carpeep

Smart History Check

A full Smart history check costs £15 and takes about a minute.

Works with:

Included in your report:

  • Outstanding finance
  • Write-off markers
  • Stolen check
  • MOT mileage record
  • Keeper history
  • Colour changes

See the Smart history before you buy.

This is how a real report flags a problem on a used Smart, drawn straight from official records. The same checks run on every reg you enter.

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Write-Off History

Information found

Example

Write-Off Record

Category:Category S (Structural Damage)
Date:03/09/2021
Insurer:Aviva
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Mileage

Information found

Example

Mileage

48,210

miles

Mileage Issues

Issue Detected

Mileage discrepancy

A later MOT reading is lower than an earlier one. We recommend verifying the mileage with the seller.

Example data shown. Your report will show the recorded history for the reg you check.

What a Smart history check helps you spot.

The risks that cost buyers the most are the ones you cannot spot on a test drive. These are the ones the report puts in front of you.

City knocks

Smarts live in tight streets and car parks. Small impacts are common and some end as write-offs.

Lots of keepers

Cheap second cars change hands often. A long keeper list on a small car is normal, but read the dates.

Low miles, hard miles

A Smart on 30,000 urban miles has worked harder than a diesel estate on 80,000 motorway miles.

Smart cars live a very particular life.

The ForTwo exists because of parking. It was bought by people in London, Bristol, Brighton and Edinburgh who wanted something they could put nose in to a gap other cars had to pass. The ForFour added two doors and a back seat without changing the mission. The EQ versions moved the same idea to electric power for short urban trips.

That means almost every used Smart in Britain has spent its life in traffic. Low recorded mileage is normal and it is not the good news it looks like. Cold starts, constant stop start running and tight parking do more damage per mile than open road driving. The MOT history and the write-off record tell you far more about a Smart than the number on the odometer.

Risks to check on a used Smart.

Every used Smart has a history. These are the specific things worth confirming before you commit.

Write-offs from small impacts

A Smart is cheap to buy and not cheap to repair properly. A parking scrape, a kerbed corner or a low speed shunt can push the repair cost past the value, and the insurer records a Cat N or Cat S. Many are then repaired and sold on. Check for the marker before you view.

Rapid keeper turnover

Second cars, city runabouts and first cars all change hands quickly, and Smarts are all three. Several keepers in a few years is not automatically a problem. Very short gaps between changes, or a car sold on within weeks of purchase, usually means someone found something out.

Finance on the EQ models

Electric ForTwos were commonly sold on PCP because of the list price, and those agreements run for years. A car reaching its second or third owner may still be inside the original term. If the balance is unsettled the lender can recover the car from you. The report names the lender and agreement.

Urban mileage that misleads

Ten thousand miles of city crawling is not a light life. Check the MOT readings for the annual pattern, because a car showing almost no miles for two years followed by a sale is often one that sat unused or was used and then corrected. Every DVSA reading appears in the report in date order.

Check a Smart before you buy.

Enter the registration to see the key facts before you go any further.

  • Instant results
  • All checks included
  • £30,000 data guarantee

What a Smart history check covers.

Every Carpeep report runs the same checks against the registration, using official records from the DVLA, DVSA, insurance industry, UK finance lenders and the police. We do not create, edit or estimate any data.

Finance

Flags outstanding HP, PCP or conditional sale agreements recorded by UK finance lenders, so you know whether a lender still has a legal claim.

Car finance check

Accident and write-off history

Shows any recorded accident or insurance write-off marker (Cat A, B, S or N) from insurance industry records, with the category and date.

Write-off check

Stolen status and identity

Checks UK police stolen vehicle records against the registration, and shows plate changes, the recorded details and the last five characters of the VIN to help you spot a cloned or mismatched car.

Stolen car check

Mileage history

Builds a mileage timeline from DVSA MOT readings so you can spot drops or inconsistencies that point to clocking.

Mileage check

MOT history

The full DVSA test history: pass and fail results, advisories and the mileage recorded at each test.

MOT check

Keeper & import status

DVLA keeper history, import and export markers, plate changes and the recorded vehicle details.

Import check

When to run a Smart history check.

Run it on any Smart being sold privately in a city. These cars take small hits constantly, and a tidy respray tells you nothing about whether an insurer once wrote the car off.

Run it on every EQ ForTwo. Electric models carried the highest new prices in the range, which means the largest finance agreements and the greatest chance of an unsettled balance following the car to you.

Smart History Check FAQs

Why do so many Smart cars have write-off markers?

Because the repair cost and the car value sit close together. A modest impact that would be a routine repair on a larger car can exceed a Smart's market value, so the insurer writes it off and sells the salvage. The car is often repaired and returned to the road. The marker stays on the record permanently, and Carpeep reports it.

Is low mileage a good sign on a ForTwo?

Not on its own. Smarts do short urban journeys, which is the hardest work an engine does. A car with 25,000 city miles may have had more cold starts and more clutch and brake cycles than a motorway car with three times the mileage. Read the MOT advisories for what has actually been wearing out.

Should I worry about a long list of keepers?

Look at the dates rather than the count. Small cheap cars move around and five keepers over twelve years is unremarkable. Three keepers in eighteen months is different, especially if one of them held it for a few weeks. The report gives you every keeper change date so you can see the pattern instead of guessing.

Does Carpeep tell me an EQ's battery health?

No. Battery condition is not in any public vehicle record, so no reg lookup can give you it honestly. Ask the seller to show you a state of health reading from the car or a dealer diagnostic. What Carpeep does cover on an EQ is finance, write-off and stolen markers, MOT history, mileage readings and keeper history.

What does the £15 report cover?

Outstanding finance, insurance write-off markers including Cat A, B, S and N and the legacy C and D, police stolen markers, mileage taken from DVSA MOT readings, the full MOT test and advisory history, registered keeper history and keeper change dates, plate transfers, colour changes, import and export markers, scrapped markers, the last five characters of the VIN, tax status and specification.

How do I check the service history of a used Smart?

Service records are held by garages and owners, not the DVLA, so no registration check shows dealer stamps. Ask the seller for the service book and invoices. If the car has a digital service record instead, an authorised Smart service centre can often look it up from the VIN. Then run the registration: the report cross-checks the mileage against MOT readings and shows the finance, write-off and stolen records that paperwork cannot.

Don't buy a car you haven't checked.

Enter the registration and get the key facts before you commit.

  • Full vehicle history
  • No account required
  • £30,000 data guarantee