Looking at MOT history for prospective cars?

[Alex]

Could be a number of reasons. The photos of the car may be when they had that plate on and they've taken it off for sale.


For reference, here's the mileage over time on mine. Not all 96/97 owners use there's as weekend cars. Mine has been a daily most its life.

 

[martin t]

Some great answers here. These are the sorts of discussions I have when sneaking a look at the history for different cars to buy.

What is the deal with this history not being available on some cars with personalised number plates? I search based on the reg on the car and the site says that it doesn't recognise the number plate? Is that because the car hasn't been MOT'd under that reg plate?

MOT's are registered against a chassis number so the actual certificate will be the registration number at the time but the DVLA check will always show the current registration number.

Thus if over the years the car had different registration numbers the DVLA check will show the number it has today and the history of previous MOT's.

If you cannot find the number then it is likely that the car has reverted to its original or different one.

 

[spinnaker]

I figured it was something like that. You do seem to find this quite a lot and I guess people tend to replace their own personalised plates before prepping for sale.

It is also annoying how many dealers cover the plates in their photos making it difficult to research the vehicle's history.

 

[arry]

It is also annoying how many dealers cover the plates in their photos making it difficult to research the vehicle's history.

Just ring up and ask for the reg number if you're interested. It's a bit of a faff but if they're not willing to give it then you can rule them out as the kind of place you'd buy from anyway.

 

[spinnaker]

Valid point. I get the idea that they don't want to expose cars for cloning.

 

[T8]

Valid point. I get the idea that they don't want to expose cars for cloning.

IMO It's more likely that they don't want to let people check out the history before making an enquiry.