PlateInsight vs Car Advert Check at a glance
Two tables, both read off PlateInsight’s own site. The first is the job we rank on: what the check does with the records. “No” means nothing on their site describes it, not that they can’t.
| Provider | Reads the advert | MOT advisory analysis | Known faults with costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car Advert CheckOur pick | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PlateInsight | No | In part | In part |
Prices and features checked on 17 September 2026, read off each provider's own site: “No” means nothing on their site describes it. Providers change them; tell us if one has.
| Provider | One full check | Free tier | Data guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car Advert CheckOur pick | See pricing | Free scan: reads the advert against the DVSA MOT history, verdict, risk score and biggest finding, no card and no password | None stated |
| PlateInsight | £4.99 (a full report, from the FAQ) | On the web the free check shows the MOT history, a Health Score and red flags; in the app the first vehicle check is free (five free credits) | None stated |
Prices and features checked on 17 September 2026, read off each provider's own site. Providers change them; tell us if one has.
Where PlateInsight beats us
Scores reliability from 1.67m MOT tests per model with a published methodology, has a named founder and a company number, and its first report is free. It’s the one to buy for MOT-data reliability scoring with a free first report.
PlateInsight is a data-native site and it shows: a named founder, a company number, a methodology page, and a reliability score built from a large pool of MOT tests per model rather than a hunch. The first report is free, with the full MOT history, an AI health score, red-flag detection, a market comparison and a buy-or-avoid verdict, and the homepage lists advisory and common-issue analysis plus an AI photo damage check. The report itself renders in the app, so we couldn't read its sections, and the credit prices live inside the app too, which is why the price cell says not shown rather than a figure from a search snippet.
The gap is the same as everywhere else in the category: everything described starts from the plate. Our report takes the advert as well, and our Provenance Check brings in the finance, theft and write-off records, which PlateInsight's pages don't list at any tier. For a free MOT-based reliability read, try its first report. For the advert read against the car, our free scan is the matching free step.
What PlateInsight describes on its own site
Straight from the pages listed under Sources, with nothing filled in from anywhere else. Where the site didn’t show something, the row says so rather than guessing.
- Free tier
- On the web the free check shows the MOT history, a Health Score and red flags; in the app the first vehicle check is free (five free credits)
- One full check
- £4.99 (a full report, from the FAQ)
- Multi-check or packs
- Three reports £9.99; PlateInsight Pro £9.99 a month, one free report a month then £2.49 a report
- Data guarantee
- None stated
- Sources it names
- DVSA (261 million MOT records claimed); DVLA; unnamed third-party automotive data providers for valuation and spec
What its pages describe beyond the lookup: Homepage lists 'defect, advisory and common issue analysis' and an AI photo damage check; no repair costs described. The report itself is app-rendered, so its sections could not be read.
Read off PlateInsight’s own site on 23 October 2026.
What Car Advert Check does with the same records
Start with what’s the same. Our outstanding finance, theft and write-off lookups come from the same places as everyone else’s: the lenders, the police and the insurers’ write-off register. Nobody holds a private source, and we’re not selling better records than PlateInsight.
What’s different is what happens next. A plate lookup stops at the registration. Ours carries on and reads three things no lookup takes in: the advert you’re looking at, the car’s whole DVSA MOT advisory history, and our known-faults database for that model, with what each fault costs to put right. Then it gives you one verdict instead of a page of fields, and outstanding finance, a theft marker or a write-off sends that verdict straight to its highest risk rating, because none of those is something you negotiate around.
Where it earns its keep is a car that comes back clean on the registers. A standard check stops there and the car looks fine. Ours keeps going: if the advert says “full service history”, the MOT record shows the same suspension advisory three years running and the engine is one with a known fault at this age, the report says the description doesn’t match the car’s own record, what the fault would cost, and what to ask before you travel.
What it won’t do: we offer no data guarantee, we can’t see a car’s history from before it came to the UK, we don’t sell a car’s past adverts, and nothing we or anyone else sells can see accident damage that never became a claim or how well a repair was done. Those take your eyes and a ramp.
So which should you run?
You’ve got an advert open and you’re deciding whether it’s worth the drive. Run the free scan on that advert. It reads the wording against the car’s DVSA MOT history and tells you the biggest thing to worry about, with no card and no password.
You’re about to hand money over. Upgrade that report to the Provenance Check. It adds the outstanding finance, theft and write-off records, scores them in with everything else, and includes the Smart Check, so the seller questions and a figure to negotiate with come with it.
You need what PlateInsight does that we don’t. Buy it. The section above says what that is, and we’d rather you had the right check than ours.
You lose nothing by starting free: the free report upgrades on the same link with no re-run, so you never paste the advert twice, and if the free scan already says walk away, you’ve saved yourself the rest.