Imported car check
An imported car is not a worse car. What it is, is a car whose history before it arrived is not in any UK register — no MOT record, no keeper history, no British insurance claims — and one that a valuation feed will usually mark down. Both of those are worth knowing before you agree a price.
Free check first — the Pro report is the upgrade on your results page. See a sample report.
What the import check shows
The registration record's import and export markers, with their dates.
- Whether it was imported
- And the date it was recorded as such.
- Where it came from
- Whether it was imported from outside the EU, which affects the approval route it took to get on UK plates.
- Used before UK registration
- Whether the car had already been in service abroad before it was first registered here — the difference between a fresh import and a used one.
- Export marker
- Whether the car has been recorded as permanently exported, and when.
- First registered here vs first registered anywhere
- Both dates, so a car sold as a 2019 model that was built and used in 2017 is visible.
What it cannot tell you
Nothing about the car's life before it arrived. Foreign MOT equivalents, overseas insurance write-offs and overseas mileage records are not in any UK register, and for most countries there is no practical way to retrieve them.
That is the real cost of an import: not the marker, but the missing years. On a young import it matters little; on a ten-year-old car imported last year it means most of its history is simply unavailable.
Where this comes from
The DVLA registration record's import and export markers, read through the provenance feed as part of the Pro check.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Are imported cars harder to insure?
- Often slightly, particularly grey imports with non-UK specifications. It is worth getting a quote before you commit rather than after.
- Do imports have a lower resale value?
- Usually, for the same model and mileage — partly the missing history, partly a smaller pool of buyers. Factor it into what you pay, because you will meet it again when you sell.
- What is a grey import?
- A car brought in privately that was never officially sold in the UK, rather than a manufacturer's own import. Parts, specification differences and insurance are the usual complications.
- Why does the car show an export marker but it is still here?
- An export marker is applied when a keeper notifies the DVLA of permanent export. A car that shows exported and is being sold in the UK needs explaining before anything else.