Registration Lookup
How Look up fills a vehicle's details in from its number plate, what comes from the DVSA and the DVLA, and how its MOT is kept up to date overnight.
Type a vehicle's number plate into Registration in the vehicle popup, and Look up fills its details in for you from the DVSA's records. Once the vehicle is saved, Work Planner keeps its MOT up to date overnight, and tells you if anything changes for the worse.
Looking a Vehicle Up
- Registration: Type the number plate as it reads, such as AB12 CDE. Spaces and capitals don't matter.
- Look up: The button beside the registration. Pressing Enter in the registration box looks the vehicle up too, rather than saving it half filled in.
- What it found: It says what the vehicle is, such as Found: White Ford Transit Custom, diesel, 2019. Underneath, it says which fields it filled in, such as Added the make, model and colour.
- Only empty fields: The lookup fills in only the fields that are empty, so nothing you've typed is changed. The grey every new vehicle starts with counts as no colour.
- Use these details: If something you'd already filled in is different from what was found, it says so, such as The year already filled in is different. Use these details then replaces what you had with what was found.
- Nothing found: No vehicle was found with this registration means the DVSA doesn't know the number plate. Check it, or fill in the details yourself.
Nothing is saved until you click Create or Update, so you can check what's been filled in first. Only the number plate is sent to look the vehicle up.
What Comes From Where
- The DVSA: The make, model, colour, fuel and year. When the MOT runs out, or when a new vehicle's first one is due, and whether the MOT is valid. The mileage at each MOT test, and whether the vehicle has a safety recall that hasn't been done.
- The DVLA: Road tax, and whether the vehicle is a van or a car. Work Planner doesn't look these up with the DVLA yet, so put the road tax date in yourself on the vehicle's Key Dates tab, and choose its type yourself. The road tax reminders work just the same.
Checked Every Night
Overnight, Work Planner checks each vehicle that has a registration and hasn't been sold: every night while its MOT is due within 45 days, or something's wrong or not known yet, and once a week otherwise. It runs early in the morning, so anything it finds is in hand for the 8am reminders.
- What it updates: The MOT status and date, and whether there's a safety recall, whenever the DVSA has them. A new MOT date replaces the one you typed, and the vehicle's MOT reminders follow it.
- Only filled if empty: The make, model, colour, fuel and year, so whatever you've typed stays as it is.
- Never touched: The insurance, service and breakdown cover dates, and the road tax date you put in.
- The mileage log: The mileage at each MOT test goes in the vehicle's mileage log as an MOT reading. It isn't counted in its business miles. See Vehicle Mileage.
- A new registration: Changing a vehicle's registration clears the MOT status found for the old one, and what the bell said about it, until the new one is checked.
When Something Changes
When a check finds a change for the worse, everyone whose role can see vehicles is told, in the notifications bell, labelled Tax and MOT, and as a notification. Clicking it opens the vehicle's Details tab. See Vehicle Reminders.
- No valid MOT: Such as Van 2 (AB12 CDE): its MOT ran out on Tuesday 20 October.
- Failed its MOT: A test failed in the last 30 days. A pass afterwards clears it.
- Safety recall outstanding: The DVSA says the vehicle has a safety recall that hasn't been done. You can see what it's for at check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk, and the vehicle's Details tab links there too.
Each is told once, and leaves the bell by itself once it's put right, such as when the MOT is valid again or the recall has been done.
Checking Again Now
Refresh, at the end of the status line on the vehicle's Details tab, checks it with the DVSA straight away, for people whose role can manage vehicles. Once it's done, it says MOT checked. Whoever presses it sees any change on screen, so isn't told about it in the bell. A vehicle can be checked again every five minutes.
Limits
- Each business: Up to 100 lookups a day, counting both Look up and Refresh. After that it says to try again tomorrow, or fill in the details yourself. The overnight checks don't count towards it.
- Each person: Up to 10 a minute.
- When it's busy: If the DVSA can't answer, it says to try again in a few minutes, and what's already known about the vehicle stays as it is.
For Guidance Only
The tax and MOT information in Work Planner comes from the DVLA and DVSA and is for guidance only. It's as up to date as the last check, which the status line gives the date of, such as Checked 21 Oct 2026. As the note under it says, it contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Related articles
- Vehicle Popup: Where the registration is typed in, and the status line shows.
- Vehicle Reminders: The reminders that follow the MOT date, and the alerts when something changes.
- Vehicle Mileage: The mileage log, with the readings from MOT tests.
- Vehicles: All your vehicles and their dates.