How do I check my car's engine size by registration?

You can find a car's engine size using just its registration number, without needing to look under the bonnet or dig out the paperwork.

Where the figure comes from:

• Engine size (displacement, usually shown in litres or cc) is recorded on the vehicle's official record held by the DVLA
• It's also listed on the V5C logbook, under "engine capacity"
• A registration lookup will typically show this alongside other technical details like fuel type, CO2 emissions, and tax band, since these are all pulled from the same official record

Why it's worth double-checking:

Engine size can be a useful sense-check when buying a used car, since a mismatch between what's advertised and what's officially recorded can occasionally point to an engine swap or a mislabelled listing. It's a small detail, but one that's easy to verify in seconds with the registration number rather than taking a seller's description at face value.