- median advertised price of a single full car check
- £14.99
- advertised single full-check price range across vendors
- £9.99 to £19.99
- vendors with a verified published price
- 2
- check types covered
- 2
2 vendor product pages verified 2026-08-26
Full car check prices, from the vendors' own pages
Every price on this site was fetched from the vendor's own page and matched word for word before it was published, with the date we checked it. The free official checks (MOT history and tax status on GOV.UK) are free and always will be; the paid checks below add finance, write-off and theft markers the free route does not carry. No stars, no sponsored ranking, no estimates.
- 2 vendor product pages verifiedevery figure matched verbatim to the vendor's page
- Quoted and dated, never estimatedlast verification pass 2026-08-26
- 2 check types coveredeach with measured search demand behind it
Advertised check prices, verified against each vendor's page
| Vendor | Full check | Basic check | 3-check bundle | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Car Check | £9.99/check | £3.99/check | £14.99/3 checks | totalcarcheck.co.uk | August 2026 |
| HPI Check | £19.99/check | £9.99/check | £29.99/3 checks | home.hpicheck.com | August 2026 |
Ordered by advertised single full-check price. These are the standing prices vendors print for their named products; bundle rates and promotional pricing move what you pay on the day, so treat them as the list price rather than the checkout total.
Free checks, explained
- MOT history check The MOT history of any GB-registered vehicle is public and free.
- Check car tax Whether a vehicle is taxed is a public fact, checkable free on GOV.UK against the DVLA's own record with nothing but the registration number.
- Number plate check Every check in this market starts from the registration number, so a "number plate check" is really a question about how much the plate unlocks.
- Car insurance check Insurance checks answer two different questions, and mixing them up wastes money.
- Car mileage check A car's mileage history is public, free, and better than most buyers realise: the DVSA records the odometer at every MOT test, so the free GOV.UK history gives you a reading for every year of the vehicle's tested life.
- Bad credit car finance A thin or damaged credit file does not close the market, it moves you to a different set of lenders with different pricing.
- Van finance A van bought on finance is usually a working asset rather than a purchase, and that changes the agreement, the paperwork and the tax treatment.
- PCP vs HP PCP and hire purchase are both hire purchase in law, so the rights are the same and the difference is arithmetic.
- PCP calculator A PCP payment is set by four numbers and nothing else: the amount financed after deposit, the term, the interest rate, and the deferred final payment.
- Car finance eligibility An eligibility check and an application are different events on your credit file, and confusing the two is the most expensive mistake in this part of the market.
- No deposit car finance A no-deposit agreement does not reduce what the car costs.
- Guarantor car finance A guarantor is not a character reference.
- Refinance a car loan Refinancing replaces one agreement with another.
- CCJ and IVA car finance An individual voluntary arrangement and a county court judgment are different problems.
- Car finance on benefits Benefit income is not automatically discounted.
- Selling a car on finance Under hire purchase or a PCP the lender owns the car until the final payment, so it is not yours to sell.
- Settlement figure A settlement figure is what it costs to end the agreement today, and it is not the sum of the payments you have left.
- Voluntary termination There is a statutory right to hand back a car on a regulated hire purchase or conditional sale agreement, and a PCP normally is one.
- Negative equity Negative equity is simply owing more on the agreement than the car is worth.
- Motorbike finance A motorbike is financed through the same agreements as a car, on the same statutory terms, but the market behaves differently: smaller balances, shorter terms and a much larger share of manufacturer-supported deals..
- Halal car finance Conventional hire purchase, PCP and personal loans all charge interest, which is what puts them outside what many Muslim buyers will use.
- Written off on finance When a financed car is written off, the insurer pays the market value to the party with the interest in the car, which is the lender.
- Joint car finance Joint car finance is rarer than a joint mortgage or a joint bank account, and where lenders do offer it both parties are liable for the whole agreement rather than for half of it each.
- Private sale finance Most hire purchase and PCP lenders will only fund a car bought from a trader, because they are buying the car themselves and need a seller they can hold to account.
- Hire purchase Hire purchase is the oldest and plainest of the motor agreements: the lender buys the car, hires it to you across the term, and title passes when the last payment and the option fee are paid..
- Apply for car finance A car finance application is short, and almost all of it is verification.
- Car loans A personal loan and a motor finance agreement buy the same car and are not the same product.
- Young and provisional drivers Age is not the barrier people expect.
- Electric, classic and older cars Lenders underwrite the car as well as the borrower, because under hire purchase they are buying it.
- PCP deals A PCP advertisement is built around one number, and that number is the least informative thing in the offer.
- Self employed Self-employment is not an obstacle to motor finance; unverifiable income is.
- Missed payments Missing one payment is a problem with a process attached, and the process is slower and more negotiable than most people expect.
- Outstanding finance check An outstanding finance marker is not a public record.
- Buying a car with finance on it A car with an agreement still registered against it does not belong to the seller outright.
- Car finance by city Motor finance in Great Britain is written by national lenders against a national credit file.
- Car finance in Northern Ireland The Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Financial Conduct Authority's rules apply across the United Kingdom, so a Northern Ireland borrower has the same withdrawal, early settlement and voluntary termination rights as one in England.
- Provisional licence car finance A provisional licence does not stop a lender writing an agreement, and a full licence does not guarantee one.
- NHS and key worker car finance Lenders underwrite income, not job titles.
- Taxi and PCO car finance A car used for hire and reward is a working asset, and both the insurer and the lender need to know that before it carries a passenger.
- Car finance on disability benefits If you receive the higher or enhanced rate mobility component of a qualifying benefit, the Motability Scheme lets you exchange that allowance for a leased car, insurance, servicing and breakdown cover included.
- Modifying a financed car On hire purchase and PCP the finance house is the legal owner until the agreement ends.
- Cancelling car finance Section 66A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives you 14 days to withdraw from a regulated credit agreement.
- Rejecting a faulty financed car When a car is bought on hire purchase or PCP the finance house buys it from the dealer and supplies it to you.
- Balloon payment A PCP defers a large part of the car's price to a single payment at the end of the term.
- Credit score for car finance There is no pass mark.
- No credit check car finance A lender writing regulated consumer credit has to assess creditworthiness before it lends.
- Car finance pre approval A pre approval is an indication, not an agreement.
- Car finance declined A lender does not have to tell you why it declined you, and most will not give a specific reason.
- Guaranteed car finance No firm can guarantee acceptance before it has assessed you, because the assessment is compulsory and its outcome is not known in advance.
- Is car finance worth it There are four ways to pay for a car: cash, a personal loan, hire purchase and PCP.
- Car leasing vs PCP Contract hire is a rental with a fixed term and a fixed mileage, and you hand the car back at the end with no option to buy.
- Car finance on a monthly budget A monthly payment is an output, not a product.
- Changing a PCP car early You can leave a regulated motor finance agreement at any point.
- Hire purchase calculator Hire purchase has no deferred payment, so the arithmetic is plain amortisation: a balance, a rate and a term, repaid to zero.
- Car finance types and providers Almost every way of paying monthly for a car is one of five agreements, and almost every firm involved is one of three kinds.
- SUV and sports car finance A larger balance changes the underwriting, but the bigger differences are the car itself.
- Car finance for someone else Financing a car that somebody else will drive is common and often perfectly proper.
By check type
Cite or embed this figure
The median advertised price of a single full car check in the GB car check market was £14.99 in August 2026, across 2 verified vendor product pages recorded in KnownVehicle Car Check Price Index.
Cite as: "KnownVehicle Car Check Price Index", updated 2026-08-26, https://knownvehicle.com/.