How to Read a Car History Check

Sort the findings into three piles

A report gives you markers, not advice. The markers are not equal, and reading them from top to bottom makes them seem equal.

Sort them instead. Some findings end the purchase. Some change what the car is worth. And some look serious if you're unfamiliar with the format, but mean very little.

That third group is where readers most often go wrong. A reader who can't tell noise from signal either walks away from a decent car or waves through the thing that mattered.

Findings that end it

A stolen marker ends it. There's no negotiation available and no version of the story that makes buying sensible.

A Cat A or Cat B write-off ends it too. Those categories exist for vehicles that don't go back on the road at all, and our guide to write-off categories sets out what each one permits.

Outstanding finance the seller hasn't mentioned belongs here as well, though the reason is subtler than most pages suggest. A private buyer who bought in good faith does have some protection, and our guide to outstanding finance explains where it applies and where it doesn't. Protection you might have to argue for is still a worse position than a car with no claim on it.

Findings that change the price

This is the biggest group, so slow down here.

A Cat S or Cat N marker doesn't rule a car out. Plenty are repaired properly and go on for years. It does mean the price should reflect the history, and that you should know before you agree a number rather than after.

A high keeper count, a plate change, or a run of advisories pointing at the same part of the car all belong here too. None is disqualifying. Each is a reason to look harder and to say something.

Try this: I've run a check and it shows X, so how does that sit with the price? You're not accusing anyone. You're establishing that you know, which changes the conversation on its own.

Findings that look alarming and usually aren't

Nobody writes this section, and it's the one a first-time reader needs most.

An export marker means someone told DVLA the car was leaving the country for good. If it's sitting in front of you in Derby, either the move never happened or the record is wrong. Worth asking about, not worth panicking about.

The free DVLA enquiry shows a "last log book (V5C) issue date". It looks exactly like a record of when the car last changed hands, and it isn't one. Ask DVLA for a replacement log book, or put a private plate on the car, and a fresh V5C goes out with a fresh date on it.

A single MOT failure on a bulb or a worn wiper is not a fault history. Read the pattern across tests instead of the worst individual line. It's the same skill our guide to spotting mileage discrepancies asks for.

What a clean report does and doesn't license

Plenty of reports come back with nothing on them at all, and it's worth being clear about what that buys you.

A clean check means no write-off, no theft marker and no finance agreement is recorded against this vehicle. It says nothing about the clutch.

Records don't hear a wheel bearing. So a clean report moves the car from "worth seeing" to "worth inspecting", and that's all it does. The history check is the cheap filter that comes before the expensive judgement, never a replacement for it.

Common questions