Terms & conditions

1. Who we are

CarCanny (carcanny.co.uk and carcanny.com) is run by VLAYER LABS LTD, registered in England and Wales, company number 15480811, VAT number GB480401420. Registered office: 101 New Cavendish Street, 1st Floor South, London W1W 6XH, United Kingdom.

Contact us at support@carcanny.co.uk or by post. We're an independent company, not the DVLA, DVSA or any public body. Some vehicle information is also free on GOV.UK.

CarCanny is for people aged 18 or over in the UK, checking cars for personal use. Our privacy policy explains how we use your data.

2. The free check and what you can buy

The free check shows a car's details from its official DVLA record, such as its make, model, colour and engine, so you can compare them with its V5C logbook. It also gives a short verdict, written by AI from what's generally known about the car's model and, for a model our Banger Watch used car record ranks, from what that record says about the model, not from this car's record: it isn't a check of this car. With the verdict, the free check shows a model score. For one of the UK's 100 most common used cars, that's the model's place out of 100 on our used car record, built from official MOT and injury-collision figures for all cars of that model against cars their age. For any other model, it's an estimate written by AI from what's generally known about the model: worse, about the same or better than cars its age. A model score is about the model, never this car. The verdict's headline is shown as the headline at the top of the free check's page, not with the rest of the verdict. If the DVLA records the car as scrapped, the free check tells you not to buy it, without the reason. Of its MOT record, the free check shows only how many MOT tests and mileage readings exist and, at most, the year of the first. It doesn't show their results, the MOT or tax status or the export marker, or look for outstanding finance, theft, write-offs or mileage problems: only the full report does, or, for the MOT and mileage alone, the MOT and mileage check below.

For some cars, the free check and the full report may also show a picture of the car's model in the car's colour, labelled "Illustrated by CarCanny AI". It's an illustration drawn by AI from the car's make, model, generation, look (before or after a facelift), body style and colour, not a photo of this car, so details such as trim, wheels and shade can differ, and it says nothing about the car's condition. Not every car gets one. If a picture doesn't look like the car's model, tap "Not the right car?" and we stop showing it.

If you join CarCanny emails, you also get the car's price range: what similar cars sell for, from a trade-in price to a dealer's forecourt price, rounded. We email you a link that shows it on the free check for 7 days. It's free and you can unsubscribe at any time. Price ranges aren't available for every car: if the car has none, we say so when you press Join, and send nothing.

The full report adds outstanding finance, stolen, write-off and scrapped checks, a mileage check, the MOT status and history, tax, the export marker, previous keepers, an outstanding recall check, an estimated value, and three checks of similar cars: how many are for sale and the cheapest price, or the price range when every listing came back; how many have sold in the last 90 days and the cheapest, or the price range when every sale came back; and how demand looks, including how long similar cars take to sell, how many sold in that time and a typical sale price, when those figures are available. The outstanding recall check says whether the DVSA records a safety recall that hasn't been marked as done. When the DVSA has found no recall in the data manufacturers share with it, the check says so, and that a dealer for the make can confirm. When the DVSA has recorded one or more recalls for the car and all of them have been fixed, the check says that. It says the check was not made when we don't have the DVSA's record, or the DVSA's recall service couldn't be reached. Each of the similar-car checks says it was not checked when we don't have that record. It comes with a verdict, written by AI from those records and what's generally known about the car's model: what the records show, what to check at the viewing, and how to challenge the asking price using the report's estimated value. Exactly what's included is shown before you pay.

Each report covers one car and is a snapshot: it doesn't update later, and it doesn't come with monitoring or insurance. Once its records are a day old, and from the day after you paid for it, the report offers "Re-check this car". A re-check is a new report, with the records looked up again: you pay for it, or use a credit or a pass, like any other car.

You can buy the full report in three ways:

• •A single, £9.99: one car.
• •A 3-pack, £19.99: 3 cars.
• •A 14-day pass, £99.99: unlimited cars for 14 days, meaning as many cars as you check in 14 days, for your personal use and within our fair-use terms below. Personal use on up to 2 devices. Fair-use review applies.

On a car's page you can buy a single or a 3-pack. Either unlocks that car straight away, and a 3-pack leaves the rest for other cars. In a pricing section, such as the one on our home page, you can buy any of them without a car: a single as 1 credit, a 3-pack as 3 credits, or a 14-day pass. A 14-day pass is sold only there.

Credits last 6 months and a 14-day pass 14 days, counting the day you buy them as day 1, and work until 23:59 UK time on the last day. Your confirmation email gives the last day, and so does the page you see after buying without a car. Credits you haven't used by then lapse, and a pass ends.

The MOT and mileage check, £1.99, covers one car: three of the full report's checks, the mileage check, MOT history and MOT status, worked out from the MOT records the DVSA holds for the car. It shows those records as the free check found them, and nothing else from the full report. The same MOT records are free to view on GOV.UK: the check does the reading for you. We offer it only on some cars' free checks, such as cars with at least two MOT tests that recorded a mileage. You buy it for that car, by card, without a promo code, and it gives no credits. What these terms say about reports, what they can tell you and using them fairly, applies to the check too.

What the check cost counts towards the full report for the same car. From the check's page, or the link in its email, you can buy that car's full report for £8: the full report's £9.99, less the £1.99 you paid for the check. We call this an upgrade. It's offered only there, once per check, while the check's link works and as long as we haven't refunded the check, and only for that car's full report, never credits or a pass. Once you've paid, the check's link opens the full report. When the check's link stops working, or we refund the check in full or in part, its £1.99 no longer counts: you can still buy the full report at its full price from the car's free check.

3. What a report can and can't tell you

• •A report shows what official and industry records said when we looked them up, which can be before you buy it. The report, and the email with its link, give the day and time of the oldest record it shows, other than the car's specification, as "Data as of". Records can be incomplete, late or wrong, so "nothing found" doesn't prove a car has no problems. Where a source has no data, we say so.
• •It doesn't prove who owns the car, that the seller can sell it, that the mileage is genuine or that the car is in good condition.
• •Valuations and verdicts are estimates and guidance, not offers or guarantees.
• •We use AI to write most verdicts, and each one it writes says so. AI can get things wrong, so where a verdict and the records it sums up differ, go by the records. What a verdict says is generally known about a model isn't a check of this car. For a car recorded as stolen, scrapped or written off in category A or B, we don't use AI: the verdict says not to buy it. If AI can't write a verdict, the report shows a shorter one from the records instead.
• •A verdict's advice on the asking price uses only the report's estimated value. It's guidance for your own negotiation, not financial or professional advice, and it doesn't replace an inspection.
• •Use it alongside the V5C logbook, the VIN on the car and, where it makes sense, an independent inspection.

4. Paying, and getting what you bought

The price is shown before you pay, in pounds and including VAT. You pay once by card through Stripe, unless a promo code makes your order free; we never see your full card number.

A promo code takes money off what you buy on a car's page, except an MOT and mileage check, which takes none. On an upgrade, it comes off the upgrade's price. A car's free check may offer you a code for money off a full report. Once it's offered, and while the offer runs, that car's checkout on the same device applies it for you, or you can type it yourself. It covers a full report on its own only: not credits, a pass, an MOT and mileage check, or an upgrade from one. You see the new price before you pay. You can use one code per order, only on what it covers, and only while it's valid: a code can end or run out. It has no cash value. A code that makes your order free still asks you to agree to immediate delivery. If you cancel or we refund you, you get back what you actually paid.

Check your email, and the registration if you're buying for a car, before you pay: you can correct them until you submit. Your order is accepted when we show or email your confirmation. Contracts are in English.

Your report opens on screen once it's ready, and we email you a link to it. A report's checks fill in on screen as their records come back. An MOT and mileage check opens on screen once you've paid, and we email you its link with your receipt. The link works for 14 days, or 30 days if you paid before 1 November 2026, and anyone with it can open the report, so keep it private. From a full report's page, anyone with its link can also email the link to up to 3 other addresses, while the link works. Sending it to the same address again doesn't count as another. You can't send an MOT and mileage check this way. We email the address you paid with each time, saying which address it went to, mostly hidden, and when. Sending a copy never changes your order's email address or moves any credits. You'll need an internet connection and an up-to-date browser.

Credits or a pass bought without a car come with no report yet. After paying, you see what you bought and how to use it on a private page, and we email you the same with your receipt. Anyone with that page's link can see what you bought, but using it takes a code we send to your email.

Our vehicle-data provider allows us a set number of lookups each day. On a very busy day, once nearly all of them are used, we stop taking new orders for a car and stop unlocking new cars, or re-checking a car, with credits or a pass, for everyone, until the provider's daily limit resets. You'll see "High demand right now, please try again later.", and nothing is charged or used. Reports you've already bought or unlocked still open, and so does unlocking the same car again with credits or a pass while its report link works. The free check keeps working, and you can still buy credits or a pass without a car, or an MOT and mileage check, which needs no lookup. An upgrade is a new order for a car, so it stops too.

5. Using credits or a pass

Credits and a 14-day pass belong to the email address you paid with. There's no account or password. You use them the same way. If you can't read email at that address, for example because Apple Pay shared a private Hide My Email address instead of yours, email support@carcanny.co.uk and we'll move them to your address once we've checked the payment.

• •To use them on a device, choose "Already have credits or a pass?" at a car's checkout, or use the page you see after buying without a car. Enter the email address you paid with and type the 6-digit code we email you. A code works for 5 minutes and allows 5 tries, and each new code we send replaces the one before. The device you buy on needs a code too.
• •Each purchase's credits or pass work on up to 2 devices at once. Setting up another signs out the one used least recently, which can sign in again with a new code.
• •A device stays set up until your credits or pass end, using an essential cookie (see our privacy policy).
• •A device can hold credits and a 14-day pass at once. Each car you unlock uses a pass you can use before any credits, so your credits stay for later. If you hold more than one pass, or credits from more than one purchase, the ones that end first are used first.
• •If your pass is slowed down for heavy use (see "Using CarCanny fairly"), you can choose "Use a credit instead" to unlock the car with a credit you hold. We never use a credit for this unless you choose it.
• •You can set up a device with more than one email address, and it keeps the credits or pass of each. It uses them in the order above, and we email the report to the address that bought the credit or pass used.
• •Unlocking a car again uses nothing while its report link still works, if credits or a pass bought with an email address set up on that device unlocked it before, even if they have since been used up or ended. Choosing "Re-check this car" on a report is different: it unlocks a new report, so it uses a credit, or counts as a car on a pass.
• •Each time you unlock a car, you tick a box that says: "Open my report here now and email me the link. I understand I lose my right to cancel for this report once it's delivered." The email with your report confirms this.
• •You can't swap a single for a 3-pack, or either for a 14-day pass: the only upgrade we offer is from an MOT and mileage check to the full report for the same car (see "The free check and what you can buy"). Credits last 6 months and a pass 14 days from the day you buy them, so buying more credits or another pass doesn't extend the ones you have.

6. Cancelling and refunds

You'd normally have 14 days to change your mind. When you buy on a car's page, its report is digital and delivered straight away, so at checkout we ask you to agree to immediate delivery and to confirm you'll lose that right for that report once it's delivered. If we haven't delivered it yet, you can still cancel for a full refund. With a 3-pack, only that car's report loses the right: the rest of what you bought keeps it, as below.

An MOT and mileage check is digital and delivered straight away too. At its checkout you tick a box that says: "Deliver my check right after paying. I'll lose my 14-day right to cancel once it's delivered." An upgrade is a full report for a car, so it's the same as buying one on the car's page.

Credits or a pass bought without a car deliver nothing at checkout, where you only agree to these terms, so you keep the full right to cancel: within 14 days of the day you buy, you get a full refund as long as you haven't unlocked a car with them yet. Each car you unlock later asks for your agreement to immediate delivery, and you lose the right to cancel for that report once it's delivered.

Wherever you bought them, if you cancel credits or a pass within 14 days of the day you buy, after unlocking some cars with them, we refund the price you paid minus a single's price for each car unlocked with them, including a car unlocked when you bought them, and never less than £0. A single's price is the one it had when you bought them, with the same promo code taken off if you used one. For example, bought when a single cost £9.99, a £19.99 3-pack with one car checked gets £10 back, and a £99.99 14-day pass with 3 cars checked gets £70.02 back.

This doesn't affect your legal rights: a report must be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. If it's wrong, for the wrong car through our mistake, missing a check we promised or never arrives, email support@carcanny.co.uk with your order reference and we'll fix it or refund you. The same goes for an MOT and mileage check. A report or check that correctly shows a problem with the car, or correctly says a source had no data, isn't faulty.

An MOT and mileage check and its upgrade are separate orders. We refund each one on its own, and only what that order charged. Refunding an upgrade gives back at most £8, and your check stays open. Refunding a check never touches an upgrade you've paid for, but once a check is refunded it no longer counts towards one. If an upgrade is paid twice for the same check, for example from two tabs, the second opens the same full report and we refund it.

To cancel, email or write to us, or reply to the email we sent when you bought. Any clear statement will do, such as: "I cancel my contract for [the report, the check, the credits or the pass] [order reference], ordered on [date]. Name, address, date." We refund within 14 days, to your original payment method.

7. Using CarCanny fairly

Reports are for your own use. Please don't resell or publish them, scrape or bulk-check data, try to break the site, or use CarCanny to trace or harass anyone. You can still share a report with an adviser or the authorities.

Credits and a 14-day pass are for your personal use. You can't share, transfer or sell them, or resell the reports they unlock. Moving them to another email address of your own, which we do once we've checked the payment, isn't a transfer. Using CarCanny for a business, such as trading cars, needs a separate agreement with us: email support@carcanny.co.uk.

Each purchase's credits or pass work on up to 2 devices at once, and unlock at most 1 car every 30 seconds.

A 14-day pass slows down after heavy use: once it has unlocked 10 cars in 24 hours, it unlocks at most 1 car an hour, until fewer than 10 of its cars are from the last 24 hours. We tell you when you can unlock the next one. If the device also holds credits, you can choose to use one instead, as above.

Every report a pass unlocks shows "Personal pass", your email address with most of it hidden, and "not for resale", on screen and when printed.

Our support team reviews a pass when its use looks unusual, such as heavy use, many cars in total, many changes of device, use from places far apart, or a report link opened from many different internet addresses. A review doesn't change anything by itself.

If credits or a pass seem to be shared or resold, our support team may pause them while it reviews how they're used: you can't unlock new cars until we've finished, but reports you've already unlocked stay open. We'll email you.

If we confirm misuse, we'll email you a warning. If it continues, we'll suspend your credits or pass, with no refund.

8. Our responsibility to you

We're responsible for foreseeable loss caused by our breaking these terms or not using reasonable care and skill. We're not responsible for business losses, as CarCanny is for personal use.

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law doesn't let us limit, and nothing affects your legal rights as a consumer.

9. Complaints, changes and the law

If something isn't right, email support@carcanny.co.uk. We aim to reply within 2 working days and to resolve complaints within 20. If we can't resolve one, we'll tell you about an alternative dispute resolution service, and you can always go to court.

We may update these terms for future orders by publishing a new version here. The terms you agreed to keep applying to a report, credits or a pass you've already bought.

The law of England and Wales applies. You can bring a claim in the courts of England and Wales, or, if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in your local courts.