How Car Buyer Check reads MOT history

Pattern rules, recorded facts versus interpretation, and what appears in the free preview and buyer report — without reliability scores.

Enter vehicle registration — run a check for your plate (interactive form loads with the app).

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Illustrative car for inspection areas

DVSA publishes MOT results as dated tests with pass/fail outcomes, mileage, and tester comments. Car Buyer Check does not edit those lines. A rules engine (version mot-interp-v1 on each report) adds buyer-facing findings when patterns match — recurring similar wording, advisories that vanish on the next test, fail-then-pass pairs, mileage decreases, and registration caveats such as NI-format or electric-scope.

Three layers on every finding

Recorded facts stay tied to quotes and dates where the feed provides them. Interpretation explains what the pattern might mean for a buyer, with uncertainty when the file cannot prove repairs or current condition. Buyer actions and seller questions turn that into something to ask or inspect — never a score or a “do not buy” verdict generated without you reading the detail.

What the preview shows versus the report

The free preview compresses the engine output: buyer position, counts, and teasers. The buyer report expands every grouped pattern with chronology, original wording drawers, map pins, and copyable questions. Both tiers use the same rule pass on the same payload for that lookup.

  • Latest MOT advisories and defects are surfaced as their own findings when present.
  • Limitations list empty history, missing mileage, or DVLA-only payloads honestly.
  • No model-wide reliability database or repair price estimates are applied to your plate.

Deeper documentation

Our methodology page explains independence, cost placeholders in samples, and repair-proof limits in plain language.

The labelled sample report shows how findings, map areas, and dossiers look on a fixed demonstration registration.

Enter a registration above to run the live engine on that vehicle’s returned tests. Rule updates ship with a new ruleVersion on reports when we change interpretation logic.

Official sources

Do you use AI to invent MOT defects?

Core findings are rule-based from DVSA text. Optional bounded reader narrative on some report areas may use AI when configured, labelled separately from file facts.

What is mot-interp-v1?

It is the current interpretation rule set version stamped on engine reports. It changes when we add or adjust pattern rules, not when DVSA republishes old tests.

Can two lookups of the same plate differ?

They should match while the government payload and rule version are the same. Fresh MOT tests or rule updates can change findings.

Why are some findings marked interpretation?

Patterns like recurrence or disappearing advisories are derived from comparing tests. They are not verbatim single lines from the latest MOT alone.

Where can I challenge a finding?

Start with the quoted MOT text in the report. If the quote is wrong, the issue is in the government record. If the pattern feels wrong, note the dates and wording — we do not offer a dispute hotline in-app.

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