Compare Any Vehicle Against Its Peers

How It Works

You enter a registration — We fetch the vehicle's make, model, engine size, fuel type, and manufacture year from DVLA records.
We find the peer group — We query our database for all vehicles matching that profile. For popular models this can be hundreds or even 1,000+ vehicles. For niche models we widen the search (e.g. dropping engine size or broadening the year range) to ensure a meaningful comparison.
We crunch the numbers — For the entire peer group we calculate: average mileage, average MOT failure rate, mean defect count per vehicle, dangerous defect frequency, advisory patterns, and a reliability score from 1–10.
You see the comparison — Your vehicle's actual data is placed alongside the group averages. Above average? Below? By how much? It's all quantified, not guessed.

What You Get

Average mileage vs. yours	Is this car high-mileage or low-mileage for its age and type? A 2018 diesel with 28k miles when the average is 55k could mean it sat unused (potential issues) or was barely driven (potential bargain).
Failure rate comparison	Your vehicle's MOT failure percentage vs. the group. If the group averages 12% failures and this car is at 33%, that's nearly 3× worse — a strong signal.
Defect frequency	Average defects per MOT test. A vehicle with 4.2 defects per test when the group averages 1.8 has been consistently flagged.
Dangerous defect count	How many safety-critical defects this car has had vs. the group average. Even one more than average is worth investigating.
Advisory patterns	Common advisory categories for the peer group. If 60% of similar vehicles get brake advisories by year 5, expect yours to need brakes soon too.
Reliability score	A normalised 1–10 score combining all factors. Makes it easy to compare across different makes and models.

Why Peer Comparison Matters

Without comparison

"This car had 2 MOT failures" — Is that bad? You have no idea.

With comparison

"This car's 33% failure rate is nearly 3× the group average of 12% for 2017 Ford Focus 1.0T EcoBoost models" — Now you know exactly where it stands.

Price doesn't reflect reliability. Two identical-looking cars on AutoTrader can have completely different defect histories. Our comparisons surface the gap that sellers don't disclose and pricing doesn't account for.

Comparison Scope

1

50M+ MOT records

Our database holds millions of UK vehicles for meaningful peer groups.

2

Pre-aggregated statistics

Group statistics are pre-built — instant results, no waiting.

3

Age-banded comparisons

We compare like with like: 0–3 years, 4–7, 8–12, 13–20, 20+.

4

Model normalisation

"Golf GTI Performance Pack" and "Golf GTI" are grouped correctly, not treated as different models.

5

Daily updates

New MOT results flow into comparisons within 24 hours via our automated delta pipeline.

Our AI Hunches take comparison data further with defect predictions and risk scoring.