The short answer
"Best HPI check" is a search for the best vehicle history check, because hpi check® is one company's product and the name has become shorthand for the whole category. There are at least seven UK services worth considering, and on 23 September 2026 (4 October for carVertical, hpi check and Carhealth) a check listing finance, write-off and stolen records cost from £8.49 to £39.99, with carVertical's single report at the top of that range.
There is no single best one. The right choice depends on whether you want the lowest price, the strongest guarantee, an international history, or a report that explains what it found. This guide sets out what each of the seven charges and lists, using only what each company publishes on its own website on the date shown, so you can pick for your situation.
- Cheapest full check with finance, write-off and stolen: mycarcheck comprehensive £8.49, Total Car Check Gold £9.99. Both under half the hpi check® price.
- Strongest guarantee: hpi check®, the AA (HPI-provided) and Total Car Check Gold all state a £30,000 data guarantee. carVertical and Carhealth state a report return guarantee, not a data guarantee; mycarcheck states neither.
- Best for an imported or foreign-registered car: carVertical, the only provider here describing international sources, at £39.99 a report.
- Only report on this list with an AI reading, a model buyer's guide, common faults, life expectancy and links to salvage photos: Carhealth at £29.99, or £10 a report on the five-report bundle.
- Do not judge by the headline price. Several providers' cheapest tiers leave out the finance check, and finance is the record most likely to cost you the car.
- Whichever you choose, run it before you pay a deposit.
Carhealth is our own product. It is held to the same rows and the same sourcing as everyone else below, and we have stated plainly where rivals offer something we do not. Carhealth is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any other provider named here. hpi check®, carVertical, Total Car Check, mycarcheck, CarCheck.co.uk and The AA are trade marks of their respective owners, used only to identify the products compared.
Prices in September and October 2026
Figures for carVertical, hpi check and Carhealth were read from each provider's UK site on 4 October 2026. The other providers' figures were read on 23 September 2026. Carhealth changed its prices on 9 October 2026 and is shown at the new prices. The "full check" column is the cheapest tier on that site that lists outstanding finance, insurance write-off and stolen checks together.
| Provider | Full check, single | Bundles | Cheaper tier | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mycarcheck | £8.49 comprehensive | 2 for £9.99, 3 for £12.49, 5 for £19.99, 10 for £34.99 | Basic £4.99: write-off, stolen, export, no finance. Free check: MOT, valuation, make and model | mycarcheck.com |
| Total Car Check | £9.99 Gold | 3 for £14.99, 5 for £19.99 | Silver £3.99 (5 for £9.99): write-off, stolen, plates, keepers, no finance. Free check available | totalcarcheck.co.uk/Prices |
| The AA | £14.99 | 5 at £6 each | None listed | theaa.com/vehicle-check |
| hpi check® | £19.99 | MultiCheck 3 for £29.99 | Basic £9.99: no guarantee, no write-off details, no mileage discrepancies | home.hpicheck.com |
| Carhealth | £29.99 | 2 for £39.99, 5 for £49.99 | Free check: make, model, colour, MOT history, tax, mileage readings | carhealth.co.uk/pricing |
| carVertical | £39.99 | 2 for £51.98, 3 for £62.97 | None listed | carvertical.com/gb/pricing |
| CarCheck.co.uk | From £4.99 | Not shown | Free check: make, model, MOT dates, tax, mileage registrations, recalls, export | carcheck.co.uk |
Note on mycarcheck: its "2 full checks for £9.99" was labelled an autumn sale on the day we read it, so it may not last.
What each report lists
"Yes" means the provider's own UK page lists the item for the tier priced above. "Not listed" means we could not find it on that page; it is not a claim that the provider cannot supply it. The carVertical column comes from its UK sample report (5 October 2026); "Not in sample report" means we did not see it there.
| Check | mycarcheck | Total Car Check Gold | The AA | hpi check® | Carhealth | carVertical | CarCheck.co.uk premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outstanding finance | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, by name, with lender and term | Not listed |
| Insurance write-off | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, Cat A/B/S/N | Yes, with category | Damage check with repair cost and date |
| Stolen (police record) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Theft check |
| Mileage discrepancy | Not listed | Not listed on prices page | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Mileage registrations |
| Full MOT history | Yes (from the free tier) | Free check lists it | Not listed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Previous keepers | Not listed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (owner count) | Owner history |
| Plate changes | Yes (basic lists plate transfers) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, and colour changes | Not in sample report | Plate change |
| Scrapped, imported or exported | Export and scrapped | Yes | Scrapped | Yes | Yes | Scrapped: yes. Others: not in sample report | Scrapped and export in free check |
| Valuation | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not listed |
| Salvage auction records | Not listed | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Yes, with links to photos where they exist | Damage records and photos; no separate auction section | Not listed |
| Service history | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not in sample report | Yes |
| Online advert history | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Yes, with asking prices and photos | Listing records in timeline | Yes, with asking prices and pictures |
| Colour changes | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked | Not listed | Yes | Not in sample report | Not checked |
| Life expectancy | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked | Not listed | Yes | Not in sample report | Not checked |
| Servicing due | Not checked | Not checked | Not checked | Not listed | Yes, by age and mileage (not past service history) | Service schedule | Not checked |
| AI analysis | "AI insights" | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Yes, whole-history read | Not listed; has a score out of 100 | Not listed |
| Model buyer's guide and common faults | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Yes | Not in sample report | Not listed |
| International records | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | No, UK only | Yes, 1,000+ sources (their description) | Not listed |
| Data guarantee | Not stated | £30,000 | £30,000 | £30,000 | Report return guarantee | "Report return guarantee" | Not stated |
| Refunds stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Full refund where no data found; 14-day refund on unused reports | Not stated | Not stated |
A few readings of that table worth spelling out.
CarCheck.co.uk's premium report is a different animal. Its listed strengths are service history and a damage check with repair costs, which nobody else on this list offers, plus online advert history, which Carhealth now lists too. Its reports start from £4.99. But its homepage does not list an outstanding finance check anywhere in the premium report. If finance is your worry, do not assume it is covered.
mycarcheck is the price leader for a finance-inclusive check, at £8.49 single or £5 each in the two-pack sale. Its free tier is one of the more generous (MOT history, valuation, AI insights), and it says clearly that the free and basic tiers exclude finance.
The £30,000 guarantee sits with three names. hpi check® and the AA are the same underlying product (the AA's page says its checks are provided by HPI Limited), and Total Car Check's Gold matches the figure at half the price. If you want that backstop, those are the three.
carVertical's column comes from its UK sample report, not its pricing page, which does not itemise records. The sample shows finance, write-off category, recalls, safety rating, emissions and tax, a service schedule and photos, and also a score out of 100. A sample is one car, so a given report may differ. Its case is still the imported car.
Which one for you
Lowest price with finance included: mycarcheck comprehensive at £8.49, or Total Car Check Gold at £9.99 if you also want the guarantee.
Cheapest per car if you are checking several: Total Car Check's five for £19.99 or mycarcheck's five for £19.99.
A guarantee behind the data: hpi check® at £19.99, the AA at £14.99, or Total Car Check Gold at £9.99, each stating £30,000 on its own terms.
A car that has lived abroad: carVertical. Nobody else here describes international sources.
A report that tells you what the findings mean: Carhealth. At £29.99, against £19.99 for hpi check®, you get the AI reading of the whole history, a buyer's guide for the model, the common faults to check in person, previous adverts with photos, life expectancy and links to salvage auction photos where they exist. What you do not get is a data guarantee; we refund where no data is found and unused reports within 14 days.
Past service history: CarCheck.co.uk, with the finance caveat above. For how the car was advertised before, Carhealth and CarCheck.co.uk list it with asking prices, and carVertical's sample shows listing records in its timeline.
Run a Carhealth check
Enter the registration on the car history check page. The report is on screen in about a minute and emailed to you, and the sample report shows every section before you pay. If finance, a write-off marker or a mileage problem shows up, the AI summary at the top says so in plain English.
FREE INSTANT CHECK
Cheap car? Check it free before you buy.
Clocking is rife. Verify the mileage against MOT records free. Full history.
Free instant check · 14-day refund on unused reports
How we compiled this
- Sources: mycarcheck.com, totalcarcheck.co.uk and its Prices page, theaa.com/vehicle-check and carcheck.co.uk, read on 23 September 2026 (CarCheck.co.uk price updated 9 October 2026); home.hpicheck.com and its product pages, carvertical.com/gb/pricing and carhealth.co.uk/pricing and sample report, read on 4 October 2026; carvertical.com/gb/sample-report, read on 5 October 2026.
- "Not listed" means the item did not appear on the page we read. Providers may include more than their pages say; ask them if it matters.
- We have not run the seven reports against the same vehicle for this article and make no claim about any provider's accuracy or completeness. Guarantee terms belong to each provider.
- Prices change. We re-check this page quarterly; if you spot something out of date, tell us.
Frequently asked questions
Is an "HPI check" from another company a real HPI check?
No. hpi check® is HPI Limited's product and a registered trade mark. Every other provider sells a vehicle history check of its own. The AA's check is HPI's product under the AA name, according to the AA's own page.
What is the cheapest HPI check alternative?
On 23 September 2026, mycarcheck's comprehensive check at £8.49 was the cheapest single check we found that lists outstanding finance, write-off and stolen records. Total Car Check's Silver at £3.99 is cheaper still but does not include finance.
Which check has a guarantee?
hpi check®, the AA and Total Car Check Gold each state a £30,000 data guarantee on their own terms. carVertical states a "report return guarantee", and Carhealth offers a report return guarantee (a full refund if a report errors out or is missing data that should exist). mycarcheck and CarCheck.co.uk do not state a data guarantee on the pages we read.
Do I need more than one check?
Usually not, if the one you buy includes finance, write-off, stolen and mileage. Where it can be worth two: an imported car (carVertical for the foreign history, a UK check for the UK records) or a car with a suspicious past where CarCheck.co.uk's advert history adds a second angle.
How much is a Carhealth check?
£29.99 for one full report, £39.99 for two or £49.99 for five, with a free check of the public data before you buy. See pricing.
Comparison verified 4 October 2026 (carVertical, hpi check, Carhealth) and 23 September 2026 (others). Carhealth Ltd is not affiliated with any other provider named. Product names are trade marks of their respective owners.