Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of registered keepers of vehicles are not readily traceable or contactable.

Based on the latest available data, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is confident that 92.44% (46,707,158) of the keepers on record are contactable and traceable based on the information held on the DVLA’s records.

Of the remaining 7.56% of vehicles, 5.85% (2,957,366) are shown on the DVLA’s records as being ‘in trade’. These are vehicles for which the DVLA has been notified that the previous keeper has sold or disposed of the vehicle to a motor trader. Until the DVLA is notified of a new keeper they will remain shown as “in trade”. This is a legitimate status for a vehicle record until the vehicle is sold on or otherwise disposed of by the motor trader.

A further 1.36% (686,074) are vehicles that are taxed or notified as being kept off the road but there is no current registered keeper on the DVLA’s records. In some cases these will be vehicles which have recently been sold and the DVLA has not yet been notified of the new keeper.

The remaining 0.35% (175,782) are vehicles for which the DVLA does not have a full address on record which may make tracing a keeper more difficult.