{"id":6740,"date":"2023-02-23T14:31:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T14:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scrapcarnetwork.org\/news\/?p=6740"},"modified":"2023-04-28T10:51:09","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T09:51:09","slug":"how-to-tell-the-age-of-your-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scrapcarnetwork.org\/news\/how-to-tell-the-age-of-your-car\/","title":{"rendered":"How to tell the age of your car"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most people have a fairly decent idea of how old their car is, but let\u2019s be honest, you can drive your car perfectly happily for most of the time without really having any idea how old it is, beyond possibly complaining about it every so often. But every so often, there might come a moment in life when you do actually need to know your car\u2019s age.<\/p>\n

For example, you might be getting insurance quotes, or you might be arranging finance, or you might even be selling your car. (In case you\u2019re wondering, it\u2019s not something you\u2019ll need if you decide \u2013 I need to scrap my car<\/strong><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

So that will lead you on to the main question \u2013 how can I find out the age of my car? Well, here are three of the easiest ways to tell.<\/p>\n

Get a free no-obligation quote from our website<\/h2>\n

Our own homepage<\/a><\/strong> wouldn\u2019t be a bad place to start. We can provide this information for free when we give you an instant, no-obligation quote to scrap your car. All you have to do is enter your car reg and postcode into the fields on our site, and you\u2019ll be able to see the age of your car in seconds.<\/p>\n

And in case you\u2019re wondering, no, that doesn\u2019t lock you into recycling your car with us. If you just want to double check the information but you don\u2019t want to scrap your car just yet, don\u2019t worry \u2013 it\u2019s very hard to accidentally fill in the personal details we\u2019d need to proceed with your quote!<\/p>\n

Find out on the Government\u2019s MOT checking service<\/h2>\n

The government website also has a specific service for telling you the MOT status of your car<\/a><\/strong> It costs nothing and only takes a few seconds, and when it tells you the MOT status of the vehicle it\u2019ll also tell you the age of it as well. So not only will you know how old your car is, but you\u2019ll also have a handy heads-up as to when its next MOT is due as well \u2013 which can be useful either for you, or for the future owners if you\u2019re planning on selling it.<\/p>\n

Check the number plate<\/h2>\n

At first glance, the number plate might seem like a string of random numbers and letters, but there\u2019s actually quite a lot of information packed in there\u2026 if you know how to read it.<\/p>\n

The first two letters of your number plate are regional identifiers \u2013 together, they\u2019ll indicate where the car was first registered. (But crucially, not where it was made; its place of manufacture and place of registration might be two separate locations!)<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the middle letters will be the year identifier. The last few letters, yes okay, comprise a random string of letters and numbers.<\/p>\n

Now, there\u2019s a 50-50 chance that the year identifier on your car will give you an immediate answer to your question, because it\u2019s a little more complex than it seems. The year identifier will indicate one of two time periods \u2013 either March to September, or September until the following March.<\/p>\n

So a vehicle made in March 2018 will have an 18 as the second two letters of its number plate. Easy enough. If it was made after September of that year though, it will have a 68 instead. Understandably, it can be a little tricky to follow, so we\u2019ve listed a couple of examples below.<\/p>\n