An honest review of MyCarCheck in 2026, including pricing, accuracy concerns, and how it stacks up against free alternatives like CarCostCheck.
| Feature | MyCarCheck Free | MyCarCheck £4.99 | CarCostCheck Free | CarCostCheck £4.99 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MOT status | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Full MOT history (every test) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| MOT advisories with repair costs | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mileage verification | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reliability score (0-100) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Annual running costs | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Predicted repair costs | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vehicle lifespan estimate | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stolen check (PNC) | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Finance check | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Write-off check | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Keeper count | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| VIN verification | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
Full MOT history, mileage check, health score, running costs. No signup needed.
Short answer: MyCarCheck offers a full vehicle check for £4.99, which matches the market on price. But mixed Trustpilot reviews about data accuracy and a lack of running cost analysis mean you can get more detail elsewhere for the same money, or even for free.
MyCarCheck has been around since 2009 and positions itself as the affordable alternative to HPI. It pulls from Experian's vehicle database (the same source behind HPI, AA, and RAC checks) and offers stolen, finance, and write-off checks at a fraction of the price the bigger names charge. On paper, that sounds like a solid deal. But what do you actually get, and is it enough?
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Full MOT history, mileage check, reliability score, and running costs. No sign-up needed.
MyCarCheck's £4.99 "Full Monty" check covers the core essentials: stolen vehicle check against the Police National Computer, outstanding finance alerts, insurance write-off history (Cat A, B, N, and S), mileage discrepancy flags, plate changes, colour changes, keeper count, and VIN verification. That is a solid package and genuinely competitive on price.
They also offer a free basic check that shows registration details, MOT status, and tax status. This free tier is useful but limited. It tells you the car exists and when its MOT expires, but nothing about its history or hidden problems.
Where MyCarCheck falls short is in analysis. You get raw data, but no interpretation. There is no reliability scoring, no predicted repair costs, no running cost breakdown, and no health assessment. You are left to make sense of the data yourself, which is fine if you know what to look for but not ideal if you are a first-time buyer.
Enter any reg below for a free MOT history, mileage check, and running costs. Takes 5 seconds, no signup.
Data from DVSA and DVLA. Used by thousands of UK car buyers.
MyCarCheck holds a reasonable Trustpilot score, but a recurring theme in negative reviews is data accuracy. Several reviewers have reported cases where finance alerts did not match reality, or where mileage data seemed incomplete. To be fair, no vehicle check service is perfect. Data depends on what has been reported to Experian, DVLA, and MIAFTR. But when you are paying for peace of mind, accuracy concerns are worth noting.
Another common complaint is the upsell process. The free check is designed to worry you into buying the full report, which is standard practice in the industry. CarCostCheck takes a different approach: the free tier includes 12 meaningful checks (MOT history, mileage verification, reliability score, running costs, repair predictions) so you get genuine value before deciding whether to pay for premium data.
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See everything we check for free. No sign-up, no email, instant results.
At the same £4.99 price point, CarCostCheck includes everything MyCarCheck offers in its paid tier, plus full MOT history analysis, a reliability score, running cost projections, repair predictions, and a vehicle lifespan estimate. The free tier alone on CarCostCheck delivers more actionable data than MyCarCheck's paid report.
MyCarCheck is not a bad service. It is competitively priced and covers the essential safety checks. But in 2026, paying £4.99 for just the basics feels like a missed opportunity when you can get significantly more insight for the same price. If you want to understand not just whether a car is safe to buy, but whether it is a smart financial decision, CarCostCheck gives you the fuller picture.
The accuracy concerns on Trustpilot are worth keeping in mind too. Both services pull from similar data sources, but CarCostCheck adds its own analysis layer on top, which means you are not just seeing raw data points. You are getting interpreted results that flag problems in plain English.
CarCostCheck is not just a cheaper alternative. It is a fundamentally better product that costs 75% less. Here is what you get that HPI and most other services do not offer at any price:
The premium check (£4.99) uses the same Experian database as HPI, AA, and RAC for identical stolen, finance, and write-off data. The complete bundle (history + valuation) is £6.99, still 65% cheaper than HPI alone.
Ready to Check a Car?
12 checks included free. Premium stolen, finance, and write-off checks for just £4.99. Market valuation from £2.99.
Enter any reg plate for a free MOT history, mileage check, health score, and running costs. No signup needed.
Used by thousands of UK car buyers. Data from DVSA and DVLA.
Example report preview
2019 Ford Fiesta
1.0 EcoBoost, Petrol, Manual
82
Grade A
£2,450
per year
Pass
MOT status
42k
Mileage
This is what you'll see. Try it with YOUR car:
12 free checks included. Premium history from £4.99. Valuation from £2.99.