CarCostCheck vs Total Car Check (2026): Full Comparison

Prices checked 8 October 2026 against Total Car Check's own pricing page. "Silver" and "Gold" are Total Car Check's tier names. CarCostCheck has no tiers: it sells one £4.99 history check that includes the outstanding finance check, a £2.99 valuation and a £6.99 bundle.

Total Car Check and CarCostCheck take very different approaches to pricing. Total Car Check sells two tiers: Silver at £3.99 (or 5 for £9.99, which is where the £1.99 headline comes from) and Gold at £9.99 (3 for £14.99, 5 for £19.99). Only Gold includes the outstanding finance check. CarCostCheck sells one product at £4.99 with the finance check included. For private buyers who want a full car history check, CarCostCheck covers the core provenance checks in Total Car Check's £9.99 Gold tier at half the price, plus MOT analysis extras that Total Car Check does not list. What Gold has that CarCostCheck does not: a £30,000 data guarantee, a logbook-loan check, a valuation and an ex-taxi search.

At £4.99, CarCostCheck includes both the outstanding finance check and its MOT analysis extras. Total Car Check Silver at £3.99 does not include the finance check; on Total Car Check that sits in the £9.99 Gold tier.

What the £1.99 Price Actually Buys

Total Car Check advertises "the lowest cost car check in the UK - £1.99". On its pricing page that is the per-check price of Silver bought five at a time (5 for £9.99); a single Silver check is £3.99. Silver is a genuine provenance check, not a details lookup, and it is worth understanding exactly what it does and does not include (from Total Car Check's own comparison table):

Included in Silver:

• Stolen check
• Written-off and salvage history
• Previous keepers and plate changes
• VIN check, imported/exported and scrapped markers
• £10,000 guarantee

Not included in Silver:

• Outstanding finance check
• Logbook-loan check
• Valuation
• £30,000 guarantee (Gold only)
• MOT failure categorisation, a reliability score or predicted repair costs (not listed at any Total Car Check tier)

For the private buyer's main use case, verifying a used car is not stolen, not financed and not a write-off, Silver covers two of the three. The finance check is the one it leaves out, and it is the one that can cost you the car.

Gold vs CarCostCheck: The £9.99 vs £4.99 Comparison

The fair head-to-head is Total Car Check Gold at £9.99 vs CarCostCheck at £4.99. Here is how they line up:

Feature	TCC Gold £9.99	CarCostCheck £4.99
Stolen register	✓	✓
Outstanding finance	✓	✓
Write-off Cat A/B/S/N	✓	✓
Mileage discrepancy check	✓	✓
MOT history list	✓	✓
MOT failure categorisation	Not listed	✓
Reliability score	Not listed	✓
Fuel cost and road tax	✓	✓
Predicted repair costs	Not listed	✓

For half the price, CarCostCheck matches Gold on the core provenance checks and adds three analysis features that Total Car Check does not list at any tier. Gold adds a valuation, a logbook-loan check, an ex-taxi search and a £30,000 guarantee.

Free Tiers

Both providers offer a free option. CarCostCheck's free report includes the full MOT history with failure categorisation, a reliability score, a running-cost estimate (fuel, road tax, MOT and predicted repairs) and the faults that keep coming up in the car's MOT history, all before you pay. The paid £4.99 check adds the stolen, finance and write-off checks, the date of each recorded keeper change, VIN, plate and colour changes, and import, export and scrapped markers, all from Experian AutoCheck.

When Total Car Check Suits You

There are narrow situations where Total Car Check may fit:

• You want a valuation, a logbook-loan check and a £30,000 guarantee bundled into one check (Gold).
• You are checking several cars and Total Car Check's multi-check packs bring the price per check down.
• You genuinely only want a basic details lookup and do not need stolen, finance or write-off data.

For most private buyers doing one-off checks on used cars, CarCostCheck's £4.99 check with a free MOT analysis report is the better value.

Which to Choose

For private buyers wanting a real car history check, CarCostCheck at £4.99 is the stronger choice on price and data: half the price of Total Car Check Gold, the same core provenance checks including outstanding finance, plus three analysis features Total Car Check does not list. Total Car Check Silver at £3.99 (or £1.99 each in a five-pack) is cheaper, but it leaves out the outstanding finance check. If a £30,000 guarantee matters more to you than the £5 difference, Gold is the honest alternative.

If you are checking several cars, compare Total Car Check's multi-check packs with CarCostCheck's multi-car order (£4.99, then £4.49, then £4.00 each).