Is there a free service history check?

Not a complete one. A main dealer can often print the manufacturer's record of dealer servicing if you ask, and some manufacturers show it in their owner app. The free MOT history is the closest official check, but it records MOT tests, not servicing.

Can I check a car's service history by registration?

Partly. There's no government record of servicing, so no free official lookup exists the way it does for MOT history. Main dealers can usually see work done within their manufacturer's network, and some paid checks draw on those dealer systems too — but work by independent garages that don't log into those systems won't appear. For everything else you need the invoices.

Does the DVLA hold a car's service history?

No. The DVLA holds registration and keeper details, tax and the V5C, and the DVSA holds MOT results — neither records servicing. There is no GOV.UK service history check. The free official check that comes closest is the MOT history, which shows the mileage and advisories at each test.

Is there a central database of UK car service history?

Not a complete one. Unlike MOT data, which the DVSA holds centrally and publishes free, there's no government record of servicing and no requirement for garages to report it anywhere. Manufacturers hold digital records of work done by their dealers, and some checking services draw on those, but they only cover garages that record into those systems.

What can I check for free before buying a used car?

The full MOT history — every test, pass or fail, advisory and recorded mileage, going back to the car's first test — is free to check by registration on the DVSA's own service. It's the single most useful free check available, even though it doesn't cover servicing directly.

How do I check if a car's mileage is genuine?

The MOT history's recorded mileage at each test is the best free cross-check — if the mileage has dropped between tests, or jumps unusually, that's worth asking the seller about directly. It isn't a guarantee against clocking, but an unexplained inconsistency across several tests is a real warning sign.

Service history check: how to check a car’s service history

The short answer

Ask for the paperwork. Invoices and the service book, for this registration.
Ask a main dealer for the make to look the registration up on the manufacturer’s system. This shows dealer servicing only.
Check the MOT history free by registration, and make sure the invoice mileages fit between the MOT readings.
Ring the garages named on the invoices if anything doesn’t add up. They keep copies.

Whether it’s your own car or one you’re thinking of buying, checking its service history in the UK means piecing it together from a few sources. It helps to know upfront what’s actually checkable and what isn’t. There’s good free data available — just not the data most people expect.

What you can check for free: MOT history

Every car over three years old has a full MOT history, held by the DVSA and free to look up by registration. It shows every test the car has had, whether it passed or failed, any advisories the tester noted, and the mileage recorded at that point. This is genuinely useful: it gives you a mileage trail across the car’s life, which is one of the better free defences against a clocked odometer, and advisories can hint at recurring problems even if a car has since passed.

There is no complete service database

This is the part that catches most people out. Unlike MOT data, servicing isn’t reported anywhere by law. There is no government register of oil changes, cambelt replacements or brake work. Manufacturers do keep digital records of servicing done by their franchised dealers, and some independent garages record into those systems too — so a main dealer can often look a car up by registration, and some paid checks draw on the same dealer data. What none of them can see is work done by garages that don’t record into those systems, which for an older car can be most of its life. If a check claims to show a car’s “full history”, look closely at where its data comes from.

That gap is why sellers still rely on a stamped book or a folder of invoices to prove servicing — for most cars, the proof has to come from the owner, and a buyer has to judge how much to trust it.

Checking your own car’s service history

Start with the paperwork you have. The service book, invoices, and any emailed receipts. Bank statements help date visits you don’t have paper for.

Ask a main dealer for your make. Give them the registration and ask for a printout of any servicing on the manufacturer’s system. Some manufacturers also show this in their owner app — the service history guides by make cover where to look for each brand.

Ring the independent garages you’ve used. Most keep copies of invoices for years. See getting service history from a garage for what to ask for.

Checking service history by make

Each manufacturer keeps its dealer records differently, and some let owners see them in an app. Step-by-step guides:

Checking the service history of a car you’re buying

Ask the seller for documents, not claims. “Full service history” in an advert is a claim. Ask to see the actual invoices, and note whether they’re for this specific registration.

Cross-check dates against the MOT mileage trail. If a service invoice says the car had 40,000 miles in March but the MOT six months later shows 38,000, something doesn’t add up and it’s worth asking about.

Look for a verified digital record, not just a claim. Where a seller has put their history onto a platform where each entry is marked garage confirmed, invoice attached or owner reported, you’re seeing something closer to a real check than a stamped book alone can offer — particularly the garage-confirmed entries, which don’t depend on trusting the seller at all.

Other checks worth knowing about

Separate from servicing, there are a couple of other checks worth doing before buying a used car that people sometimes confuse with a “service history check”. An HPI or similar vehicle-history check (usually paid) can flag whether a car has outstanding finance owed against it, has been recorded as a write-off, or has had its mileage previously flagged as suspicious by a garage or inspector — genuinely useful information, but again, not servicing. A pre-purchase mechanical inspection, either from an independent inspector or a marque specialist, is the closest thing to an actual audit of a car’s current condition, and can sometimes reveal whether recent maintenance claims match what the car’s actually had done to it — a cambelt that’s supposedly just been changed but shows its original marking, for instance.

Where CarKept fits

CarKept doesn’t claim to hold every UK car’s servicing — no one does. What it does is give owners a free page for their car, seeded from the same public MOT history described above, where they can add their own maintenance records and have garages confirm them directly. Over time that becomes the closest thing to a real, checkable service history a given car has, built by the owner and confirmed by the garages that did the work.

That distinction matters for how much weight to put on any given check. A free MOT-history lookup tells you what the DVSA has actually recorded — genuinely reliable, but narrow. A vehicle’s CarKept page tells you what its owner has chosen to add and, where relevant, what a garage has independently confirmed — potentially far richer, but only as complete as what’s been put there, since a car with no records added simply hasn’t started building that history yet. Neither replaces the other; used together, they cover most of what a careful buyer can actually check before committing to a used car.

Check the MOT history, see what's been recorded

Look up any UK car by registration to see its free MOT history and any service records its owner has added.

Have service invoices? Upload and keep them with your car’s history →

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free service history check?: Not a complete one. A main dealer can often print the manufacturer's record of dealer servicing if you ask, and some manufacturers show it in their owner app. The free MOT history is the closest official check, but it records MOT tests, not servicing.
Can I check a car's service history by registration?: Partly. There's no government record of servicing, so no free official lookup exists the way it does for MOT history. Main dealers can usually see work done within their manufacturer's network, and some paid checks draw on those dealer systems too — but work by independent garages that don't log into those systems won't appear. For everything else you need the invoices.
Does the DVLA hold a car's service history?: No. The DVLA holds registration and keeper details, tax and the V5C, and the DVSA holds MOT results — neither records servicing. There is no GOV.UK service history check. The free official check that comes closest is the MOT history, which shows the mileage and advisories at each test.
Is there a central database of UK car service history?: Not a complete one. Unlike MOT data, which the DVSA holds centrally and publishes free, there's no government record of servicing and no requirement for garages to report it anywhere. Manufacturers hold digital records of work done by their dealers, and some checking services draw on those, but they only cover garages that record into those systems.
What can I check for free before buying a used car?: The full MOT history — every test, pass or fail, advisory and recorded mileage, going back to the car's first test — is free to check by registration on the DVSA's own service. It's the single most useful free check available, even though it doesn't cover servicing directly.
How do I check if a car's mileage is genuine?: The MOT history's recorded mileage at each test is the best free cross-check — if the mileage has dropped between tests, or jumps unusually, that's worth asking the seller about directly. It isn't a guarantee against clocking, but an unexplained inconsistency across several tests is a real warning sign.