Hidden Histories

I came across an interesting and potentially very useful facility from the DVLA this week. They have made the MOT history of cars available online. This is useful because it not only allows one to check if a vehicle has a current MOT but it also shows the past history of MOTs including items of failure and advisories (items which have not strictly failed the test but could do with attention) and also the mileage history. Importantly, this is not only for cars that are currently owned but for any vehicle so it is easy to check if those claims of the careful lady owner actually translate to a well maintained and cared for vehicle.

It also allows one to find out what happened to previously owned vehicles. Now, I’m not very good at remembering old number plates – in fact my usual way of finding my own car is to click the remote locking fob and see which vehicle lights up. However I do recall a couple of old number plates. First up was our old Nissan which we parted company with in 2001 with 150,000 miles on the clock and a rather knackered gearbox. I had wondered whether this was scrapped or repaired and it does appear that this was the latter. The MOT histories start in 2006 and the Nissan failed it with a huge list of emissions related issues at 171,000 miles and then passed 3 days later – presumably with a replacement lambda sensor. The last entry was a pass at 174,000 miles a year later so I expect it was finally scrapped sometime after that. Still, it looks like someone managed to get some use out of it for another 7 years and 25,000 miles after we parted company with it.

Written off?

I did check another one of my old cars to see if anything came of it and was quite surprised to find quite some history. The car passed its first MOT in January 2005 with flying colours. It was then written off days later and, given that the entire front end of the vehicle was compacted and every air-bag, seat belt tensioner and other safety device had deployed the insurance company offered me the cash to buy an identical model from the local dealership rather than repair it. The vehicle would still have had some value, not least a perfectly serviceable Honda engine and gearbox and various items such as doors, seats and the like that a decent scrap dealer would be able to salvage and sell on Ebay. However, it looks like someone actually repaired the vehicle – and possibly not very well at that.

It first shows up in July 2016 with another 8,000 miles on it and illegally worn front tyres. This is quite some wear as the tyres were practically new at the time it was written off so I would expect some sort of fundamental wheel misalignment must have been going on. It also had mis-aimed headlights and a duff indicator bulb. It seems to have clocked up the miles quite happily until 2009 at 108,000 miles. By the next June this was magically down to 75,000. Then it put on another 5 thousand miles and failed on some remarkably similar items to the 2006 test. 2 days later it passed again but with another 20,000 miles missing (although that could have been a mistype by the garage). I’m assuming that it was put out of its misery sometime after that as that is the last we hear of it.

The great thing about the DVLA facility is that it allows a prospective car buyer to check all this in advance and I think anyone seeing the Honda’s history would have been alerted to a chequered history. However, I do think it would make sense to combine this with histories of serious accidents. The fact that a relatively new and valuable car was written off should have raised major alarm bells with potential buyers. Even taking that into account I think the facility is a great advance and, for once, government data is being used for the benefit of the people – at least the honest ones.