When you see the Autocertif seal on a vehicle history report, it is not decoration. It is a formal commitment, and we believe every buyer and professional deserves to know precisely what that commitment covers. Too many marks in the used-vehicle world are applied for effect, a reassuring graphic that survives no scrutiny. The Autocertif seal is the opposite: it is a statement of method, and it can be held to account. This article sets out, plainly and in full, what the seal certifies and, just as importantly, what it does not.
A documented chain of sources
The seal first certifies provenance. Every material finding in the report is drawn from an authoritative source: a national registry, an insurer database, a regulatory authority or an accredited inspection body. The seal is our assurance that no entry rests on rumour, on a seller's word, or on unverified online listings.
Provenance is not a single check but a discipline applied to every line of the document. When a write-off is recorded, it traces back to an insurer's loss record. When a keeper change appears, it traces back to a registration event held by a public authority. Where a finding cannot be tied to a source we recognise as authoritative, it does not earn a place in the certified body of the report.
A certification is only ever as strong as the sources beneath it. We would rather report less and certify all of it than report more and stand behind only part.
Verification against the vehicle
The seal certifies that each finding has been matched to the vehicle identification number. A history is worthless, and worse than worthless, if it belongs to a different car. Mistaken identity is one of the most common ways a buyer is misled, sometimes innocently and sometimes by design.
Our verification step confirms that the record and the vehicle are one and the same before the seal is applied. The decoded specification of the VIN is set against the documented history and against the manufacturer data it should produce. Only when these align does a finding pass into the certified report.
What the seal does not claim
We are equally clear about limits, because a guarantee that overpromises is no guarantee at all. The seal certifies the integrity of what we report; it does not promise omniscience. Where a market has genuine gaps in coverage, the report says so in plain terms. Honesty about absence is part of the guarantee, not an exception to it.
- Sources are authoritative and identified, never anonymous.
- Findings are tied to the VIN, not merely to a plate or a description.
- Gaps in the record are disclosed, never disguised as completeness.
- The report is backed by our satisfaction-or-refund guarantee.
Currency at the moment you ask
Official records change constantly. A vehicle that was clean last quarter may carry a new marker today. The seal certifies that the report reflects the state of the record at the moment you requested it, not a stale snapshot pulled weeks earlier. Currency is part of certification, and it is one of the reasons we maintain our integrations rather than rely on cached data.
Accountability behind the mark
Finally, the seal certifies recourse. Behind it stands a satisfaction-or-refund guarantee and a named team you can reach. A certification that nobody answers for is no certification at all, merely a badge. That is the standard we hold ourselves to on every document we issue.
This accountability is what turns a report from a convenience into a safeguard. If a certified finding falls short of the standard the seal represents, you are entitled to raise it and to be heard. The mark is therefore not the end of our responsibility but the visible sign of it.
One offer, no fine print
Access to certified reports follows a single, transparent structure. A 2-day trial costs €3.99, after which the subscription is €49.99/month. It renews automatically, and you may cancel at any time. There are no tiers to decode and no hidden figures, because the same plainness we apply to the seal we apply to the price. You always know what you are paying and exactly what the seal behind your report stands for.
