Why we built it.

We kept hearing the same stories.

Bought it, drove it home, three days later it needed new brakes. The seller said full service history - turned out that meant two receipts from 2018. Didn't realise until I got home that the MOT was three months from expiring.

None of those were obvious scams. Just buyers who didn't have the full picture when they needed it.

CarMate gives you that picture before the money changes hands. The recorded vehicle history from Experian (outstanding finance, write-off, stolen and scrapped markers), MOT history read properly, price checked against what the same car is actually selling for, anything in the advert worth a second look, known faults for that specific engine. Check the listing, the history, or both together. Works on Gumtree, eBay, Copart, or a screenshot from anywhere.

We'd do it for free if we could. We can't - it costs money to build something that works properly. But we're a small independent team with no VC money and no shareholders. Just people who thought this should exist.

- The CarMate team

Want the boring-but-important details - company number, data sources, refunds and what we can't promise? Here's the full picture.