Editorial policy

Last updated 15 October 2026

VehicleFile publishes free calculators and plain-English guides for UK drivers. People use them to make real decisions about money and the law, so accuracy matters more to us than anything else. This page explains how we work.

Official sources first

Every rate, rule and figure on VehicleFile comes from a primary source wherever one exists: GOV.UK, DVLA, DVSA, HMRC, Transport for London, the Highway Code, Ofgem, the Sentencing Council and legislation.gov.uk. Where we use other sources, such as average public charging prices, we name them. Each guide and calculator lists its sources at the bottom of the page.

Checked and dated

Every page shows the date its figures were last checked. Tax rates, fees and charges are reviewed when they change, at the start of each tax year in April, and whenever the government announces a change. When a figure changes, we update the page and the date.

Calculators

Our calculators use the same formulas as the official rules, and we test them against worked examples from the official sources. They run in your browser: the numbers you type are not sent to us or stored. Results are a guide. For a decision that matters, confirm with the official service, which we link to on every page.

Independence

VehicleFile is independent and is not part of, or endorsed by, any government body. No company pays to be mentioned in our guides, and advertising never influences what we write. The site is free to use and is paid for by advertising.

Who we are

VehicleFile is written and maintained by a small editorial team at Convertix Core, the software studio that runs the site. Guides are researched from the official sources above and reviewed before publication.

Corrections

If you think something on VehicleFile is wrong or out of date, please tell us. We check every report, correct genuine mistakes promptly, and update the date on the page.