VOSA MOT information, including Mileage

Hello Data.gov.uk team, In 2009 the department for fair trade undertook an investigation into used car dealers and the sale of used cars. The full report can be found here: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/676408/oft1217.pdf  Interestingly,one of the recommendations, point 1.39 reads: "We recommend that consideration should be given by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) to making MOT test mileage data available to vehicle check companies, subject to data protection considerations. Whilst MOT data is only collected after the first three post-registration years, it is a very important source for verifying the accuracy of a vehicle's mileage.  Cu rrently, access to this MOT data is limited to those people who have a 'legitimate interest in the vehicle', such as the owner, registered keeper or someone about to buy the vehicle."Access to this data for valid parties, would be completely invaluable to the consumers, even it if was a yearly/half yearly extract, its something that seems like real "low hanging fruit" for open data access.  Have the data.gov.uk team looked at this report/findings and have there been any movements to implement the recommendation?Keep up the good work,Kind Regards,David

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VOSA MOT information

Hi David,

Subsequent to that report VOSA did make quite a lot of useful MOT test data available as open data. However that data is anonymised and does not include mileage or other details for individual vehicles.

I think in practice it will be difficult to make a case for open data release of mileage data for specific vehicles, because of the Data Protection Act. Specific vehicles can be linked to individual owners, and knowing the mileage travelled between two MOT dates might be considered the personal data of those individuals.

However I understand that the Open Data User Group will shortly be accepting business cases for open data release of additional public data sets. Once the system for submitting cases is rolled out on Data.gov.uk it would certainly be worthwhile to put in an argument for releasing MOT test mileage data.

-- Owen Boswarva (Data.gov.uk user), 09/09/2012

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Thanks for the reply

Thanks for the reply Owen,

I'll look to submit a request this way as this seems the only option left really. Its a shame, as data could potentially save lot and lots of used-car buyers (there are approximately 6.6 million used cars sold every year) the pain of buying a 'clocked vehicle'.

Data protection is undoubtedly important, so perhaps instead of outputting exact mileage, those records that have discrepancies between MOT's could be flagged, removing the personal aspect of the data. Making the data available only to those companies that have a valid reason to use it is another option, but im unsure as to how incongruent this is to the idea of 'open data'?

Thanks again, much appreciated.

David

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What to do next?...

One of the problems with the online MOT history check is that it requires someone to enter either a previous MOT test number or V5C log book reference - see http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECHID-Internet-History-Request.jsp

Is this the correct place to make a feature request to allow a user to alternatively enter the vehicle registration mark and the VIN number as an alternative.

The VIN number is a well known and understood number, and I think we would see far more people using the service if they were able to enter this number rather than having to find a piece of paper (or several pieces of paper).

Also, I noticed the request for this data doesnt appear to be an official data.gov request, but was submitted as a business case, should I also request it as a dataset?

David

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Using online services as API's

I'd also like to understand how VOSA feel about exposing their service at: http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECHID-Internet-History-Request... as an API?

There is lots of useful information in the MOT history, including mileage, failure reasons, test centre details that application developers could use to develop/ mash-up data to help car owners/prospective buyers, but currently its only available via the above link.

Are application developers allowed to proxy request from their own users to this site and use the results in their own applications currently?

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I second this

I've been looking for the same thing myself. A web service where the user has to supply the data that is currently required by the link above would surely suffice, and having this as a requirment means that it would not be too easy to abuse by spamming requests at the web service.

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MOT HISTORY CHECK

WHY IS THE MOT HISTORY SEARCHED BY VRM AND NOT VIN NUMBERS, WHEN SEARCHING FOR A MOT HISTORY, YOU FIND THAT IF THE VEHICLE HAS BEEN ON A PRIVATE PLATE THE HISTORY REPORT IS INCOMPLETE.  THIS IS, ACCORDING TO THE ADVISOR I SPOKE TO VOSA, BECAUSE VOSA "MOT A VRM NOT A VEHICLE"?.  I HAVE HAD A MOT HISTORY INCOMPLETE, I HAVE HAD AN MOT HISTORY USING A PRIVATE PLATE THAT COVERED MORE THAN VEHICLE.  SURELY FOR MOT HISTORY TO BE OF USE IN PROTECTING THE BUYER FROM CLOCKING IT SHOULD BE LINKED TO VIN NOT VRM AS THE VIN NUMBER CAN NEVER CHANGE?

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