Full Provenance Report with Data Guarantee: What the Guarantee Adds

A provenance report tells you what is on record about a car. It cannot make the record right. A lender that has not registered its agreement, or an insurer that has not reported a loss, leaves a gap that no check can see. The question buyers ask is a fair one: what happens if the report says the car is clean and it is not?

That is what the Data Guarantee version of the Full Provenance Report is for. The report is the same as the £5.99 version explained in our Full Provenance Report guide. What changes is that Experian, the data provider, stands behind the data under its own published terms, up to a cover level you choose. This guide explains what the guarantee adds, the three cover levels, the conditions Experian publishes, and what it does not do. It is not a substitute for reading Experian’s terms.

1. What the Full Provenance Report with Data Guarantee Is

It is the set-menu report on the SortedCars Paid Check builder, bought with a cover level. You enter the registration, pick one of the guarantee options on the Full Provenance Report card, and the report is built while you wait and shown on screen.

You will find the card on the Provenance tab, marked Set menu. Under “Choose your guarantee level” there are four options:

• Full provenance report — no Data Guarantee: £5.99
• Full provenance report + Data Guarantee, cover up to £10,000: £9.99
• Full provenance report + Data Guarantee, cover up to £20,000: £14.99
• Full provenance report + Data Guarantee, cover up to £30,000: £24.99

The footnote printed under the options is the line to read first: “The Data Guarantee is provided by Experian, not by SortedCars, under Experian’s own terms and conditions. Experian decides eligibility and settles any claim. We are the reseller of the data, not the guarantor.”

2. What the Report Shows

The report data is the same either way; the cover level is what changes. The report brings together the vehicle description, the Experian identity sections and the provenance sections: outstanding finance, stolen vehicle, mileage and clocking, write-off and damage history, keeper and owner history, and plate and colour change history. The card screenshot above was taken on our test site with sample data; there is no report-page screenshot of the full report in this guide, and the section-by-section walk-through is in the no-guarantee guide.

What the guarantee version adds is a cover level attached to the report. Experian’s published guarantee page lists six kinds of data inaccuracy that the guarantee is designed to address:

Experian’s page states that any payout is the lower of market value or the financial limit, and the financial limit is the cover level you chose: £10,000, £20,000 or £30,000. These figures are a summary of a page fetched on 14 September 2026; the page can change, and the terms on it govern, not this guide.

3. Why It Matters

Every provenance check reads a register. Registers are only as complete as the people who fill them in. A report that shows no finance is a true statement that no finance was registered, not a promise that no finance exists. On a cheap car that gap may be a risk you accept. On an expensive one it may not be.

The Data Guarantee is the data provider putting its own terms behind its own data. If the report was wrong on one of the six points above, and the conditions are met, Experian’s terms set out what can be claimed. That is a different thing from the report being more accurate: the data does not change. It is the consequence of an error that changes.

It also matters who is giving the guarantee. It is not SortedCars. Experian decides eligibility and settles any claim. Read Experian’s terms at experian.co.uk/data-guarantee before relying on the guarantee.

4. Where the Data Comes From

The provenance data in this report is provided by Experian. The vehicle details at the top come from the DVLA. The guarantee is also Experian’s: it applies only to the Experian Full Provenance Report (AutoCheck) when it is purchased with a Data Guarantee cover level. It does not apply to a Full Provenance Report bought without a cover level, and it does not apply to individual data sections bought on their own.

SortedCars does not hold or create these records and does not underwrite the guarantee. We ask Experian for the record on the car at the moment you build the report and show you every value we receive. Because the guarantee runs for 12 months from the check, guaranteed reports are kept for 24 months, as set out in our privacy policy.

5. What It Cannot Tell You

An honest guide to a guarantee is mostly a list of conditions.

• It does not make the data more complete. The same registers are read. A record that was never registered still does not appear.
• It is not insurance on the car. It relates to the six data inaccuracies listed above, not to mechanical faults, accident damage after purchase or anything the report does not claim to cover.
• It is not a SortedCars promise. We resell the data. Whether a claim can be made, and what is paid, is decided by Experian under Experian’s terms.
• It has conditions. Experian’s published terms include: the check must be run before purchase; the buyer must have verified the VIN, the registration mark, the seller’s identity and the MOT; the purchase must be in Great Britain or Northern Ireland; no cash payment over £5,000 or 10% of the price; the car must not have been bought 30% or more below market value; the claim must be made within the guarantee period; the buyer must have acted with professional diligence; and the loss must be documented.
• It is time-limited. The guarantee runs for 12 months from the check.
• Experian’s page is written for its clients. Read it yourself and satisfy yourself that you can claim under it before you rely on it.

6. What To Do With the Result

The guarantee only helps if you have done the things Experian’s terms expect of a buyer. Treat the conditions as a checklist you complete on the day, not a list you read after a problem has appeared.

Step 1 — Buy the report before you pay for the car. A check run after purchase falls outside the published conditions. Build the report, choose the cover level, and keep the dated report.

Step 2 — Verify what the terms say you must verify. Compare the VIN on the car with the V5C and the report. Check the registration mark. Confirm who the seller is and that they are the registered keeper on the V5C; our V5C logbook guide shows what to look for. Check the MOT at gov.uk/check-mot-history.

Step 3 — Pay in a way that fits the conditions. Experian’s terms exclude cash payments over £5,000 or 10% of the price, and purchases 30% or more below market value. A traceable payment and a sensible price protect you in other ways too.

Step 4 — If the report turns out to be wrong, document it and go to Experian. Gather the report, proof of purchase and evidence of the loss, and follow the claims route in Experian’s terms within the 12-month period. If a seller deliberately misled you about the car, report it to Action Fraud. For your rights as a buyer, Citizens Advice has free guidance.

7. Price and Where It Sits

Packs with an Experian Data Guarantee start at £7.49. Prices are as shown on the site at the time of writing; the page price is always the price you pay.

Final Thoughts

The Data Guarantee does not change what the Full Provenance Report shows. It changes who stands behind the data if one of six listed things turns out to be wrong, up to a cover level you choose, on conditions Experian publishes. Pick the cover level to match the price of the car, run the report before you pay, and do the VIN, seller and MOT checks the terms expect.

Then read Experian’s terms at experian.co.uk/data-guarantee. This guide summarises them; it does not replace them, and it is Experian, not SortedCars, that decides any claim.

This guide provides general information and is not legal or financial advice. Provenance data in the Full Provenance Report is provided by Experian and shows the records registered against the vehicle at the time the report is built; the Data Guarantee is provided by Experian under Experian’s own terms and conditions, Experian decides eligibility and settles any claim, and the summary of those terms in this article was taken from Experian’s published page on 14 September 2026 and may change — read the terms before relying on the guarantee. SortedCars is not a lender, credit broker, insurer or financial adviser. We receive no commission from any provider mentioned in this article.