How can you save time and money on your vehicle checking?

Published September 2025

Written by Steven Wild

Steven is a Product Manager, with 12 years experience of managing Automotive products. He works closely with our Motor Dealer clients to design products that meet their business needs. AutoCheck - one of the products under his portfolio - was recently voted the best provenance product in the Car Dealer Power Awards.

Are you tired of having to check vehicles multiple times?

Vehicle sales is often a fast-paced industry, where capturing and securing customers requires rapid responses to enquiries, and quick turnarounds on your stock to keep the wheels turning on your business. But to do this, you need to know exactly what you’re buying and selling.

How often have you faced the frustration of having customers lined up to buy, only to find that the car, truck or van they’re interested in isn’t ready and you can’t get the deal over the line?

Having vehicles ready to go is essential for capitalising on customer enquiries, but all too often, provenance checks miss vital issues that stall transactions, turn buyers off and cost your business time and money.

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Build trust with your customers from the outset

Today’s customers are more informed than ever, often carefully researching vehicles thoroughly online and comparing across platforms, before they even set foot in your showroom. And their expectations are higher than ever too. They expect transparency at every stage, whether it’s knowing a car is clear of finance, or that it’s never been involved in an accident. If you can’t provide that assurance upfront, you can’t build trust with them, and they’ll move on to a new dealer.

And if you get a deal done, but they discover discrepancies down the line? They’ll come back, often with demands for refunds or threats of legal action. And that’s a situation no business can afford to be in.

That’s why provenance isn’t just a compliance issue. It’s a cornerstone of your brand reputation. The faster and more confidently you can verify a vehicle’s history, the easier you can close a sale.

The hidden cost of vehicle rechecking

Whether the vehicle is still under finance, sitting on a cherished plate, or caught up in other admin delays, any and every gap in your knowledge of each car/van has the potential to damage your bottom line.

Hidden costs of vehicle rechecking include:

Setting up accounts and paying for individual checks – which often incur higher costs when bought on a “pay-as-you-go” basis
Time spent carrying out manual checks
Frustrated customers if deals are delayed, which could damage your business reputation
And, in the worst-case scenario, losing the sale

The repercussions of missed vehicle checks aren’t always immediate either. If you aren’t using good data sources and the information you’ve obtained is incorrect, your customer could later reject a vehicle based on it being mis-sold. This could lead to you needing to buy it back at a significant fiscal and reputational cost or even dealing with the courts if you can’t find a suitable resolution between you.

For one car, that’s a significant impact, but when you’re selling hundreds or thousands in a year, the cost of vehicle rechecking and misinformation could be catastrophic. With so much at stake, you’ll want to feel assured in the history of your inventory.

Enter AutoCheck: Smarter, faster vehicle insights

So, how do you get it right, first time? By using an award-winning solution^[1].

AutoCheck was built to tackle this exact problem. It’s been designed specifically to provide you with all the essential information needed to ensure the identity and condition of any vehicle, helping you to avoid costly rechecks and streamlining your workflow so that you can get back to the business of selling cars.

Using AutoCheck, all the key information you need to have confidence in your stock is at your fingertips. And drawing data from trusted, reliable sources like:

DVLA

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency for registration details, keeper history and plate changes

MIAFTR

Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register for insurance write-offs and theft records

PNC

Police National Computer for stolen vehicle checks

Finance databases

For outstanding vehicle loans or agreements

Drawing our information from these trusted data suppliers means that you can rest assured that everything tracks.

AutoCheck also has two particularly powerful features:

Notifications that keep you updated

Vehicle checks form part of the due diligence process for dealers, often at the pre-purchase stage. But what happens if something in the car’s provenance alters after you’ve taken it into stock?

AutoCheck tracks the vehicles you’ve already checked and alerts you if something changes. For example if the original report showed that the Finance company haven’t yet removed the finance marker. If any updates are made, you’ll receive a notification – saving you from repeatedly having to recheck while you wait for the data to change.

Custom AutoCheck for targeted queries

Only need specific data about a car or van? Don’t pay for more than you need. With Custom AutoCheck, you can query just the information that you require rather than getting a complete 360-degree overview of a vehicle. Whether it’s checking finance, reviewing plate changes or waiting for a high risk marker to be removed, Custom AutoCheck also draws data from trusted sources, ensuring accuracy and peace of mind.

It’s an effective way to reduce your costs and optimise your profit margin while retaining confidence in the stock you’re selling.

Verified valuations

Knowing where to pitch pricing can be a challenge for even the most experienced dealer. And buyers like to feel reassured that they’re not overpaying. AutoCheck draws on valuation data from a variety of well-known sources, giving you full view of market prices and enabling you to see where each vehicle sits in the spectrum.

Recognise if you’ve priced competitively, know what discounts you can afford to offer and keep your margins strong.

The bottom line

To stay successful, you need to keep your business moving forward. Rechecking vehicles during the sales process is more than just a nuisance – it’s a drain on your resources that could have a negative impact on your bottom line.

AutoCheck helps you stay up to date with vehicle provenance changes, focus on assured selling, and move your stock faster, accelerating your business growth. If you’re tired of the repeat-check cycle, it’s time to upgrade your process to include AutoCheck in your vehicle sales operations.

Contact us today to schedule a demonstration.