Nearly New Cars: Are They Worth It? UK Guide 2026

Introduction

Yes, a nearly new car is usually worth it — if you buy the right type of nearly new car. A vehicle registered 6-24 months ago with under 15,000 miles typically costs 15-30% less than the same model brand new, while keeping most of its factory warranty and all of its modern equipment. That is the genuine "sweet spot" most owners never regret.

But "nearly new" is not one thing. It is at least six different propositions — pre-registered, ex-demonstrator, ex-management, ex-fleet, ex-rental and ex-Motability — and they are not interchangeable. Some are genuinely as good as new. Others have lived a harder life than a three-year-old car that's been pampered on a driveway. The label tells you almost nothing on its own; the paperwork behind it tells you everything.

This guide works through the maths properly: what each type of nearly new car actually is, where the real depreciation happens, what it costs to own over three years compared with buying new or buying properly used, and the one blind spot almost nobody checks — that a car under three years old has no MOT history at all, so the free mileage record that protects every used car buyer in Britain simply doesn't exist for it.

Quick fact-check before you view anything: a car's exact first registration date, its original list price (which affects road tax) and whether it's carrying outstanding finance are all things you can verify in minutes. Run a vehicle history check before you hand over a deposit on any nearly new car — it's the only way to see finance, write-off and keeper-count history that no MOT record can show you.

Key takeaways

• "Nearly new" covers six genuinely different things: pre-registered/delivery-mileage cars, ex-demonstrators, ex-management cars, ex-fleet/ex-lease returns, ex-rental cars and ex-Motability returns. They differ hugely in mileage, use and reliability of history.
• The first 12 months is where most of the money disappears. New cars typically lose 15-25% of their value in year one, against roughly 8-12% a year once they pass three years old. Buying nearly new lets someone else absorb that first drop.
• Pre-registered cars make you the second registered keeper on the V5C, even though the car has never had a private owner — this can knock resale value later, and it starts the warranty clock running from the dealer's registration date, not the day you buy it.
• Cars under three years old have zero MOT history. There is no free GOV.UK mileage record to check ex-fleet or ex-rental mileage against — exactly the categories where mileage and finance history matter most.
• VED can bite nearly new buyers differently to new car buyers. You typically skip the CO2-based first-year rate, but the £40,000/£50,000 expensive car supplement follows the vehicle's original list price for years 2-6 of its life, regardless of who owns it.
• 0% APR on new cars can beat a "cheaper" used car on finance, once you account for interest — but only on the specific models carrying the offer, and only if you'd otherwise be financing at a normal rate.

The quick answer, by situation

What "nearly new" actually means in the UK

There's no legal definition of "nearly new." In practice, the UK trade uses it for cars roughly under 24 months old and under about 15,000 miles, still carrying the bulk of their original manufacturer warranty. Within that umbrella sit several distinct sources of stock, and buyers routinely conflate them — which is exactly how a car with a harder history ends up priced and marketed the same as one that's genuinely barely been driven.

This category matters more to UK buyers now than it did a few years ago. New car list prices have climbed sharply since 2021, manufacturer 0% finance is far less widely available than it once was, and the used market has tightened as fewer nearly new cars flowed through during the supply shortages of 2021-2023. That combination has pushed more buyers to actively search out the nearly new middle ground rather than defaulting to new or drifting into whatever's available on the used forecourt — which is exactly why getting the sub-type right matters more than ever.

Pre-registered / delivery mileage

A dealer (or dealer group) registers a batch of cars in its own name — sometimes to hit a manufacturer sales target before the end of a quarter, sometimes simply to create discounted "nearly new" stock to sell. The car might do nothing more than the drive from the compound to the showroom before it's advertised. Mileage is often under 500. Crucially, you become the second registered keeper the moment you buy it, and the manufacturer warranty started ticking from the dealer's registration date, not the day the car reaches you. A car pre-registered six months before you buy it has already lost six months of its warranty term before you've turned a wheel.

Ex-demonstrator

Used by the dealership for test drives, courtesy duties and occasionally as a manager's own car. Typically 6-18 months old with 3,000-10,000 miles. Usually well maintained (it's the showroom's own asset, after all) but it will have had multiple different drivers, occasional enthusiastic test-drive use, and light cosmetic wear from repeated short journeys and car park manoeuvres.

Ex-management / ex-staff

Cars run by manufacturer or dealer group staff, sometimes senior management, sometimes used for press and marketing duties. Usually well specified and serviced strictly on time, but mileage can be unpredictable — a "low mileage" management car can rack up thousands of miles in a single month on business trips, then sit for weeks.

Ex-fleet / ex-lease

Company cars and leasing company vehicles returned at the end of a typical 2-4 year contract. This is where "nearly new" starts to blur into "properly used" — mileage of 20,000-60,000+ is common. The upside: fleet and lease cars are almost always serviced strictly to schedule, because lease agreements enforce it. The downside: they're often driven hard, by more than one person, with heavy motorway use, and sold on quickly by leasing companies who have no interest in disclosing more than they must.

Ex-rental

Hire company cars sold off after roughly 6-18 months, once they've done their job for Hertz, Enterprise, Europcar and similar operators. Age and mileage can look genuinely appealing — but an ex-rental car may have had dozens or hundreds of different drivers, some on unfamiliar roads, some not treating it as their own. Rental fleets are maintained on schedule, but minor accident damage is not always disclosed, and dealers who buy rental stock don't always advertise its origin prominently.

Ex-Motability

At the end of a standard three-year Motability lease, the car returns to the scheme and is typically bought by a dealer, refurbished if needed, and resold. Around 200,000 ex-Motability cars enter the UK used market every year. They're required to be serviced through the main dealer network throughout the lease and are mileage-capped (commonly 20,000 miles a year, though many drivers use nowhere near that), so full service history and lower-than-average mileage are the norm. The one thing worth confirming is that any driving adaptations have been professionally removed and the car passed its post-lease inspection.

The three-way comparison at a glance

Nearly new, broken down by type

The depreciation maths: where the money actually goes

Depreciation is the single biggest cost of owning any car, new or nearly new, and it is heavily front-loaded. Industry data from valuation specialists such as cap hpi consistently shows new cars losing roughly 15-25% of their value in the first 12 months, then settling into a slower curve of around 8-12% a year as they age past three years. Cumulative three-year depreciation for a typical mainstream model runs to 40-60% of the original list price — though this varies hugely by brand, model and market conditions, and some cars (Porsche, Toyota, Dacia) hold value far better than the average, while others (some EVs, some French and Italian marques) fall away faster.

The practical consequence: whoever owns a car during month one to month twelve absorbs the biggest single chunk of loss it will ever suffer. Buy nearly new, and someone else has already taken that hit for you.

Here's how that plays out for a representative example — an illustrative £32,000 family SUV, using typical depreciation curves for that class of car. These figures are indicative rather than a live valuation for any specific model; always get a current guide price for the actual car you're looking at.

Two things stand out. First, buying nearly new instead of new saves you roughly £5,500 in depreciation cost alone over an equivalent three-year hold, for a car that's barely a year different in age. Second, depreciation keeps slowing the older the car gets — which is the entire economic argument for buying used, just less dramatically once you're past the nearly new sweet spot.

Total cost of ownership: new vs nearly new vs used

Purchase price and depreciation are only part of the picture. Road tax, insurance, servicing and warranty coverage all move in different directions depending on where you buy, and some of the differences are counter-intuitive. Using the same illustrative £32,000 SUV, here's how three years of ownership compares across all three routes.

All figures are illustrative and will vary by make, model, spec, postcode and driver profile — treat them as a framework for your own sums, not a quote. Two things worth flagging specifically:

The VED line is not obvious. A new car buyer pays a one-off, CO2-based first-year rate baked into the on-the-road price — for a typical mid-size petrol SUV in the 111-130g/km band, that's roughly £455, non-recoverable. Buy the same car at 12 months old and you skip that entirely: the first owner already paid it, and you simply pay the flat standard rate (£200/year for the 2026/27 tax year) from day one of your ownership. That's a genuine, structural saving nearly new buyers get that used buyers don't get any more of — used buyers were also going to pay the standard rate anyway.

Servicing and repair costs diverge fastest right where the warranty ends. A nearly new car bought with a year or two of cover left keeps you inside the safety net for longer; a three-year-old car bought just as (or after) its standard warranty lapses is where unplanned repair bills start showing up in the numbers.

Where the catches are

None of these are dealbreakers on their own, but they're the details that separate a genuinely good nearly new purchase from one that only looks good on the windscreen price sticker. Each is easy to check before you commit, and expensive to discover afterwards.

You're the second keeper before the car's even been driven

This is the detail most nearly new buyers never think about until they come to sell. A pre-registered car's V5C shows the dealer as the first registered keeper and you as the second — even though the car might have covered fewer miles than most people's supermarket run. When you eventually sell, some buyers and trade-in valuations treat "two keepers, 8 months old" less favourably than "one keeper, 8 months old," purely on the number printed on the logbook. It rarely wipes out the saving you made buying pre-reg, but it is a real, quantifiable knock worth factoring in rather than being surprised by later.

Ex-rental and ex-fleet cars can have had a genuinely hard early life

Age and mileage on their own don't tell you how a car was driven. A fleet car covering 45,000 motorway miles in three years, serviced on the dot every time, can be a genuinely sound buy. But a rental car that's been driven by dozens of unfamiliar drivers on unfamiliar roads — sometimes abroad, sometimes towing, sometimes by someone who's never driven that model before — carries a wear-and-tear risk that a service book alone won't reveal. Minor kerbing, clutch wear, and small accident repairs below an insurer's reporting threshold are all more likely on cars that changed hands (and drivers) constantly in their first year.

"Delivery mileage" doesn't mean the warranty clock hasn't started

Manufacturer warranties run from the date of first registration, not the date you take delivery. A pre-registered car sitting in a compound for four months before you buy it has already used up four months of its cover. Ask directly: what is the exact first registration date, and how much of the original warranty term is left, in writing. The good news is that the core mechanical and electrical warranty on almost every UK-sold brand transfers automatically to a new keeper with no paperwork or fee required — it's tied to the vehicle, not the original owner. The one common exception worth checking is plug-in hybrid battery degradation cover on some Volkswagen Group brands (Audi, VW, Škoda, SEAT), which can be restricted to the first registered keeper only. Always confirm directly with the manufacturer using the car's VIN before you commit.

Does the finance or lease history follow the car?

Fleet, lease and rental vehicles are sometimes sold on with the original operator's finance agreement still technically outstanding while paperwork is settled, and pre-registered stock has occasionally been financed by the dealer itself through stocking loans. Neither should be your problem once you buy — but you want certainty, not an assumption. This is precisely what an outstanding finance check is for: it confirms, in minutes, that no lender has a financial interest in the car you're about to pay for.

Is the advertised saving actually real?

"Save £6,000 vs RRP" only means something if the RRP it's measured against is realistic. Some nearly new adverts compare their price to an inflated list price that includes options nobody would actually specify, or a manufacturer's headline price that few real buyers pay after negotiation. Before you're impressed by a percentage saving, look up the specific model, trim and options combination on the manufacturer's own configurator and compare like for like — the genuine saving is often smaller than the headline figure, though it's still usually real.

The MOT blind spot nobody mentions

Every seasoned used-car buyer in Britain knows to run a free MOT history check before viewing a car — it shows the mileage recorded at every annual test, going back to the car's third birthday, and it's one of the best tools available for spotting a clocked odometer. We've written a full guide to checking a car's mileage if you want the complete method.

Here's the problem for nearly new buyers: that record doesn't exist yet. The first MOT test in the UK is due three years after a car's first registration date. A pre-registered, ex-demo, ex-management or ex-rental car under three years old has had precisely zero MOT tests — which means there is no free, independent, government-held mileage record to check its stated mileage against at all.

This matters most for exactly the categories of nearly new car where mileage genuinely varies — ex-rental and ex-fleet cars in particular, which can rack up tens of thousands of miles in their first two years, sometimes across multiple drivers and even multiple countries. With an older used car, a discrepancy between the seller's claimed mileage and the MOT record is one of the clearest fraud tripwires available. With a nearly new car, that tripwire simply isn't there.

It doesn't mean nearly new cars are more likely to have false mileage — most don't. It means the free safety net that protects buyers of older used cars has a genuine, structural gap for anything under three years old, and it's a gap a private seller's word, a service book, or a dealer's "trust us" doesn't close. A full vehicle history check cross-references far more than MOT records — the National Mileage Register, outstanding finance, insurance write-off markers, stolen vehicle records and previous keeper count — none of which depend on the car having had a single MOT test. For a nearly new car, that's not a nice-to-have. It's the only independent check available.

VED and road tax: what changes when you buy nearly new

Vehicle Excise Duty works differently depending on where in a car's life you buy it, and the rules have shifted again for the 2026/27 tax year, so it's worth checking GOV.UK's vehicle tax service or our full VED rates guide for the current figures before you commit to a purchase.

As things stand for cars registered from April 2017 onwards:

• First-year rate: paid once, by whoever registers the car, based on CO2 emissions. It ranges from £10 for a zero-emission car up to £5,690 for the highest-emitting non-compliant diesels, with most mainstream petrol and diesel family cars landing somewhere between roughly £135 and £560.
• Standard rate: £200 a year from the second year of registration onwards (£210 if paid monthly by Direct Debit), applying to petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric cars alike — EVs lost their VED exemption in April 2025.
• Expensive car supplement: an extra £440 a year, payable for five years (years 2-6 of the car's registered life), for any car with an original list price over £40,000 — or over £50,000 for pure electric cars, following a threshold rise from April 2026.

The important detail for nearly new buyers: the expensive car supplement is attached to the car's original list price, not to who currently owns it, and it runs for a fixed five years from the car's second VED payment. If you buy a car at 14 months old that had a £45,000 list price when new, you inherit roughly four remaining years of that £440 annual supplement — even though you may have paid considerably less than £45,000 for it. Conversely, buying new means you pay the first-year CO2 rate that a nearly new buyer skips entirely, but you also start that five-year supplement clock at day one rather than stepping into the middle of it.

Always check the car's original list price (not the price you're being asked to pay) before agreeing a deal on anything that might be near the £40,000 or £50,000 threshold — a well-optioned mid-range model can tip over the line even if the base version wouldn't.

Insurance: why nearly new usually sits in the middle

Insurance premiums are driven mainly by the car's insurance group, its value for repair or replacement, and your own risk profile — not by how many owners it's had. Since a nearly new car is typically the same model, engine and trim as its brand-new equivalent, it sits in the same insurance group and carries a broadly similar premium. The main difference in practice is the declared value used for a total-loss settlement: a lower purchase price on a nearly new or used car generally means a lower agreed or market value, which nudges the premium down slightly compared with insuring the same car brand new. It's a modest effect next to depreciation or VED, but worth factoring in if you're comparing quotes across all three routes before you commit to one.

Get a like-for-like quote on the exact spec before you buy, not after — insurers price nearly new cars using the same data as new ones, so there's rarely a surprise, but it's still worth confirming before you're committed to a deposit.

ULEZ and Clean Air Zone compliance

One area where new and nearly new cars have a clear, unambiguous advantage over older used cars is emissions compliance. Every new or nearly new petrol car sold in the UK meets the Euro 6 standard, and every new or nearly new diesel meets Euro 6d, so both sail through London's Ultra Low Emission Zone and the Clean Air Zones in Birmingham, Bristol, Bradford, Sheffield and Portsmouth without a daily charge.

The risk sits with older used cars. Diesel cars registered before September 2015 and petrol cars registered before 2006 typically fail to meet the Euro 6/Euro 4 thresholds these zones require, triggering a daily charge — £12.50 in London's ULEZ, with broadly similar charges in the regional Clean Air Zones. For anyone who regularly drives into a covered city, that's a cost that can run into hundreds of pounds a year on the wrong used car, and it's worth checking a specific vehicle's compliance on Transport for London's ULEZ checker or the relevant local authority's tool before buying anything older than around ten years, particularly a diesel.

Nearly new buyers can effectively ignore this issue entirely — it's one of the more clear-cut reasons to lean nearly new over an older used car if your daily driving takes you into a low emission zone.

Finance: does 0% new beat "cheaper" nearly new or used?

Manufacturer-subsidised 0% APR deals genuinely exist in the UK market in 2026, but they're the exception, not the rule — typically confined to specific models a manufacturer wants to shift, often smaller or electrified cars, and usually requiring a set deposit. Outside of those offers, new car PCP finance generally sits in the 6-9% APR range; nearly new and used cars, financed through dealer or specialist lenders, typically run higher — roughly 6-10% for nearly new, and 9-14% for older used cars, depending on the car's age, your credit profile and the lender.

The maths only make sense worked through properly rather than assumed. Here's an illustrative comparison for a car being financed over four years:

The honest conclusion: if you can genuinely access a 0% deal on the exact model, trim and colour you want, it can beat financing a smaller loan on a nearly new or used equivalent at a normal APR — smaller loan amounts don't automatically mean lower total interest once the rate gap is wide enough. But if 0% isn't available on the car you actually want (and for most models, it isn't), a nearly new or used purchase financed at a lower principal usually wins on total cost, even at a higher headline rate. Our full guide to UK car finance options breaks down HP, PCP and personal loans in more depth if you're weighing this up.

Who each option actually suits

Budget matters, but so does how you actually use a car. The profiles below aren't exhaustive, but most buyers will recognise themselves in one of them.

The commuter with predictable, moderate mileage — nearly new is usually the sweet spot. You get most of the depreciation saving, most of the warranty, and a known specification, without gambling on a car whose early life you can't verify.

The family buyer prioritising safety and space — a pre-registered or ex-demo car of the current model generation gets you the latest safety kit (autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist, the current Euro NCAP rating) at a meaningful discount versus new, without the compromise of an older car's dated safety systems.

The genuinely low-mileage driver — you're the ideal candidate for an ex-Motability or ex-management car, both of which tend to arrive with lower-than-average mileage and a clean, fully documented service history, at prices that reflect their age rather than their (often light) use.

Someone who keeps cars 8-10+ years — the depreciation argument for buying new weakens considerably the longer you hold a car, because the steep early losses get amortised over a much longer ownership period. If you're not planning to change cars again for a decade, buying new and keeping it starts to make more sense than it does for someone trading in every 3-4 years.

Someone who changes cars every 3-4 years — this is where nearly new earns its keep most clearly. You avoid the worst of the depreciation curve on both the buying and selling side of the transaction, twice.

The budget-conscious buyer prioritising value above all else — a well-checked 3-5 year old used car, bought after a thorough vehicle history check and ideally a pre-purchase inspection, still delivers the biggest raw saving versus new, provided you're comfortable with a shorter or expired warranty and budget for repairs.

The self-employed or business driver claiming capital allowances or mileage — a nearly new car with full, verifiable service history from day one makes record-keeping straightforward for HMRC purposes, and a car that's ULEZ/Clean Air Zone compliant from the outset avoids an ongoing cost that eats into any mileage-based claim.

How to buy a nearly new car safely

Nearly new stock is sold with the same "no questions needed, it's basically new" confidence as a genuinely new car, but you're relying far more on paperwork and disclosure than on a manufacturer's factory process. A short, methodical check before you commit protects the saving you're making.

1. Confirm the exact first registration date on the V5C, not just "this year's plate" — every month between registration and your purchase is warranty you've lost and mileage you weren't driving.
2. Ask which sub-type it actually is — pre-reg, ex-demo, ex-management, ex-fleet, ex-rental or ex-Motability — and get it in writing. A dealer who's vague about which one it is has usually got a reason to be.
3. Check the original list price, including factory options, if the car is anywhere near the £40,000 or £50,000 VED threshold — it affects your road tax for years, regardless of what you actually paid.
4. Get the warranty start date and remaining term in writing, and verify it directly with the manufacturer using the VIN rather than taking a dealer's word for it.
5. Run a full vehicle history check regardless of the missing MOT record. A car history check confirms outstanding finance, write-off status, keeper count, plate changes and mileage data from the National Mileage Register — none of which depend on the car having ever had an MOT.
6. Physically check wear against the claimed mileage — pedal rubbers, steering wheel, driver's seat bolster and key fobs should roughly match what you're told, especially on ex-rental or ex-fleet stock where mileage varies widely.
7. Get a current market valuation before agreeing a final price — depreciation curves move month to month, and "nearly new" pricing should reflect the car's actual age and mileage, not just a flat percentage off list.
8. Negotiate on nearly new stock the same way you would on used. Dealers carry pre-reg and ex-demo cars as working capital sitting on the forecourt, and they have a real incentive to clear it — especially near the end of a sales quarter. The advertised "saving vs new" figure is a starting point for negotiation, not the final word.

If you'd rather start with the fundamentals of buying any used car safely — documentation, negotiation, consumer rights — our complete used car buying guide covers the full process end to end.

Frequently asked questions

The questions below come up most often once buyers start comparing new, nearly new and used side by side — the straight answers, in one place.

Is a nearly new car worth it?

Generally yes, for most buyers. A car 6-24 months old with under 15,000 miles typically costs 15-30% less than the same model brand new, while retaining most of its manufacturer warranty and current specification. The exceptions are ex-rental and some ex-fleet cars, where the discount can reflect a genuinely harder early life rather than just age — check the sub-type, not just the price.

What counts as a nearly new car?

There's no legal definition, but the UK trade generally uses it for cars under about 24 months old with under roughly 15,000 miles, still carrying the majority of their original manufacturer warranty. It covers pre-registered/delivery-mileage cars, ex-demonstrators, ex-management cars, and — more loosely — younger ex-fleet, ex-rental and ex-Motability returns.

Is pre-registered the same as nearly new?

No — pre-registered is one specific type of nearly new car, not a synonym for the category. A pre-registered car has been registered by the dealer itself, often with only delivery mileage on the clock, making you the second keeper on the V5C despite the car having barely been driven. Ex-demo, ex-fleet, ex-rental and ex-Motability cars are all also "nearly new" but arrive via a completely different route with a different mileage and use history.

Should I buy new, nearly new or used?

It depends mainly on how long you keep cars and how much certainty you need. Buy new if you keep cars 8+ years or need a specific factory-order specification. Buy nearly new if you want most of the benefits of new at a genuine discount and don't mind being the second registered keeper. Buy properly used (3+ years) if maximising your saving matters more than warranty cover, and you're prepared to budget for repairs and run a thorough history check first.

Do ex-rental and ex-fleet cars have full manufacturer warranty?

Usually, yes — the core manufacturer warranty transfers automatically to whoever owns the car, with no paperwork required, because it's tied to the vehicle rather than the original keeper. What it doesn't guarantee is a gentle early life: both categories can rack up high mileage quickly and pass through multiple drivers, so warranty cover doesn't offset the higher wear-and-tear risk — it just means covered mechanical failures should still be free to fix.

How much can I save buying nearly new instead of brand new?

Typically 15-30% off the new list price for the same model, depending on the sub-type, the specific car and how motivated the dealer is to clear stock. Pre-registered and ex-demo cars tend to sit toward the lower end of that saving with the least wear; older ex-fleet or ex-rental nearly new cars can offer bigger discounts but with correspondingly higher mileage and less certainty over early use.

Does a nearly new car have any MOT history?

No. The first MOT test in the UK isn't due until three years after a car's first registration date, so anything younger has no MOT records at all — meaning there's no free, government-held mileage record to check its odometer against. This is a genuine blind spot for nearly new buyers, particularly on ex-fleet and ex-rental cars where mileage varies the most; a full vehicle history check is the only way to independently verify mileage, finance and keeper history in the absence of MOT data.

Are ex-Motability cars a good buy?

Generally, yes. Around 200,000 ex-Motability cars return to the UK used market each year, all serviced through the main dealer network throughout their three-year lease and mileage-capped, so most arrive with full service history and lower-than-average mileage for their age. The main things worth confirming are that any driving adaptations have been professionally removed and the vehicle passed its post-lease inspection — ask the selling dealer for the paperwork.

The verdict

There's no single right answer between new, nearly new and used, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. There is, however, a wrong way to approach the decision, which is treating "nearly new" as a single category rather than six different ones with six different risk profiles. A pre-registered car with 200 miles on the clock and a ten-year-old dealer relationship behind it is a very different purchase from an ex-rental car that's had forty different drivers in fourteen months, even if they're advertised in the same "nearly new" section of the same website at similar prices.

Work out which sub-type you're actually looking at, check the registration date and warranty term in writing, and don't let the absence of an MOT history lull you into skipping a proper check — it's precisely because that free safety net doesn't exist yet that a paid one matters more, not less. If you're comparing the more fundamental question of new versus used first, our new vs used car guide covers that decision in full.

Before you commit to any nearly new car, run a vehicle history check for £14.99 (or from £8 per report if you're comparing more than one car) to confirm outstanding finance, write-off status, keeper count and mileage data — the things no MOT record can tell you, because for a car this young, no MOT record exists. Not sure where to start? Try a free check first to see what's on record for any registration number.

Sources:

• Vehicle tax rate tables — GOV.UK
• Check tax on a vehicle — GOV.UK
• Check your MOT history — GOV.UK
• Car tax bands 2026: VED road tax costs explained — RAC Drive
• Electric car road tax guide 2026 — RAC Drive
• Should you buy an ex-Motability car? — What Car?
• Ex-Motability cars: should you buy one? — Carwow
• Check your vehicle for ULEZ — Transport for London

Figures for depreciation, insurance and servicing throughout this guide are indicative, based on typical UK market patterns for the vehicle class described, and will vary by make, model, specification and individual circumstances. VED, ULEZ and Clean Air Zone rules are reviewed periodically — always confirm current rates on GOV.UK or the relevant local authority before budgeting for a purchase.