The DVSA MOT History API itself is free. You register with DVSA, they approve your application and issue credentials, and every lookup costs nothing. The cost of a MOT API integration is purely the development work — building the proxy, handling the OAuth authentication, parsing the response, and connecting it to your platform. That cost ranges from around £895 for a straightforward lookup and display build to £2,295 for a full fleet monitoring system.
What the three tiers actually involve
Standard lookup: £895
A registration input on your website or platform that calls the DVSA API and returns the full MOT history. The integration handles OAuth authentication — acquiring a Bearer token from Azure, caching it for its 60-minute validity window, and refreshing it automatically when it expires. The API key is stored server-side and never exposed in client-side code. Error handling covers invalid registrations, vehicles with no MOT history, API rate limit responses and Azure authentication failures. This tier takes 3–4 days.
Platform integration: £1,495
Everything in the standard lookup, plus the integration wired into your existing platform. Results stored to your database or CRM when a lookup runs. Lookup triggered by your existing workflow. Display built to match your platform’s design. Right for car-buying platforms, part-exchange tools, insurance applications and dealer management systems.
Fleet monitoring: £2,295
A scheduled system that checks MOT expiry dates across a fleet and triggers alerts before vehicles expire. Configurable thresholds, notifications by email or webhook, a fleet dashboard and bulk registration import. For fleet managers, leasing companies and rental operators.
What drives the cost up
Complex existing systems. Legacy dealer management systems, bespoke CRMs, platforms with restricted API access take longer to integrate. Multiple trigger points. Lookups triggered from multiple places in the same system adds scope. Data storage and history. Storing lookup results for audit purposes adds database design and build work. Large fleet sizes. Fleet monitoring for thousands of vehicles is more complex than for dozens.
What drives the cost down
Clean, modern platform with a well-documented REST API. DVSA credentials already in hand. Simple display requirements — a clean standard display is fast to build.
Compared to commercial vehicle history APIs
Commercial vehicle data APIs — HPI, Cazana, cap hpi — charge per lookup. Typical costs range from 5p to £2 per lookup. At 10,000 lookups a month, that becomes a significant ongoing cost. The DVSA API returns MOT history only. If you need finance checks, write-off history or keeper changes, you need a commercial provider. But if MOT history is what your use case requires, the free DVSA API pays for itself quickly. For the full comparison, see DVSA MOT API vs HPI check.
For the full service details and pricing, see the DVSA MOT API integration service. Try the live MOT History demo to see exactly what the API returns.
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