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Check Car Age

Enter your vehicle registration to check the age of your car. Check the age and registration date of any UK vehicle for free.

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Full History Check

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Check the age and registration date of any UK vehicle for free.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I check the age of a vehicle?

In most cases, you can use the vehicle registration plate to check the age of a vehicle. This isn’t possible on vehicles with a private plate. For these vehicles you would need to check the vehicle registration document (V5C) or enter the vehicle registration to find out the year of manufacture.

How do I find out where a vehicle was registered?

Vehicles with the current plate format (registered from 2001) have two letters at the beginning of the plate to indicate where they were registered. For example, vehicles with a plate starting EA were first registered in Essex.

Vehicles registered before 2001 (e.g. S123 AAA) use the final two characters to indicate where they were registered. You can view a full list of number plate registration locations or enter the vehicle registration to find the location.

Can you put a private plate on any vehicle?

As UK number plates indicate the age of a vehicle, you aren’t able to put a plate on a vehicle that would make it appear newer than it really is. For example, a private plate with the year 18, couldn’t be added to a vehicle which was manufactured in 2017.

What is a Q plate?

A number plate starting with the letter Q will be issued by the DVLA when there is doubts about the age. You will be unable to add a private plate to any vehicle which has a Q plate.

How much does it cost to change the number plate on my vehicle?

The cost of transferring the plate on a vehicle is ÂŁ80. You will also need the vehicle registration document (V5C) to complete the number plate change.

Vehicles registered from September 2001

Vehicles registered on or after 1st September 2001 will use the current number plate format. This format is [2 letters] [2 numbers] [3 letters].

The first two letters indicate the area of the country where the vehicle was first registered.

The two numbers indicate the age of the vehicle.

The final three characters are random letters and don’t provide any specific information about the vehicle.

Check Car Age