FAQ

Q. I bought my car and it shows as a taxi?

A. Licensing councils usually license a vehicle for 12 months so their licensing record will show.

Example: Licensed From 01/01/2019 to 01/01/2020


As we do not manipulate any data this record will show on the result of your registartion number search.

However sometimes the taxi owner may dispose of the vehicle prior to the expiry date of the licence:

  1. The owner may sell the car for example on 01/11/2019 – However our records will continue to show that a license was originally issued for that period (we display licensing information).

Q. Why does my vehicle show that it was only licensed for one day?

A. Some licensing councils cannot facilitate a Licensing date range. They can only supply a “snapshot” of currently licensed vehicles (on that particular day).

Example:
(From 1st Jan 2020 To 1st Jan 2020)


 

Q. Why do the licensing records start before the car was even registered?

A. Some councils supply a persons licensing history dates (example they held a taxi license for 10 years) and during that licensing history, the licensed vehicles may change several times. That could mean that a vehicle may show as a licensed taxi before it was registered.


 

We strongly recommend you never buy a vehicle

without conducting a provenance check.

Vehicle Ancestry pioneered collecting licensing information in 2016 with some licensing information going back to 2005.

We believe Vehicle Ancestry is a fast, simple way to help protect buyers & sellers from unwittingly selling/buying an ex-taxi/Uber or Public Sector vehicle.

For a more complete provenance check we would recommend one of the following:

FAQ’s

The Vehicle Ancestry database holds vehicle registration numbers (VRMs) of vehicles licensed by councils across the UK as a Private Hire/Hackney Carriage or Taxi. Our ex-police car and Public Sector vehicle data also comes direct from the source.

Not everyone supplies Vehicle Ancestry with information therefore, the register is NOT a definitive list of all ex Private Hire/Hackney Carriage/Taxi vehicles ever licensed. It also does not hold a definitive list of Public Sector vehicles.