Customer Support

Email us: enquiries@totalcarcheck.co.uk

We will always do our best to reply to your enquiries within 24hrs. We promise.

We are available throughout the week, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm to help you out.

If you have any questions regarding a specific vehicle check, it would help if you send us the vehicle registration and/or the report reference number.

Customer FAQ's

Commonly asked questions

Commonly asked questions

1. I can’t find a report I’ve just paid for. Can you resend it to me?

Yes, we store all of the reports our customers generate.

If you register prior to purchase then your report will be available to you when you login .

If you haven’t registered and can’t find your report then please e-mail enquiries@totalcarcheck.co.uk and we will be able to find it and resend it to you.

2. Do I need to pay to re-run a report for the same vehicle?

Our reports are valid at the time they are run, but the data they return can and will change over time. This means you may need to run another check on the same vehicle if days and weeks have passed.

Total Car Check has to charge each time a report is generated because we incur costs for calling on third party data. Another payment or voucher therefore needs to be paid or redeemed even if you have already undertaken a check on the same vehicle.

3. How quickly are outstanding finance markers cleared?

You may be considering a vehicle purchase, or vehicle sale, whereby outstanding finance has only very recently been cleared. Where this happens it will normally take up to 3 working days for the change to be reflected in a Total Car Check report.

This however depends on the clearance process undertaken by the finance provider. We strongly recommend that you do not purchase the vehicle until our report provides confirmation that the vehicle is clear of finance. Unless we have suggested you contact Experian to confirm the finance status and they have confirmed the vehicle is clear of finance.

4. How long does it take for plate changes to show on a Total Car Check?

You may be looking to purchase, or sell a vehicle, where the personalised registration plate is removed and replaced with the original registration plates. The seller would need to report this to the DVLA.

Total Car Check has no control over registration plate data which we receive automatically from the DVLA and other third parties. If you are concerned that the plate change is not showing in our report then we suggest you contact the DVLA to confirm that everything is in order.

5. My report displays a finance warning, what should I do?

Where we show there to be a finance warning, or cannot confirm if there is finance outstanding, you will need to email trade.investigations@uk.experian.com to clarify the finance status.

6. I’ve forgotten my password how do I reset it?

You can reset your password here: https://totalcarcheck.co.uk/Account/ForgotPassword

7. Why didn’t I receive a valuation with my Gold Check?

We provide a valuation for the vast majority of vehicles checked. However, for some there may be no data available. We can only provide valuations on cars less than 20 years old in general.

8. I have reviewed Total Car Check so how do I obtain a free Silver Check?

For customers that have reviewed Total Car Check on Trust Pilot, the App Store or Play Store we provide a free Silver Check voucher. To claim please provide details of your purchase and a link to your review by e-mailing enquiries@totalcarcheck.co.uk . We will then send you a voucher.

9. How long does it take for me to get my report after purchase?

After purchasing a Silver or Gold Check the report will be made available to you instantly on the screen.

If you registered on our website and purchased the report whilst logged into your account the report will be sent to you by e-mail as a pdf download.

If you have purchased a report on our app then it will be made available to you instantly on the app and stored in your account under ‘My Checks’ and ‘Purchased’.

10. Why does the vehicle registration mark (VRM) I’ve entered not work?

For a VRM to return a report to you the vehicle must be registered by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). In rare cases a registration number may be ‘on retention’ meaning it is not assigned to a particular vehicle.

It is more likely that the VRM has been entered incorrectly. The most common error is mistaking a O and 0 (letter and number). The current number plate format requires that the 3rd and 4th digit are numbers and the rest are letters: LLNN LLL e.g. EN51 TYU.

If you’re still having problems then feel free to get in touch with us and we can advise enquiries@totalcarcheck.co.uk.

11. How does the Total Car Check data guarantee work?

In the very rare event you have purchased a Silver or Gold Check which has led to loss caused by inaccurate information as a result of Total Car Check’s error then you may be able to claim against our data guarantee. The full terms and conditions which determine whether or not you can make a claim are available at https://totalcarcheck.co.uk/TotalCarCheckGuarantee

A separate guarantee is provided relating to outstanding finance data where a Gold Check has been purchased.

If you have evidence to suggest a vehicle you have purchased was stolen or written-off and a Total Car Check report did not flag this then please e-mail details of the report you purchased to enquiries@totalcarcheck.co.uk and we will investigate.

12. How does the outstanding finance guarantee work?

In the very rare event you purchase a vehicle that has been subject to an inaccurate outstanding finance check then you may be able to claim against a guarantee provided by Experian. Experian power Total Car Check’s outstanding finance check. Go to https://totalcarcheck.co.uk/ExperianGuarantee to see our outstanding finance check terms and conditions.

Total Car Check investigate these cases and contact Experian on your behalf where a claim can be made. You will need to send us any details you’ve received which suggests the vehicle you’ve purchased is on finance and e-mail this information to enquiries@totalcarcheck.co.uk .

General questions about our service

13. What information does a Total Car Check provide?

To see what our free report provides then give it a go by entering your VRM on our home page. The difference between the data provided by our Silver and Gold check products is set out in our prices and feature comparison page.

Take a look at our sample report which shows you what a Gold Check report looks like. Our glossary explains what each data field means.

14. Why do you not provide the full VIN details in Total Car Check reports?

The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is a unique identifier applied to every manufactured vehicle in the world. All modern-day vehicles, no matter where they are produced, have a 17-digit VIN.

Total Car Check, and all other vehicle history check providers, are only able to share the last few digits of the VIN. We provide the last 4 digits of the VIN in our reports. This is a requirement put in place by the DVLA (who share this data) to help prevent vehicle fraud such as car cloning and ringing .

We can however advise if the VIN details we hold for a vehicle match the information you have, either from the vehicle itself or a V5C registration certificate. To use this service please send the VIN number to us by e-mailing enquiries@totalcarcheck.co.uk and we will tell you if it matches or not.

15. I’ve completed a VIN check. The VIN does not match the registration number. Does this mean the vehicle is stolen?

It means that the registration plates are not those that should be fitted to the vehicle, according to the DVLA. Driving with unregistered plates is an offence in itself. There is a possibility the mismatch could be due to a plate transfer. But aside from this it is likely the vehicle has been cloned, whereby criminals have applied different number plates to hide the fact it has been stolen. The vehicle would not be recorded as stolen by the police and insurers based on its registration plate. We would therefore not show the vehicle as stolen in our report. Here are steps to take if your check returns a mismatch:

  • Make sure the details you entered are correct. A typo will return a mismatch. You have a few attempts to use the VIN check for each vehicle.
  • Is there a possibility that a plate transfer was undertaken since you viewed the vehicle? For example: the seller may have removed a personalised number plate and had the vehicle’s original plate re-registered on the vehicle. If you contact the seller and they provide a different registration number then run a free Total Car Check and use the in-report VIN check – making sure the details match.
  • If you are certain the VIN and registration number don’t match then do not buy the vehicle. If you own the vehicle already then report the issue to the police by calling 101, the non-emergency enquiries telephone number.

16. What are the risks I should be aware of when buying a used vehicle?

Our important data checks page outlines the key risks. Although a Total Car Check is an excellent tool for validating a vehicle you are looking to purchase, there are physical checks of the vehicle and related paperwork, that we recommend you take. Please view our used car buyer advice for further details.

17. What are the benefits of me registering an account with Total Car Check?

You can access the full history of checks you have undertaken through the ‘MY CHECKS’ page when logged in. This includes free, purchased and voucher checks. The other key benefit is that we will send every purchased check to you by e-mail in pdf format. Buying a check without registering can lead to some of our users accidentally navigating away from the page and losing the report (we can of course locate and send this to you if this happens).

18. I’m buying a used car, what Total Car Check should I purchase?

We strongly recommend you purchase our Gold Check. Why? It includes an outstanding finance check and provides you with a £30,000 finance data guarantee. This is really important in the current market because a large proportion of vehicles are financed and if you purchase a vehicle with outstanding finance then you could have it repossessed from you and lose the money you paid on top.

19. Where can I find a glossary of what all the terms mean from a report?

If you are looking for an explanation of all of the data fields we use in our reports then see our glossary page which explains the information we provide.

20. What should I use a free check for?

Our free basic check is the most popular in the UK because we provide a lot of data for free that many of our competitors don’t. This includes a free stolen vehicle check. This information is great for undertaking research on the type of vehicles you might want to buy or have seen advertised. Amongst other things a free check will provide the specification of vehicle’s, their keeper, MOT and mileage history.

What is the difference between a Gold and a Silver Check?

You can find a full break down of the prices on our pricing page and features of both checks.

21. What is a Silver Check suitable for?

A Silver Check gives you a lot of key risk data about a vehicle for as little as £1.99 on top of everything our free basic check provides. This includes data flagging if a vehicle has been in a significant accident leading to it being written off , scrapped or placed into salvage.

A silver check is therefore suitable for research purposes and shortlisting vehicles to check if they are safe to drive and do not hold any adverse history that may affect the vehicle’s value.

22. What is a Gold Check suitable for?

Our Gold Check is the one to go for if you are considering buying the vehicle. It gives you everything a Silver Check does as well as providing a finance check, £30,000 finance data guarantee and valuation.

Undertaking an outstanding finance check is incredibly important when buying a new used car because a large proportion of vehicles in the UK are financed. This means they are owned by finance providers until the keeper has repaid the loan in full. If you buy a vehicle that has outstanding finance then it could be repossessed from you by agents of the finance provider. You lose the vehicle and the money you paid to purchase it.

23. If I purchase a Silver Check can I upgrade to a Gold Check?

Yes you can. Once you have purchased a Silver Check there will be links within the report provided online which when clicked will allow you to pay an additional sum to convert to a Gold report.

24. What other checks should I undertake when buying a used vehicle?

We recommend you view and test drive any vehicles you are looking at purchasing and undertake some additional physical spot checks. This is particularly important when buying from a private seller. Please view our used car buyer advice for comprehensive guide for buyers.

25. Do I need to purchase a Total Car Check if I buy my vehicle from a retailer?

You should unless the retailer can provide you with details of a full vehicle provenance check they’ve undertaken. See further information on buying from a retailer in our used vehicle buyer guidance.