More than 1 million vehicles were recalled last year due to safety critical defects. Checking if your vehicle has outstanding recalls used to be expensive and require access to the VIN. Not anymore. It is now possible to check for recalls using just the vehicle’s registration number – and it’s FREE.
Premium Service
HPI – The full HPI Check comes with £30,000 data guarantee for peace of mind but it does NOT include a recall check. HPI do offer a recall lookup – however, it’s £2.99 – read on for more information and a FREE recall check. HPI report on everything else from outstanding finance & number of owners to cloning, mileage discrepancies and more.
FREE – Vehicle recall checking service
The GOV.uk website provides free access to the DVSA’s database of vehicular recalls. Simply enter your car’s registration number (VRM) and get instant access to recalls related to your vehicle. Click the button below to visit GOV.uk > recalls.
Please note – GOV.uk provide the following caveat … “There can be a delay before we receive information about safety recalls. If you are concerned, contact your vehicle manufacturer’s dealership“
No recalls – but you’ve heard rumours ….
It is possible that the reason you are researching recalls against your vehicle is because it was featured on the TV, radio or a website. If you have tried the FREE GOV.uk recall service and it says there are no recalls you can take the matter further if you want complete peace of mind.
Speak to your dealer
To be 100% certain call your local dealer with the car’s VIN from the V5 document. I did this on my Volvo XC60 and it saved me £600 on a local garage’s repair estimate. It wasn’t a “recall” as such – but an issue with the EGR valve that Volvo had agreed to repair on “recently” out of warranty vehicles. Neither the GOV.uk nor the HPI Recall checking service provided information on this EGR valve repair – we assume because it is not a safety critical recall.
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MyCarCheck.com vehicle history reports highlight if a car has been stolen, exported, written-off, scrapped & much more from just £1.99 (correct Feb 2019). Buying a car is a big deal so buy with confidence. MyCarCheck.com can reveal a vehicle’s full history, enabling you to make a more informed decision. Discover a vehicle’s hidden history, if it’s been written off or stolen, has outstanding finance and much more. They also have some great deals for multi-car bundled reports. Visit today for peace of mind from an affordable stolen car checking service
Why Pay – when it’s FREE
We entered our car’s registration number in to both the FREE GOV.uk lookup service and the HPI Recall check – £2.99 when purchased (April 2019). Interested to see if there was any difference in the level of reporting. As can be seen from the screen captures below – there was no additional information provided by HPI recall service versus the free GOV.uk one.
So why do some companies charge?
Many companies HPI Check included – have provided a recall lookup service for several years, long before GOV.uk offered it for free. We actually used the online CHAT on HPI’s website to ask whether or not recall data is covered under the popular HPI Check service. The answer was NO – but they said they do offer a recall checking service for £2.99 – however – they went on to point out the same information was available for FREE from GOV.uk (link then provided). Well done HPI for being honest and transparent.
GOV.uk - Recall service (FREE)
HPI Check - Recall service (£2.99)
Check GOV.uk DVSA Recalls
Click the button below to go directly to the GOV.uk website. Enter your car’s VRM (registration number) for access to the DVSA recall data held against your vehicle