Guidance: Vehicles statistics information

Vehicle licensing statistics are produced from extracts of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) vehicle database. Other sources of information are also used to improve and expand the information available.

The main purpose of the database is to administer vehicle registration and licensing records (for Great Britain prior to July 2014, and for the whole of the United Kingdom since this date).

The DVLA database contains a new record every time a new (or used) vehicle is first registered in the United Kingdom. A wide range of variables are captured, including the make, model, body type, colour and size of the vehicle, plus some basic information about the keeper of the vehicle, including the postcode of the keeper. More information about what is captured and how this is done can be found in the V355 guidance notes produced by DVLA.

The initial registration of new vehicles is usually carried out by vehicle manufacturers at the point of sale. In most cases, this is currently processed using the Register a Vehicle (RaV) service. Historically, this was done using the Automatic First Registration and Licensing (AFRL) system.

In a small number of cases, the information is keyed in manually by DVLA staff. Reasons for this include:

Vehicle details held by DVLA are updated when a vehicle has:

In July 2014, vehicle and registration services for Northern Ireland were centralised at DVLA, where these services for Great Britain were already administered. This created a single vehicle register for the United Kingdom, in place of separate registers for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. From this time, statistics can be provided for both Great Britain and the United Kingdom.