UK MOT History Check (DVSA)

Paste in UK registrations (or VINs) and get each vehicle's full MOT history from DVSA's MOT history API: make, model, colour, fuel, engine size and first-registration date, then every MOT test with its date, result, mileage, expiry date and each failure, defect and advisory in the tester's own words.

Each row also has the answers you'd otherwise work out by hand: is the MOT valid right now and when does it expire, the latest test result, the latest mileage, how many tests it has failed, how many advisories it got last time, and whether the mileage has ever gone down (a classic sign of clocking).

Check one car or 10,000 in a run. No DVSA registration, API key or OAuth set-up needed.

What it's for

• Used-car buyers: before you view a car, see whether the MOT is current, what failed in the past, what the tester warned about last time (tyres, brakes, corrosion) and whether the mileage history adds up.
• Dealers and traders: check every car in a part-exchange or auction list in one go, spot clocked or neglected stock before you bid, and pull the MOT history into your listings.
• Fleet managers and leasing firms: run your whole fleet on a schedule and catch MOTs that are about to expire or have lapsed, plus the latest recorded mileage for each vehicle.
• Insurers, finance and valuation: confirm make, model and mileage against what the customer told you, and flag mileage drops and long gaps in testing.
• Mileage checks: every recorded odometer reading with its date, and mileageDrops listing any reading lower than an earlier one.
• AI agents: one call answers "has this car got a valid MOT, and what did it fail on?" (see MCP below).

Input

Field	What it does
registrations	UK number plates, e.g. AB12 CDE. Spaces and case don't matter, and duplicates are looked up once.
vins	Vehicle identification numbers (chassis numbers), for a vehicle that has changed plates.
oneRowPerTest	One row per MOT test instead of one row per vehicle. Handy for spreadsheets.

Check a few cars:

{ "registrations": ["AB12 CDE", "XY65 ZZZ"] }

A fleet, one row per test, for a spreadsheet:

{ "registrations": ["AB12CDE", "XY65ZZZ", "LM19ABC"], "oneRowPerTest": true }

Up to 10,000 vehicles per run. For more, split the list across runs.

Output

One row per vehicle:

{
    "query": "ZZ99ABC",
    "queryType": "registration",
    "found": true,
    "lookupStatus": "found",
    "registration": "ZZ99ABC",
    "make": "FORD",
    "model": "FOCUS",
    "fuelType": "Petrol",
    "primaryColour": "Yellow",
    "engineSizeCc": 1800,
    "firstUsedDate": "2010-11-13",
    "registrationDate": "2010-11-13",
    "manufactureDate": "2010-11-13",
    "manufactureYear": 2010,
    "hasOutstandingRecall": "No",
    "motStatus": "valid",
    "motValid": true,
    "motExpiryDate": "2019-05-21",
    "firstMotDueDate": null,
    "latestTestDate": "2018-05-22",
    "latestTestResult": "PASSED",
    "latestTestAdvisories": 1,
    "latestMileage": 57318,
    "latestMileageUnit": "mi",
    "latestMileageDate": "2018-05-20",
    "totalTests": 4,
    "totalFails": 2,
    "mileageDropped": false,
    "mileageDrops": [],
    "motTests": [
        {
            "testDate": "2018-05-20",
            "completedDate": "2018-05-20T11:28:34.000Z",
            "testResult": "FAILED",
            "expiryDate": null,
            "odometerValue": 57318,
            "odometerUnit": "mi",
            "odometerResultType": "READ",
            "motTestNumber": "741489560458",
            "registrationAtTimeOfTest": "ZZ99ABC",
            "dataSource": "DVSA",
            "location": null,
            "advisoryCount": 2,
            "defects": [
                { "type": "MAJOR", "text": "Nearside Parking brake efficiency below requirements (1.4.2 (a) (i))", "dangerous": false },
                { "type": "ADVISORY", "text": "Front Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))", "dangerous": false }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "source": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0."
}

• motStatus is valid, expired, not-yet-due (a new vehicle before its first MOT; firstMotDueDate says when) or unknown. motValid is the same as true or false.
• Tests are newest first. Defect type is DVSA's: ADVISORY, MINOR, MAJOR, DANGEROUS, FAIL (mostly tests before the 20 May 2018 rule change), NON SPECIFIC, SYSTEM GENERATED or USER ENTERED.
• mileageDrops lists each reading lower than the highest one before it, with both dates and readings. That can mean clocking, but also a replaced odometer, a miles/km mix-up or a typo at the test centre, so treat it as a reason to ask questions.
• hasOutstandingRecall comes from DVSA's recalls service: Yes, No, Unknown or Unavailable.

With oneRowPerTest, each row is one test with the vehicle's main details repeated (registration, make, model, fuel, colour, MOT status and expiry). A vehicle with no tests yet gets a single row with the test fields empty.

Vehicles that aren't found still get a row, so you can match results to your list: found: false, a lookupStatus of not-found (DVSA has no record), invalid (not a valid registration or VIN) or failed (the lookup errored), and an error saying why. These rows are free.

Pricing

$0.003 per vehicle found, plus a token $0.00005 per run. 1,000 vehicles cost $3. Registrations DVSA doesn't know, invalid entries and failed lookups aren't charged. With oneRowPerTest, you still pay once per vehicle, however many tests it has.

Good to know

• Covers cars, vans, motorcycles and heavy vehicles tested in Great Britain, plus tests from Northern Ireland's DVA (dataSource). HGV and bus annual tests come from DVSA's commercial vehicle service and include the test station in location.
• Only passed and failed tests are listed. Abandoned and aborted tests aren't in DVSA's API.
• motValid is worked out from the test records and today's date in the UK. Some vehicles don't need an MOT at all (for example many over 40 years old), and their status will show as expired or unknown.
• Mileages are as recorded at each test, in miles (mi) or kilometres (km). An unreadable odometer shows as null with odometerResultType UNREADABLE or NO_ODOMETER.
• No keeper or personal data. The API only has vehicle and test details: no owner names, addresses or previous keepers, and no finance, write-off or theft markers.
• This actor isn't affiliated with or endorsed by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) or the DVLA.

Use it from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor (MCP)

AI assistants can call this actor as a tool through Apify's MCP server. Add this server URL to your MCP client and sign in with your Apify account when prompted:

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=onibaku/uk-mot-history

Then ask things like "Check the MOT history for AB12 CDE: is the MOT valid, and has the mileage ever gone down?"

Data source

DVSA's MOT history API, the same data as the GOV.UK "check the MOT history of a vehicle" service. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Questions or feature requests? Open an issue on the actor's Issues tab or email admin@onibaku.co.uk.