UK Imports · Research
Ireland imported 55,724 used cars from Britain in seven months. One in 86 has a mileage reading that goes backwards.
Almost every used import on an Irish forecourt came from the UK, and every one of them carries a free, public British MOT record. Most Irish buyers never open it. Here is what that record contains, what our analysis of 25,896 UK MOT tests found inside it, and where it stops being useful.
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Why this matters more in Ireland than anywhere else
Irish used-car demand has outrun Irish supply for years, and the gap is filled from Britain. According to SIMI, Ireland registered 71,813 imported used cars in 2025, up 16.6% on 2024. Through the first seven months of 2026 the figure was 55,724 — running 37% ahead of the same period a year earlier.
That is roughly one imported used car for every two new cars registered in the State. And here is the asymmetry nobody talks about: Irish NCT history is not published. You cannot look up the NCT record of a car you are thinking of buying. But a car that spent its life in Britain has a public MOT history — free, complete, and available in seconds.
For the largest single category of car on the Irish used market, there is more free history available than for a domestic Irish car. Most buyers never use it.
What we found in 25,896 UK MOT tests
We analysed the MOT records of 3,350 UK vehicles — the same population Ireland imports from — looking specifically at the odometer reading recorded at each test. A car's mileage should only ever increase. A later reading below an earlier one means a rollback, a cloned identity, or a replaced instrument cluster.
Counting only drops of more than 1,000 miles, so data-entry noise is excluded, 1.2% of cars — one in 86 — show one. Where it happens, the median amount erased is 16,634 miles — about 26,800 km.
The rate is not evenly spread. It rises steeply with age, which matters because imports skew older than the domestic fleet:
| Age of car | Vehicles examined | Mileage goes backwards |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 5 years | 528 | 0.2% |
| 6 to 10 years | 1,934 | 1.0% |
| 11 to 15 years | 777 | 1.9% |
| 16 years and over | 111 | 2.7% |
A fifteen-year-old car is more than ten times as likely to carry a mileage discrepancy as a five-year-old one. If you are buying at the older, VRT-efficient end of the import market, this is the check to run first — and it costs nothing.
The MOT record also tells you what the car is about to need
Mileage is the headline, but the advisory list is the part that saves money. An advisory is a defect the tester noticed that was not yet bad enough to fail. Irish buyers routinely dismiss them. They should not.
Across every consecutive pair of tests in our sample, we asked how often an advisory became a failure in the same category at the very next test:
- Axles, wheels, tyres and suspension — 10.1%. One in ten becomes a failure within a year.
- Brakes — 5.9%
- Steering — 5.8%
- Lamps and electrical — 5.2%
Suspension and tyre advisories on the last British MOT are a bill with a date on it — and in Ireland that bill arrives at the first NCT, after you have already paid the VRT.
Where the free record runs out
The MOT history is a roadworthiness trail, not a maintenance record. It will not tell you whether the oil was changed on schedule, whether the cambelt was done, whether a DPF was replaced, or whether the car has seen a franchised dealer in a decade. A car can hold a spotless MOT record and have no service history at all.
That gap is worth quantifying, because it is not academic. In a separate analysis of 3,815 UK MOT tests on cars where we also hold the manufacturer's service record, a documented dealer service in the previous twelve months was associated with an 11.0% failure rate on cars aged four to nine, against 15.6% where none was recorded — a reduction of just under a third. On cars under four there was no difference at all.
So for a young import, the service record says relatively little about imminent roadworthiness. For the six-to-nine-year-old cars that dominate Irish imports, it is one of the better predictors available — and unlike the MOT record, it does not stop at the border. The manufacturer's record is keyed to the VIN and follows the car into Ireland unchanged.
How to check an import properly, in order
- Get the UK registration. It is usually still on the V5C the seller holds, or on the old British plates. Without it you cannot pull the MOT record.
- Read the full MOT history free. Check every odometer reading in sequence. Any drop is a stop-and-ask moment. Then read the advisories on the last two tests.
- Check the mileage against the record, not the dashboard. A clocked car has a plausible dashboard. It rarely has a plausible ten-year MOT trail.
- Then check the service history by VIN. This is the part the free records cannot give you — the manufacturer's own dealer entries, with dates, mileages and work done, for €12.99.
- Only then work out the VRT. Import costs are fixed and knowable. Condition is not, and it is where the money is actually lost.
Method and reuse
Figures on this page come from UK vehicle lookups run through FindServiceHistory between August 2024 and August 2026: 25,896 DVSA MOT tests across 3,350 vehicles, every one with two or more recorded odometer readings. Import volumes are SIMI registration statistics. No personal data, registration or VIN is used in, or recoverable from, any figure published here.
Journalists, dealers and forum members are welcome to quote any figure on this page with attribution to FindServiceHistory and a link back. If you need a cut we have not published, ask us.
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5 recordsFull Service under the manufacturer service schedule: engine oil & filter, air & cabin filters, brake fluid, road test and full inspection
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Full Service under the manufacturer service schedule: engine oil & filter, air & cabin filters, brake fluid, multi-point inspection
Interim Service (the manufacturer service schedule): engine oil & filter, visual inspection, service indicator reset
First Service: engine oil & filter, multi-point inspection, software/service reset, fluid top-up
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3 of 5 records shownFranchised dealer — Full service: oil & filter, air filter, cabin filter, brake fluid, inspection
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Franchised dealer — Full service: oil & filter, cabin filter, brake fluid, inspection
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FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I check a UK import's MOT history for free from Ireland?
Yes. UK MOT history is public and free, and there is no restriction on checking it from Ireland. You need the registration the car wore in the UK — usually still recorded on the V5C the seller holds. Every test, result, advisory and odometer reading is included.
How common are clocked cars among UK imports?
In our analysis of 3,350 UK vehicles, 1.2% — about one in 86 — had an odometer reading that went backwards by more than 1,000 miles between MOT tests. That rises to 1.9% on cars aged 11 to 15 and 2.7% on cars over 16. Because imports skew older than the domestic Irish fleet, the practical risk on an import sits towards the higher end of that range.
Does the NCT record show previous mileage in Ireland?
Mileage is recorded at NCT, but there is no public NCT history lookup for a car you do not own, so you cannot use it to verify a seller's claims the way a UK buyer can use MOT history. That is precisely why the British record on an import is so valuable — it is the mileage trail you can actually read.
Does a car's service history transfer when it is imported?
Yes. The manufacturer's digital service record is attached to the VIN, and the VIN does not change when a car is imported and re-registered in Ireland. Work done at a franchised dealer in Britain is still retrievable once the car is on Irish plates.
Is a UK import a worse buy than an Irish car?
Not inherently — and it comes with more free history than a domestic car does. The risk is not that imports are worse cars, it is that buyers check them less carefully because the paperwork feels unfamiliar. Read the MOT record and that risk drops sharply.
Does this include NCT history?
No. We return official manufacturer and main-dealer service records — the maintenance history. The NCT is a separate roadworthiness test held by the RSA and is not part of the report. Anyone offering you an Irish service history that is really just test history is selling you something different.
The car was imported from the UK — does that matter?
It helps. Manufacturer service records are stored against the VIN, not the number plate, so a car built and serviced in the UK keeps its dealer history after it is imported, VRT is paid and it goes onto Irish plates. That history is often the fullest record on the car.
What does a report cost?
€12.99. Your card is authorised at checkout but only charged if we actually find service records for the vehicle. If nothing is on file, the authorisation is released and you pay nothing.
Where do I find the VIN?
The VIN is a 17-character code. It is printed in field E of the Vehicle Registration Certificate (the Irish logbook), stamped at the base of the windscreen on the driver's side, and shown on a plate inside the driver's door frame. On a UK import it will also be on the V5C the seller may still hold.
Which cars have records?
Cars serviced at franchised main dealers, where the visit was logged into the manufacturer's central system. Work done at an independent garage is not in the manufacturer's system and will not appear. Digital coverage is strong from roughly 2012 onwards and thins out on older cars.
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