How do I find out whether a used car has an outstanding safety recall?

Use the official vehicle-recall checker and, where necessary, confirm with a franchised dealer using the registration or VIN. Ask for evidence that any outstanding safety work has been completed.

In relation to “How do I find out whether a used car has an outstanding safety recall?”, treat the advert as a set of claims to verify. The registration, VIN, mileage, history and condition should tell the same story.

For “How do I find out whether a used car has an outstanding safety recall?”, a recall is different from an MOT defect or insurance write-off. Check the official recall status and, where relevant, ask a manufacturer dealer to confirm whether remedial work is outstanding.

For “How do I find out whether a used car has an outstanding safety recall?”, this answer is written for a Northern Ireland user, but some vehicle-registration, consumer-credit and insurance functions operate on a UK-wide basis. The attached sources — GOV.UK - Buy a vehicle: step by step, GOV.UK - Vehicle registration: new and used vehicles, and nidirect - Contact Consumerline — are therefore deliberately mixed where the responsible authority is UK-wide. That is more accurate than forcing every point into an NI-only source.

Practical next step for “How do I find out whether a used car has an outstanding safety recall?”: do not pay until this point has been independently checked. Save the advert, seller messages and any official or commercial check so you can show exactly what information you relied on.