Questions

A free score out of 100 for a used car's MOT history. Enter a registration and you get one number, plus the reasons behind it, drawn from the official test record.

Type the registration in, or photograph the number plate and we'll read it for you.

The photo route is there for when you're standing in front of the car — at a forecourt, on a driveway, at a viewing. Tap the upload button, take a picture of the plate, and the registration fills itself in. If we can't read it clearly we'll show you what we got so you can correct it before running the check.

You don't need to own the car, and there's nothing to sign up for.

Early, and it takes seconds.

You've found a car you like the look of. Before you drive an hour to see it, put the registration in — you'll know straight away whether the test record is clean, patchy or a mess, and what specifically drove that.

It's a filter, not a verdict. A strong score means the car is worth your time. It doesn't replace looking at it, driving it, or paying for a proper inspection and a finance and write-off check before money changes hands.

Not directly — Bonafied scores a car you've already found, so you'll need its registration.

We do surface a few, though. The Hidden Gems page lists cars we've scored highly that are currently for sale. Free, no sign-up, and it's a short list rather than a search — we'd rather show you a handful worth a look than a thousand to sift through.

Yes. Every result has a score card you can download — a single image with the score, the tier and the date on it.

If you're selling, it's worth putting in the advert. It shows a buyer you've got nothing to hide about the test history, and it saves them asking. The card carries a QR code and a URL, so anyone can look up the full result themselves rather than taking a picture on trust.

Three bands, and the score decides which one a car lands in.

• Hidden Gem — 90 and above. A test record with very little wrong in it, and little or nothing missing from it.
• Solid Find — 70 to 89. A normal, healthy record. Some advisories, some repairs, nothing alarming.
• Proceed with Care — below 70. Something in the record is worth understanding before you commit. It doesn't mean don't buy it.

A few things hold a car below its number. A structural concern anywhere in the test history keeps a car out of the top band whatever it scores, however long ago it was recorded and even after it has stopped costing points. A mileage reading that is clearly lower than the one before it does more than that. Unless the record itself shows the earlier figure was a typing slip, it takes points off the score, the deduction doesn't fade with time, and the car is placed in Proceed with Care whatever number it ends on. Most typing errors can't be proved from the record alone, so they count until the record is corrected. Here's how to get that done. Those are the kind of thing you should read about rather than have averaged away.

The tier is a shortcut, not the answer. The reasons underneath the score are what actually tell you about the car.

Quite a lot, and it's worth being straight about it. An MOT history shows how a car has behaved at test, roughly once a year. It doesn't show:

• outstanding finance
• whether the car has been stolen or written off
• accident damage or repair history
• how well it's been serviced
• the condition it's in today

A strong score means the test record looks good. It isn't a substitute for a mechanical inspection, a paid history check, or a test drive.

The score reflects what's in the test record — failed tests, serious defects, the same advisory coming back year after year, corrosion and wear in the parts that matter for safety, tests that were late or missing, and any mileage reading that goes backwards (unless the record itself shows it was a typing slip). A one-off advisory about tyres, brakes, suspension or corrosion costs a little and fades with time. One about something minor takes no points off directly, but advisories set back the credit a car earns for clean tests, and clean tests afterwards earn it back. A low score doesn't mean a bad car. An older vehicle with a long, honest history will often score below a newer one that simply has less on record. The reasons are listed under your score, so you can see exactly what drove it.

It's a real score rather than a glitch, and it's worth knowing what it means. The score reflects the MOT test record and nothing else. A zero takes a great deal: repeated failures, serious or safety-related defects, and the same advisories coming back test after test — enough that the deductions outweigh the starting score completely. It also takes a full test history, because a car with missing years is scored more cautiously and lands nearer the middle. A zero is only reachable for a record that is both complete and poor.

A zero isn't a verdict on the car as it stands today. It's a summary of what the record shows, and the reasons are listed underneath so you can see exactly what drove it. A car that was neglected for years and has since been properly sorted still carries the old record — the score can't see the work you've done since.

A few reasons, and none of them are a judgement on the car.

It's too new. We need at least three MOT tests to say anything meaningful about a pattern. A car under five years old often hasn't had them yet.

It hasn't been tested in over two years. We'll show you the record, but a score built on a test that old would be misleading, so we hold it back.

It's been marked for export. That's a serious enough signal on its own that a score would only get in the way of it.

If its MOT has run out, or it failed its most recent test, we don't withhold the score. We show the last one, marked as historical, until the car passes a new test, and the page updates itself when that's recorded.

DVSA's MOT testing records and DVLA's vehicle data. Both are official sources and we show them as they hold them — we don't edit the record.

We re-check a car against those sources when you look at its result, so what you see is normally no more than a day old. If the official service can't be reached at that moment, we show the last result we hold, and the page carries the date it was checked.

Bonafied reports the record as DVSA holds it — here's how to get it changed. A wrong reading follows the car, so it's worth doing.

Within 28 days of the test: go back to the MOT centre that carried it out. They can amend the record and issue a replacement certificate, and they'll need to see the vehicle again to check the mileage.

After 28 days: report it on GOV.UK. You'll need your driving licence number, the MOT test number and the vehicle details, plus dated evidence of the true mileage from the day of the test — an MOT invoice, an emissions printout, a service receipt, or the job card from the test centre. Without that evidence DVSA won't make the change.

It is the fuel DVLA holds on the V5C, shown as DVLA records it. DVLA's categories are broader than a brochure's, so a plug-in hybrid and a self-charging hybrid both appear as "hybrid electric", and a mild-hybrid diesel can appear as plain diesel. If the exact drivetrain matters to you, the seller's V5C and the manufacturer's specification settle it.

It is the official CO₂ emissions figure in grams per kilometre that DVLA holds for the car, from its type approval when new. It sets the road-tax band for cars registered between March 2001 and March 2017, and the first-year rate after that. Cars registered before March 2001 were not taxed on CO₂ and usually have no figure on record, so the cell shows a dash. The figure is the official test value, not what the car achieves on the road.

The page shows DVLA's figure when DVLA holds one, and an estimate otherwise; hover the cell to see which. DVLA records the actual standard for some newer cars, and the V5C shows it too. The estimate comes from the fuel type and the year of first registration, using the dates each standard became compulsory for new cars: Euro 4 from 2006, Euro 5 from 2011, Euro 6 from 2015 for petrol and 2016 for diesel. It is right for the large majority of cars, but it can be a level out either way on a car first sold near a changeover, and a few models met a standard early. Electric cars have no standard, so the cell says so.

Whether the car meets the minimum emissions standard that London's ULEZ and England's Clean Air Zones use for private cars: Euro 4 for petrol and Euro 6 for diesel. "Compliant" means it meets that standard on our estimate of its Euro standard, so no daily charge applies in those zones. Scotland's Low Emission Zones use the same standards. Because the Euro standard is estimated, so is this. Before relying on it, check the registration on the official checkers at gov.uk/clean-air-zones and tfl.gov.uk.

We estimate the standard annual rate from the car's first-registration date and, where the rules use them, its engine size or CO₂ figure, using the current gov.uk rate tables. Three things we can't see from the record: an extra supplement on a car whose list price when new was over £40,000, or over £50,000 for a zero-emission car first registered on or after 1 April 2025 (currently £440 a year, for years two to six); the historic-vehicle exemption, which an owner has to apply for; and the first-year rate, which doesn't apply to a car old enough to have three MOTs.

The seller can tell you exactly what they pay, and the official tables are at gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables. Rates change every April; the figures on the site are the 2026-27 tables.

No. It's the date DVLA last issued a logbook (V5C) for the vehicle. DVLA issues a new one when the keeper changes, but also for a change of address, a new registration plate, a correction to the details, or as a replacement for a lost one. So the date on its own doesn't tell you the car changed hands.

What it is good for: when you view the car, the issue date printed on the seller's V5C should match the date on the result page. If it doesn't, ask why.

No. It is the area the registration mark was issued from, read from the mark itself, which is usually where the first keeper's dealer was. It says nothing about where the car lives now or where it has been since. DVLA closed its local offices in 2013, but the letters still denote the region a mark belongs to.

A cherished or transferred mark tells you where that mark was issued, not where the car was first sold. Northern Ireland marks, Q-plates and marks from before 1963 carry no area, so the cell is not shown for them. For marks issued between 1963 and 2001 we show the area only where two independent references agree on it, so some older marks have no cell either.

The Need to know tab is a row of nine lamps, one for each thing the MOT record can tell you about a car. They show on every result page with an MOT record, scored or not; on a car with fewer than three tests, History, Mileage, On time and Structure stay off, because we read those from three tests or more. A lamp is off when we checked and there is nothing to report. It lights when there is something worth reading, good or bad: green for a good sign, amber for something to ask about, white for a note that changes how to read the score, red for the one thing you should settle before anything else. Tap any lamp and what it means for this car opens underneath, lit or not; tap its name for the explanation here. A dashed lamp means we could not assess that one for this car, which is different from nothing to report.

Whether the car always had an MOT certificate. Green when every test on the record came before the certificate before it ran out, and the first came by the car's third birthday where we know that date, on a record of three tests or more. Amber when the car went more than 30 days with no MOT certificate, between two tests or before its first; the detail says which test and for how long. Off when the longest lapse was 30 days or under: the card names it, but it raises no warning. A gap the certificate covered, such as the six-month extensions of 2020, is not a lapse. A car kept off the road under a SORN needs no MOT, so ask the seller why. Most cars over 40 years old don't need an MOT in Great Britain, so the record may simply stop. A lapse after the car could have turned 40 is not counted.

How this car's score sits against the average for the same make, model family and year on Bonafied. Green: more than 5 points above the average. Amber: more than 5 points below it. Off: within 5 points, which is in line with its peers. Dashed: fewer than five scored cars of that type, so there is no average worth showing. Dashed too when the page shows no score (withheld, withdrawn, or too few tests to score), so there is nothing to compare. The average moves as more cars are scored.

Whether the odometer readings across the MOT record run forwards and make sense. Green: every reading is higher than the last, on three tests or more. Amber: a reading is lower than an earlier one and the record cannot explain it. That usually comes from a mistake at the test station, a replacement instrument cluster or a reading taken in kilometres, but it can also indicate tampering, which is why we show it and why it keeps the car out of the top two tiers. White: a reading is lower than an earlier one, but the arithmetic proves it was an extra digit typed at the test station, so it does not count against the car. Off: nothing to report. A year whose mileage sits well above or below the others is not a backward step and does not light the lamp.

How much of the car's testable life the digital MOT record accounts for. A car is due its first MOT at three years old, and each test covers the year after it. Green: every month since is on record, on three tests or more. White: enough years are missing to pull the score toward the middle of the scale, or the car was tested on paper before May 2005 and those years cannot be seen. The missing years are not hidden; they are just not in the digital record, so ask the seller about them. Off: the missing time is too small to have changed the score by more than a point; the card says how many months. Dashed: this page was scored before we measured history this way and will update on its next refresh.

The car's road-tax status at DVLA when this page was last refreshed. Amber "SORN": the keeper has declared it off the road, so it cannot be driven away until it is taxed. Amber "untaxed": DVLA shows no tax and no SORN. That is the normal state of a car in a dealer's stock, and of a car that changed hands in the last few days before the new keeper taxed it. If it is a private sale and neither of those applies, the keeper is keeping it on the road illegally. Ask which it is. Off: taxed. Dashed: DVLA returned no tax status.

Green when the most recent tests, three or more, have all passed with nothing noted, and the lamp text says how many. A current run of clean tests is one of the strongest positive signals MOT data can give. Off otherwise; a run that has ended is already reflected in the score, so this lamp never shows amber.

Red when a listing we have seen advertised this registration as a Cat S, N, C or D write-off. The lamp text names the category, the tier is set to Proceed with Care and the score is left as the MOT record gives it. Dashed, which is the usual state: Bonafied does not check the insurance write-off register, so we cannot say a car has never been written off. An HPI check does that, and we recommend one before any purchase. This is the one lamp that is never simply off. A declared write-off does not change what the other lamps say: each reads the MOT record on its own merits.

What the letters mean, under the insurers' code of practice:

• Cat A and Cat B: scrap, or a body shell to be crushed. Neither may return to the road, so a declaration of either withdraws the score.
• Cat S: structural damage, repaired. Shown, with the tier set to Proceed with Care.
• Cat N: non-structural damage, repaired. Shown, with the tier set to Proceed with Care.
• Cat C and Cat D, the scheme that ran until October 2017: written off because the repair would have cost more (C) or less (D) than the car was worth, then repaired. The old scheme recorded cost, not what was damaged. Shown, with the tier set to Proceed with Care.

Amber when any test in the history recorded a defect indicating structural corrosion or damage, however long ago and even if it has since been repaired. The detail is in the MOT data tab. We keep this separate from the score, and it keeps the car out of the Hidden Gem tier whatever the number, because structural work is the kind of thing a qualified inspector should look at before you buy. Off: no structural defect on record.

White when the car was first registered in the UK well after it was built, which usually means it was imported; any history from before it came to the UK is not in the record, so ask the seller about it. White too when the car carries a Q-plate, which DVLA issues when a vehicle's age or identity cannot be established (kit cars, rebuilds and radically altered vehicles); a Q-plate says nothing about where the car came from, so ask the seller why it has one. Off: nothing in the record suggests an import, and the registration is not a Q-plate.

Yes — free, no signup, no card. If you choose to run a paid check with one of the providers we link to, we may earn a commission. That doesn't change your score or affect which cars we show. The score is worked out the same way whether you click anything or not.

Not yet, and here's the thinking. Most people buy a used car every few years, so an app has to earn its place on a phone it might not be opened on for a long stretch. For now, adding Bonafied to your home screen does the same job — an icon that's there when you want it, with nothing to download and nothing to update.

It's on the list rather than off it. If an app turns out to be the better way to do this, we'll build one.

iPhone (Safari): tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
Android (Chrome): open the menu, then Add to Home screen.

If you came here from a link in Facebook or Instagram, open Bonafied in your normal browser first — in-app browsers can't add anything to your home screen.

This is usually a permission setting on your phone rather than a fault with Bonafied. If you opened Bonafied from a link in Facebook or Instagram, the camera is running under that app's permission — check in your phone's settings that Facebook (or Instagram) is allowed to use the camera. You can also upload a photo from your library instead, which works exactly the same way.

During live LaLiga matches, Spain's main internet providers block some of the network addresses used by Cloudflare. Cloudflare hosts Bonafied and many thousands of other websites, so some Bonafied pages can be unreachable in Spain while matches are on. Bonafied isn't the target, and UK connections aren't affected. If a page won't load, it will usually be back once that day's matches finish. In the meantime, switching to mobile data on a UK SIM, or using a VPN, typically restores access.