UK reg check before you import a car to Ireland

What the DVLA record tells you about a UK car

The number plate is a key to two public UK records. The DVLA vehicle enquiry gives the car’s identity and status; the MOT history gives its mileage and condition over time. Read together, they answer most of the questions an Irish buyer has before travelling to see the car, and they decide the Irish tax bill.

The MOT history: a mileage timeline you can trust

Every MOT test in England, Scotland and Wales since 2005 is on record (Northern Ireland since 2017): the date, the result, the odometer reading and the defects found, including the ones marked dangerous. A car that reads 61,000 miles at its 2023 test and 48,000 at its 2025 test has been clocked, and no amount of polish on the forecourt changes that record.

The free check on this page runs the record through the same set of tests every time: mileage sequence, odometer readings, plate changes, fails and dangerous defects, recalls, gaps off the road, and where the DVLA record is available, the export marker, logbook date, tax and MOT status. The free result names the car and shows the VRT range; the count of checks and the detail of each flag are in the €4.90 breakdown, alongside the VRT, VAT and customs for your route: the document to read before you pay a deposit on a car you have only seen in photos.

From the reg to the VRT

The record gives make, model, engine, fuel and first registration date; Revenue’s valuation database has a version for each combination, with its own statistical code, OMSP and CO2. We match the two, you confirm the trim against the V5C, and the VRT is calculated on Revenue’s live figure for that version, with the mileage from the last MOT already filled in.

Two things the reg cannot tell you and you must find on paper: the NOx figure (V5C item V.3 or the Certificate of Conformity; without it Revenue charges the flat maximum, €600 petrol or €4,850 diesel, see the NOx charge calculator), and the customs status of a car bought in Northern Ireland, which decides whether 10% duty and 23% VAT apply.

Before you hand over money

• Ask for the full V5C, not the new keeper slip. The seller keeps only the “permanent export” section for DVLA; you need the rest to register in Ireland.
• Check the export status is not already set. If DVLA already shows the car as exported, someone else has posted that slip.
• Compare the CO2 on the V5C with the CO2 of the Revenue version you picked. A mismatch moves the VRT band, and the inspector goes by the version, not the logbook.
• Plan the NCTS booking: 7 days from arrival to book, 30 to register. The full sequence is in the UK import guide.