I think it was better when you had to supply the MOT test number to view the history - that way you had some contact with the owner first - who could then explain any discrepancies/inaccuracies.
Also, I can see insurers checking up on your mileage with this - and how many people remember to keep their estimated mileage up to date?
I checked five of my most recent cars that I have sold and they were all spot on with all the pass / fail and advisory notes, even made me smile as my Insignia SRI VX line sport tourer said that the last mot it required new tyres all round which would cost over £1000 going on what I paid for two new fronts.
Glad I have a 5 now as I can get a full set for the price of one of those,
With all these cases of with conflicting information being posted makes me wonder - are there “CLONES” out there?
This open access to private data will certainly make it easier to clone cars.
What’s next - open access to everyone’s medical records?
You can put in a car registration but it doesnt tell you anything private at all.
just checked my old 1990 Eunos & found it only failed on lights this year. still no rust adviseries & only 87000 miles on the clock. It was obviously a very good year for steel 
Depends on your point of view, I don’t see why my car’s mileage and details of any mechanical issues (none in my case) should be made public unless I choose to make it so.
The system for displaying driving license endorsements needs the license number and NI number to access, then you get a code to give to someone else to view it if you so wish. Absolutely no reason why this shouldn’t have a similar safeguard.
So my old 91 red Roadster, which I sold as a mint car back in 2005, disappeared in 2012, faithfully passing MOTs to the end. I half expected to see the last MOT stating failure due to corrosion. Someone knocked a fair bit off the mileage though; I sold in it in 2005 with about 140k miles on the clock (it had a Miata speedo), and by 2010, it was on about 110k miles… According to the DVLA, its SORN’d, but I suspect someone crashed it.
Strange. My MX5 comes up on the Vehicle Enquiry System and correctly shows that it is taxed and when the MOT is due but on the MOT history checker I get the message
“No vehicle that matched the data you entered could be found”
I wonder if the data is being correctly accessed by the new system.
I have no worries about the information being made available to all. Advisories are a useful guide to what might need attention although different garages can have different opinions as to what should be mentioned. This can leave doubt as to whether an advisory has been acted on or considered insignificant when looking at the MOT history
It doesn’t look like the web site is owned by DVLA and is in fact registered to someone in Belfast.
https://who.is/whois/mot-history.net
Maybe i’d be careful.
Although, i looked at my wifes old car which we sold about 4 years ago.
I reckon we sold it just in time, as it’s failed twice and got a huge list of advisories.
We never had a single issue or failure.
Yep, I was a bit unsure to start with also, but given the Auto Express link (included on the original post), I felt it is legit.
The site is in a testing phase so will presumably be on the official government site when complete.
Many thanks for the link.
Typed in my 93 Eunos Roadsters Reg and Hey presto, all the history and past failures were listed from when she was imported in 2006, at a glance.
Just looked and was glad to see that my first Mk1 - N791 SLJ is still alive and kicking.
We took that car over the Alps and had a wonderful time…
I emailed the VOSA MOT Modernisation team asking why I could not obtain the MOT history for my car. It is because in its 17 year life it has had two cherished number transfers although it has been back on its original Reg No. for the last 4 years. This is a known issue and the modernisation team are working on it. I suspect it is due to the system being based on Reg Nos. and Make and not VIN Nos. as VIN Nos. quite rightly are not in the public domain.
^^^^ I have posted about this on another forum.
I had a reg change on my Mk3, swapped the reg from the Mk2 I had sold. When I checked it out last month the MOT history was showing incorrect details for my Mk3, infact it was showing partial history for my Mk2.
How can a 2007 reg car have needed an MOT in 2009 was beyond me, and the mileage at the latest MOT (Mk3) showed it at 66k when it’s actually on 57.
After a few emails to them it now shows the correct info, they did ask for my VIN number finally to correct the details.