What car are you after?

Tell us the used car you want. We'll find the good ones. We search online car ads near you, check MOT histories, read the most promising adverts in full and email you a short report with only the cars worth seeing, usually within half an hour of your search starting.

More about TyreKicker: who runs it, what we can't promise and how we make money.

1. You tell us what you want. Describe it in your own words, budget included, and add your postcode and how far you'll travel. We usually show you what we understood before the search starts, so you can fix anything we got wrong.
2. We go and look. We search online car ads around your postcode and, if you tick it, Facebook Marketplace, for cars put up for sale in the last two weeks (or the last month, week or 24 hours, if you choose). If you like, we also search car ads in bigger towns a train ride from your nearest station.
3. We check the history. For the cars on our shortlist we look up the MOT history from the DVSA: fails, advisories, time without an MOT and the mileage at each test.
4. We read the most promising adverts, every word. An AI reads each one in full and, where there are enough similar cars for sale, we compare its price with theirs. Most picks also get a second review that looks for reasons to say no; your report flags any that didn't.
5. You get the good ones. We email you a link to your report: only the cars worth a look, each with why it's good, what to check and what to ask the seller. If nothing is good enough, we say so. See an example report.

• MOT history from the DVSA. A car is out if its MOT has run out, if its recorded mileage goes backwards between tests, if we can't find its MOT history (for example, no readable number plate), or if in the last three years it had structural rust or damage, failed three or more MOTs, had a dangerous defect (other than a worn tyre or brakes fixed straight away, once), or went more than a month without an MOT and didn't come back with a clean pass.
• The right car. We read the number plate from the photos to find the MOT history, and drop a car whose DVSA record clearly doesn't match the advert, such as a different registration date and colour.
• The whole advert. Every car in your report has had its advert read to the last line, where warning signs often hide: "needs clutch", "engine light", "no V5", "Cat N", "sold as seen".
• The photos. We look through them for body damage, rust, panels that don't line up or don't match in colour, worn tyres, warning lights on the dashboard, and an interior more worn than the mileage suggests.
• Known weak spots. Engines and gearboxes with a record of trouble, such as wet cambelts, some dual-clutch and automated manual gearboxes, timing chains and diesel particulate filters, plus big jobs coming up, like a cambelt that's due.
• The price. Where there are enough similar cars for sale, we compare the price with theirs, so you can see whether it's under or over the going rate.
• Everything you asked for. Whatever you put in your description is weighed for each car. Every must-have, nice-to-have and thing you want to avoid is checked one by one against the advert, and for a first-time driver we look at insurance and running costs too.
• The seller. Signs of a trader posing as a private seller, a price far below the going rate, a hidden number plate, stock photos, deposit requests, or a brand-new Facebook account.
• Write-offs. For cars from car ad sites, we drop any that the site's vehicle check flags as written off, stolen, scrapped or exported. Facebook adverts don't come with that check, so run a history check yourself before you buy one.
• A second opinion. Every car that passes gets a second, sceptical check that reads it all again and argues against it. Only the cars that still look good afterwards make your report.

Reports are a head start, not a guarantee. Adverts can be wrong and we can miss things, so always see the car and check the V5C logbook before you pay.

Who can use TyreKicker?

Anyone can make an account with Google, Apple, or an email address and a password. Your first search is free: confirm your email address and it's added to your account (one per person, see our terms). After that, you buy searches on My searches once you've signed in: 1 search for £2.99, 3 searches for £7.85 (£2.62 each) or 5 searches for £11.99 (£2.40 each), paid by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay through Stripe and added to your account straight away. Searches don't expire. A search that fails on our side goes back on your account, and so does one that finds no cars we'd call good (up to twice a day, see our terms). Have a code? Add it on My searches: a code usually adds one search.

Which sites do you search?

Online car ads every time. Facebook Marketplace too, if you tick it on the form (we skip it when you only want dealer cars). Facebook can add some waiting while our browser is busy with another search, and if Facebook isn't working on our side your search may wait for it or go ahead without it (your report says so). Choose "Also search bigger towns by train" and we also search car ads in towns up to two hours by train from your nearest station. TyreKicker is independent: it isn't connected to or endorsed by any car ad site, Facebook or the DVSA.

How old are the adverts you look at?

Recent ones only. Every search looks at cars listed in the last two weeks, unless you pick the last month, the last week or the last 24 hours instead. If you pick the last week and few cars were listed in it, we look back two weeks in the car ads, and your report says so; you can switch that off before the search starts. If your description asks for newer adverts than you picked, we switch to the shortest choice that covers what it asks for, and we usually show you that before the search starts. We go by the date an advert went up, not the hour, on every site we search, so "the last 24 hours" means listed today or yesterday. On Facebook Marketplace we also leave out any advert whose age we can't tell.

How long does a search take?

Usually within half an hour of your search starting, sometimes a little longer, because we read the best adverts in full and check their MOT histories. Searches run up to two at a time, so if two others are running, yours starts when one of them is done, and Facebook Marketplace can add some waiting. You see the expected wait before you confirm, and we email you the link when your report is ready, so you can close the page.

Why only good cars?

Because a long list of maybes is what you're trying to get away from. If we're not happy with a car, it doesn't make the cut. If nothing near you is good enough, your report says so, you get the search back (once for each search, up to twice a day), and you can try a wider area or a little more budget.

What happens to my postcode?

We use it to choose where to search, keep it with that search and remember your last one so the form can fill it in next time. We send it to the car ad site we search, so it can search around it, and to postcodes.io to find where it is; neither gets your name or email address. Reports show the town and distances, never your postcode or email address. Anyone with a report link can open it, so only share it with people you'd tell about the search. Advertisers never get your postcode or your searches. More on our privacy page.