In short
MotorCheck's extension is built for dealers who hold a MotorCheck trade account. It turns any registration written on a web page into a link, and a click runs a provenance check in a side panel.
Dabers ANPR reads the plate from a car photo and shows the MOT history in a popup. It does not run provenance checks.
The two answer different questions. Many dealers will want an MOT check on every car and a provenance check on the few they intend to buy.
MotorCheck is published by Motor Data Ltd. of London. On 12 October 2026 its store listing showed 73 users, one rating of 5, and version 2.0.3, last updated on 29 October 2024. The details below come from the listing and from MotorCheck's own help article of 24 April 2024. We have not run it.
How the MotorCheck extension works#
As you browse, the extension finds registration numbers in the text of the page and makes each one a link. Clicking a link, in the words of the help article, "instantly triggers a provenance check by MotorCheck". The result opens in a sidebar beside the page, where your trade account stays logged in and your earlier checks are listed. You can also right-click a registration to check it.
Because every click on a linked registration sends a report request, the extension lets you switch recognition off for a site: right-click a registration and choose "Turn Off MotorCheck".
The extension is free to install. The checks run through a MotorCheck trade account.
Side by side#
| MotorCheck extension | Dabers ANPR | |
|---|---|---|
| Kind of check | Provenance check through MotorCheck | MOT history from the DVSA MOT History API |
| How a check starts | Click or right-click a reg written on the page | Right-click the car photo |
| Works from a photo | Not mentioned in the listing | Yes |
| Where the result shows | Side panel | A popup on the page |
| Past checks | Listed in the side panel | Not kept in a list. The same image is free to look up again |
| Account | MotorCheck trade account | Dabers ANPR sign-in |
| Cost on 12 Oct 2026 | Charged through the trade account. We did not read a price | From 1.75p to 2.5p a check, see pricing |
Where MotorCheck is the better choice#
Before you pay for a car you need to know about finance, theft and write-off markers. An MOT history does not hold those, so Dabers ANPR cannot answer the question and MotorCheck can. If you already have a MotorCheck trade account, its extension is the quickest way to use it.
It is also a good fit wherever the registration is printed on the page. One click on the text is as fast as a right-click on a photo.
Where Dabers ANPR fits better#
Many listings never print the registration, and the only place it appears is on the car in the pictures. The MotorCheck listing describes registrations "on any webpage" being turned into links, which needs the registration to be there as text. Dabers ANPR reads it from the image.
Cost per car matters too. A provenance check is something you run on a car you are close to buying. An MOT check at about 2p is cheap enough to run on every car you look at, to throw out the bad ones first. Pre-2018 vs post-2018 MOT defects explains what you will see in older test records, and how it works covers the lookup itself.
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