What does the vehicle actually tell you
that the customer didn't?
A customer declares their vehicle at point of quote. Make, model, year, mileage. Your system validates the VRM. But that single lookup barely scratches the surface of what the vehicle can tell you about the risk you're about to write.
When did it last change hands? How many keepers has it had? What did the last MOT reveal? Does the declared mileage match the MOT history? Is it a salvage rebuild? Are there modifications the customer didn't mention? Vehicle Intelligence answers all of this in a single API call, in under 200 milliseconds.
The Vehicle Data Gap
Most insurers validate the VRM and retrieve basic specification data. Make. Model. Engine size. Fuel type. That's the standard lookup.
But it misses the signals that actually differentiate risk. A car that changed hands two weeks before a new policy was taken out tells a very different story to one that's been with the same keeper for five years. MOT advisory notices reveal undisclosed modifications. Mileage readings across MOT history expose discrepancies the customer hopes you won't notice.
The vehicle is one of the most reliable external signals available - because the customer can't change its history. Yet most enrichment barely uses it.
What Vehicle Intelligence Delivers
Vehicle Intelligence consolidates 14 distinct vehicle data sources into a single API response. For every VRM, you get:
- Full DVLA record: registration, keeper history, transfer dates, SORN status
- Complete MOT history: pass/fail timeline, advisory items, defect severity codes
- Trim-level specifications: engine, safety features, ADAS inventory, factory options
- Real-time market valuations: retail, trade, and private (powered by Cazana)
- Damage history: total loss markers, structural repair records, salvage flags
- High-risk VIN checks: stolen, cloned, VIN mismatch indicators
14 data sources. One API call. Under 200ms.
14 vehicle data sources, one connection
Vehicle Intelligence eliminates the need to integrate separately with DVLA, Cazana, HPI, and other providers. All sources are updated on their native schedules - DVLA nightly, Cazana daily, MOT real-time - and the API always returns current-state data.
sources consolidated
time per lookup
updates
depth (not just model)
Specification Depth
Beyond standard make, model, and year data, VI provides trim-level specification: engine displacement and configuration, kerb weight, payload, towing capacity, safety system inventory (AEB, lane assist, parking sensors), NCAP ratings, fuel type and efficiency, and factory-fitted extras.
This granularity enables individual vehicle feature pricing at trim level rather than make/model averages - the approach that Aviva specifically adopted when they signed a multi-year VI agreement in December 2025, the largest single vehicle intelligence deployment in the UK insurance market.
Ownership and History
VI retrieves the complete ownership history: number of keepers, transfer dates, gaps in registration, and SORN periods. Combined with MOT history, this builds a timeline of the vehicle's life that reveals patterns the customer may not have disclosed.
Salvage and total loss markers are checked against industry databases. Structural repair history is retrieved from bodyshop networks. High-risk VIN flags identify stolen, cloned, or VIN-mismatched vehicles before you bind the risk.
From pricing to claims, vehicle data changes the outcome
Vehicle Intelligence serves three distinct use cases across the insurance lifecycle - each one turning vehicle data into measurable commercial value.
Pricing and Underwriting
Individual vehicle features enable risk-reflective pricing that goes beyond broad make/model rating groups. A vehicle with autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, and a five-star NCAP rating is a measurably different risk from a base-spec model of the same year.
Ownership history adds context. A vehicle on its sixth keeper in three years carries different risk characteristics to a single-owner car. MOT advisory patterns reveal wear and maintenance quality that correlate with claims frequency.
These signals feed directly into your rating engine - giving your pricing team variables that competitors using standard vehicle lookups simply don't have.
Claims and Valuations
For claims use cases, VI provides a real-time total loss valuation package: retail, trade, and private valuations with comparable sale evidence, condition adjustment factors, and market movement indicators.
This enables fair, defensible, rapid total loss settlements that reduce claims cycle time and complaints. The 12-month price movement trend helps claims teams understand whether a vehicle's value is rising or falling - particularly important in volatile used-car markets.
Fraud detection benefits from the combination of ownership history anomalies, salvage markers, and VIN checks that identify high-risk vehicles before a claim progresses.
From VRM to complete vehicle record in under 200ms
Whether at point of quote or point of claim, every VRM lookup follows the same path through the Vehicle Intelligence API.
- 1 VRM submitted to Vehicle Intelligence API at point of quote or claim
- 2 VRM validated and normalised (format correction, historical plates resolved)
- 3 DVLA lookup: current keeper, registration date, colour, fuel, engine size
- 4 Ownership history: number of keepers, transfer dates, SORN periods
- 5 OEM specification matched: trim, grade, factory options, ADAS inventory
- 6 MOT history retrieved: pass/fail timeline, advisories, defect severity
- 7 Cazana valuations: retail, trade, private plus 12-month price trend
- 8 Risk indicators consolidated: salvage, structural repair, VIN flags, VI risk score returned
The VRM-identity link is updated in Customer Intelligence automatically, and aggregate vehicle risk trends feed into Marketing Intelligence - so every lookup strengthens the wider intelligence stack.
"For us, Percayso's Vehicle Intelligence is a one-stop shop for the information we need and allows us to provide a better customer experience and settle claims more effectively. We use it daily."
How Vehicle Intelligence works for your business
Vehicle Intelligence adds an independent, verifiable data layer to every motor policy - turning the vehicle itself into a risk signal that goes far beyond what the customer declared.
For Insurers
Enable individual vehicle feature pricing at trim level. Ownership history anomalies and salvage markers identify high-risk vehicles before you bind. Real-time valuations accelerate total loss settlements and reduce complaints.
Solutions for InsurersFor Brokers
An independent, verifiable vehicle data layer that supports better risk selection, more accurate renewals, and faster claims validation. MOT advisories reveal undisclosed modifications. Mileage discrepancies flag potential fraud.
Solutions for BrokersFor MGAs
Vehicle-level risk signals that strengthen underwriting decisions and capacity provider confidence. Trim-level data gives your pricing model variables that competitors using standard lookups don't have.
Solutions for MGAsFor Comparison Sites
Accurate vehicle specifications ensure the details behind every quote are correct from VRM entry to bind. Reducing inaccurate pricing, post-bind adjustments, and insurer friction across your panel.
Solutions for Comparison SitesVehicle Intelligence works with
Quote Intelligence
Vehicle changes between quotes reveal manipulation. VI confirms whether the vehicle declared matches the vehicle's actual history.
Learn more
Customer Intelligence
VRM-identity links enrich the customer graph. See which vehicles are connected to which people across your book.
Learn more
Data Intelligence
Vehicle data combines with address, identity, and demographic enrichment for a complete risk picture through one integration.
Learn moreWhat are the vehicles in your book not telling you?
Start with an Evaluate. We'll run your motor portfolio through Vehicle Intelligence and show you the ownership anomalies, mileage discrepancies, and valuation gaps that standard vehicle lookups miss.
