Why we built a suite of free UK car tools

Every UK driver ends up running the same small set of checks again and again — is my MOT due, is my car taxed, will I be charged in the ULEZ, what MPG does my car really do? The answers all live in official government databases that are free to query under the Open Government Licence, but they're scattered across three separate gov.uk services and several less-obvious data portals. Fixaroo's tools pull from all of them and give you one-registration-number answers in under a second, with no sign-up, no paywall, and no "premium" upsell at the end.

Where the data comes from

Every number on these pages traces back to an official UK source. The DVLA Vehicle Enquiry Service (VES) supplies tax status, expiry, MOT status, CO2, fuel type, Euro status, engine capacity and date of first registration — everything you need for tax and ULEZ decisions. The DVSA MOT History API provides full MOT pass/fail history, defect text, and odometer readings from every registered test centre. The DVSA vehicle recalls dataset lists every open UK safety recall. The VCA Car Fuel Data publication holds manufacturer-declared MPG and CO2 for every new car sold in the UK going back a decade. The UK government weekly road fuel prices CSV gives us live petrol and diesel averages. And the DVSA MOT test statistics annual publication feeds our common-failure breakdowns by make and model. Nothing here is guessed, scraped, or approximated.

What each tool is best for

  • MOT check — quick confirmation that your car is road-legal before a long trip, insurance renewal, or selling the car. Also useful when buying used: a full MOT history tells you more about a car's condition than any seller's description.
  • Car tax check — sanity-check that a direct debit hasn't failed, confirm a SORN on a parked car, or verify a used purchase before driving it away.
  • VED calculator — budget for an upcoming tax renewal, or figure out the annual cost before committing to a used-car purchase. The post-2017 first-year rates catch a lot of buyers off guard.
  • ULEZ checker — avoid the £180 penalty charge notice on a single mistaken drive through London. Also flags Birmingham, Bristol, and Scottish LEZs.
  • Recall check — free safety repairs you might not have known about. Always run before buying a used car.
  • MPG lookup — honest expectations for your car, benchmark against your real-world trip computer reading.
  • Running cost calculator — the single most useful number for a prospective car buyer: what will this cost me every year?
  • Common MOT failures — pre-MOT preparation list specific to your make and model.