such as HPI Group: PNC (Police National Computer) for stolen vehicles, MIAFTR for insurance write-offs (Cat A/B/S/N), finance company registers for outstanding finance, and DVLA records for keeper, colour, plate and registration history.

Reports are returned in real time, typically within seconds of submitting the VRM. The report is also stored in your account for 6 months and can be re-downloaded for free.

Yes. Every history check includes the vehicle's full MOT history pulled from the DVSA API, including pass / fail status, mileage at each test, expiry dates, and recorded advisories or defects.

All four UK insurance write-off categories: Cat A (scrap only, no salvageable parts), Cat B (body shell destroyed, mechanical parts may be salvaged), Cat S (structurally damaged, repairable), and Cat N (non-structural damage, repairable). These come from the MIAFTR database used by all UK insurers.

Yes. Every report is available as a branded PDF download with the original check date in the header, full vehicle details, all status indicators, technical specifications and full MOT history.

No. Non-members can run a vehicle history check for £3.99 with email-only sign-in - pay once, get the report. DealerPricing subscribers pay £2.50 per check and get reports stored in their account.

The check is sourced from the official UK national databases (PNC, MIAFTR, DVLA, finance houses) and is fetched live at the moment you run it, not from a stale copy. DealerPricing reports the data as supplied. As with any provenance check, accuracy depends on the source records.

Yes. Many traders run a check on their own stock before listing it, both to confirm the vehicle's status and to provide buyers with a downloadable provenance report.

Stolen vehicle status from both the Police National Computer and the insurers' MIAFTR register, outstanding finance with the lender and agreement details, insurance write-off category (Cat A, B, S or N) with the loss date, scrapped status, export and import markers, mileage verification across every MOT reading, previous keeper count and change dates, plate changes, colour changes, full MOT history with advisories, the vehicle's specification, and a downloadable PDF.

Reports are stored for six months. Subscribers open them again from their account; one-off customers use the link in their email. Download the PDF to keep a copy permanently.

Subscribers can re-open any report from the last six months free of charge, and the dashboard shows when a vehicle has been checked before so nothing is paid for twice. A fresh check is worth running on the day of purchase, because finance and theft records can change.

You only pay for a report you receive: if the national databases return no data for the registration, or the report cannot be produced because of a fault, the check is not charged and any payment already taken is refunded automatically. The one exception is a registration DVLA does not recognise: we warn you before payment and ask you to confirm, and if you continue anyway the check is charged even if no data is found and is not refundable. A report that is produced but shows a clean history, or fewer markers than you expected, is a delivered report and is not refundable, because the search has been carried out and paid for. If something in a report looks wrong, contact us and we will investigate.