Bulk and delta files

When you download a bulk or delta file, you’ll receive an archive file containing vehicle records as gzip compressed JSON documents. You need to decompress the documents before you can use them.

The bulk vehicle data is spread across multiple JSON files. Each file contains approximately 500,000 records. Each line represents a complete vehicle record.

An example from the bulk file:

{
  "registration": "SN97PLP",
  "registrationDate": "1973-09-21",
  "primaryColour": "Beige",
  "model": "AVENGER",
  "make": "HILLMAN",
  "fuelType": "Petrol",
  "motTests": [],
  "dataSource": "dvla",
  "last_update_date": "2023-12-04"
}
{
  "registration": "SE38GUW",
  "firstUsedDate": "2003-03-27",
  "registrationDate": "2003-03-27",
  "manufactureDate": "2003-03-27",
  "primaryColour": "Blue",
  "secondaryColour": "Not Stated",
  "engineSize": "1461",
  "model": "CLIO",
  "make": "RENAULT",
  "fuelType": "Diesel",
  "lastMotTestDate": "2017-03-10 12:21:09",
  "motTests": [
      {
          "completedDate": "2015-03-11 11:41:11",
          "expiryDate": "2016-03-10",
          "testResult": "PASSED",
          "odometerValue": "133230",
          "odometerUnit": "mi",
          "odometerResultType": "OK",
          "defects": []
      },
      {
          "completedDate": "2017-03-10 12:21:09",
          "expiryDate": "2018-03-10",
          "testResult": "PASSED",
          "odometerValue": "144392",
          "odometerUnit": "mi",
          "odometerResultType": "OK",
          "defects": [
              {
                  "dangerous": 0,
                  "text": "",
                  "type": "ADVISORY"
              },
              {
                  "dangerous": 0,
                  "text": "lens scuffed",
                  "type": "ADVISORY"
              }
          ]
      }
  ],
  "dataSource": "dvsa"
}

Delta files contain a complete record, including test history, for any vehicle which has been created, updated or deleted since the previous delta was created.

The type of change is described by the last_modification column. The possible values are:

Modification	Description	Example
CREATED	A new vehicle has been added	A new vehicle has been registered with the DVLA
UPDATED	Existing information has been modified or a new test has been recorded	An MOT test has been recorded against the vehicle
DELETED	The vehicle has been deleted, this is not expected to occur often	A vehicle was created in error and removed from the system

An example record from the delta file:

{
  "registration": "SN97PLP",
  "registrationDate": "1973-09-21",
  "primaryColour": "Beige",
  "model": "AVENGER",
  "make": "HILLMAN",
  "fuelType": "Petrol",
  "motTests": [],
  "dataSource": "dvla",
  "last_update_date": "2023-12-04",
  "last_modification": "UPDATED"
}