AIPlateChecker← Check a car

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Check if a car is ULEZ compliant

Enter a UK reg to see whether the car meets London's Ultra Low Emission Zone standard, and the reason. Three answers only: compliant, not compliant, or not recorded.

No app. No sign-up. Just type a reg.

How ULEZ compliance is decided

The zone works on emissions standards, not age. A petrol car needs to meet Euro 4, which most cars registered from 2006 do. A diesel needs Euro 6, which broadly means cars registered from September 2015. Motorcycles need Euro 3. Fully electric vehicles meet the standard by definition.

Where a Euro status is recorded for the vehicle, that decides it. Where it isn't, this check falls back on the first-registration date, which is a proxy: a car registered a few months either side of the cut-over can go either way. The Euro status printed on the V5C is definitive, and the result here says when the date rule was used.

The charge and where the zone runs

A non-compliant vehicle pays a daily charge for any day it is driven inside the zone, which now covers all London boroughs. The amount and the boundary are set by Transport for London and can change, so check the current figure on TfL's ULEZ pages before you travel. This check is a guide; TfL's own checker is the authority for charging.

Buying a used car for London?

ULEZ status is one line of the free check. The MOT history tells you what the car has been costing its current owner, and the Full History Report (£9.99, one-off) adds road tax and emissions detail alongside the write-off, finance and stolen checks.

Frequently asked questions

Is the ULEZ check free?+
Yes. Type a reg and you get the ULEZ status with no account, no app and no card. The full free check adds the MOT history, tax status, AI condition score and repair estimate.
Does ULEZ apply outside London?+
No. ULEZ is London's zone. Other cities, including Birmingham, Bristol, Bradford, Sheffield and Portsmouth, run their own Clean Air Zones with their own rules and charges, so check the local scheme before you drive in.
My car shows "Not recorded" — what now?+
It means no emissions standard is held for the vehicle and the first-registration date does not settle it either. Look for the Euro status on the V5C logbook (section D.2 on newer documents), or use TfL's own checker, which is the authority for charging. A missing record is not the same as compliant.

Last updated September 2026.