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 across a long history.
• 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 in the test history, or a mileage reading we can't account for, keeps a car out of the top band whatever it scores — 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 — failures, advisories, how often things needed putting right, and gaps between tests. 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.

Probably, and it's worth understanding what it means. The score reflects the MOT test record and nothing else. A long run of failures, repeated advisories for the same thing, or large gaps between tests can put a car at the very bottom of the range.

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 six 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.

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 never more than a day old.

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.

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.