Motor finance · Asset finance
Assess the collateral before the deal closes.
A motor finance agreement is only as sound as the asset backing it. Vehicles with undisclosed high mileage, a history of failures, or inflated valuations leave lenders exposed at default. Zyfy pulls DVLA registration data and DVSA-derived MOT intelligence at underwriting time — so you know what you're actually financing before contracts are signed.
Relevant signals
These fields are returned on every response and are ready to wire into your application logic.
| Signal | Relevance | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| signals.odometerTrend | Critical | Returns "possible_clocking" if any MOT mileage reading contradicts the previous one. A clocked vehicle is misrepresented collateral — material to the financing decision. |
| signals.advisoryTrend | Critical | "stable", "increasing", "decreasing", or "insufficient_data" when there aren't enough tests to compare. An increasing trend means the vehicle is accumulating maintenance debt — a direct residual value risk at agreement end. |
| signals.advisoryMomentum | Critical | "worsening" signals that advisory counts are accelerating across recent tests. Combine with summary.conditionBand and summary.maintenanceBand to quantify depreciation exposure. |
| vehicleAgeYears | High | Age in decimal years. Older vehicles depreciate faster and carry higher mechanical risk — both factors in residual value modelling at agreement end. |
| signals.motStatus | High | Current MOT validity. A vehicle financed with a valid MOT that has since lapsed has reduced driveability and therefore reduced realisable value at recovery. |
| fuelType | Medium | Petrol, diesel, electric, or hybrid. Diesel residual values have compressed in recent years due to ULEZ expansion. Factor this into end-of-term value projections. |
| signals.euroEmissionStandard | Medium | Emission standard from DVLA. Pre-Euro 6 diesel vehicles face ongoing ULEZ-related residual value pressure in major urban markets. |
| summary.aboveAverageAdvisories | Medium | true when this vehicle's advisory rate exceeds the fleet average for its make/model/year. Residual value depreciates faster when a vehicle is accumulating advisories above the norm for the model. |
| signals.drivetrainStressProfile.dpfRisk | Medium | "elevated" or "high" when annual mileage is too low for passive DPF regeneration. DPF replacement can cost £1,000–2,500 — a material repair risk at agreement end not visible from MOT pass/fail data. |
Live example
A real-world request and the response it returns.
Request
curl https://zyfy.uk/v1/vehicle/AB12CDE \
-H "X-API-Key: your_api_key"Response
{
"registration": "AB12CDE",
"make": "AUDI",
"model": "A3",
"colour": "BLUE",
"fuelType": "diesel",
"engineCapacityCc": 1968,
"yearOfManufacture": 2016,
"vehicleAgeYears": 9,
"monthOfFirstRegistration": "2016-04",
"summary": {
"buyRecommendation": "caution",
"vehicleRiskLevel": "medium",
"motRiskLevel": "medium",
"conditionBand": "fair",
"maintenanceBand": "fair"
},
"signals": {
"co2EmissionsGPerKm": 109,
"euroEmissionStandard": "EURO 6",
"ulezCompliant": true,
"taxStatus": "taxed",
"taxDueDate": "2026-10-01",
"motStatus": "valid",
"motExpiryDate": "2026-10-02",
"odometerTrend": "consistent",
"latestOdometerMiles": 78340,
"motPassRate": 0.89,
"totalMotTests": 9,
"totalMotFailures": 1,
"totalAdvisoryCount": 14,
"lastMotDate": "2025-10-02",
"lastMotResult": "passed",
"advisoryTrend": "increasing",
"advisoryMomentum": "worsening"
},
"enrichmentPending": false
}Example data is illustrative only. Responses shown include a subset of signals for clarity — the full response contains additional fields. See the signal reference for the complete list.
What you get
- ✓ Verify collateral value before advancing funds — Mileage, age, maintenance history, and MOT status all affect the vehicle's realisable value at default. Zyfy surfaces these in one call before the agreement is signed.
- ✓ Catch mileage misrepresentation at application — odometer_trend: "possible_clocking" means the customer's stated mileage may not match the DVSA record. Flag for review before drawdown, not after a dispute at early termination.
- ✓ MOT history as a maintenance quality signal — A vehicle with repeated brake or tyre failures is telling you something about how it has been maintained. That translates directly to higher depreciation and lower recovery value.
- ✓ No integration overhead — One REST endpoint, one API key, structured JSON. Fits into existing underwriting workflows as an additional enrichment step — no bespoke data partnership or FTP feed required.
Know what you're financing before contracts are signed.
Free tier includes 100 requests per month. No credit card, no sales call.