What does the APK inspection history really tell you about a car?

A Dutch car's APK inspection history shows the date each defect was reported, a defect code, and how many times it was found at that inspection, alongside the car's current expiry date. All of this comes from RDW Open Data, the Dutch vehicle authority's free public dataset. What it doesn't give you is a running verdict on the car's condition: only inspection dates where a defect was actually logged show up, and whether that defect was serious enough to fail the car isn't stated separately.

Applies to: the Netherlands (vehicles registered with a Dutch number plate) Source: RDW, via rdw.nl and RDW Open Data (opendata.rdw.nl) Checked: August 2026 Main exception: the history shows reported defects per inspection date, not a continuous condition record, and carries no severity rating for that defect

What the APK history actually contains

RDW keeps three datasets that together make up a car's APK history. The first holds the basic registration record, including the car's current APK expiry date. The second, "Geconstateerde Gebreken" (defects found), lists every defect any inspection body has ever reported for that plate: the date it was reported, a defect code, and how many times that defect was recorded at that inspection. The third is a reference table of just over a thousand defect codes with their plain-language description, so a code becomes something like "tyre(s) with tread depth of 1.6 to 2.5 mm" rather than a numeric string.

A Plateop report for a car with a Dutch plate pulls all three datasets from the vehicle register automatically and lines them up: the expiry date, and for each reported defect the date, the description and the count. What the source doesn't provide, the report doesn't add either. RDW's open data has no field for how serious a defect was, so that judgement isn't in a Plateop report any more than it's in the raw data.

How often a car is inspected in the first place

Reading a history sensibly means knowing how far apart inspection dates normally sit.

Car	First inspection	After that
Petrol or electric	4 years after first registration	every 2 years, then annually from age 8
Diesel or LPG	3 years after first registration	annually
30 years and older	unchanged	once every 2 years
50 years and older	unchanged	exempt

That means a car between four and eight years old can go a full two years with no inspection event at all. Nothing changes in the history during that stretch, simply because there's nothing to report.

What a failed test or an expired APK means for the date

If an inspection turns up defects that need repairing, the car fails and may not be driven on public roads until it passes a re-test. If the APK lapses without a re-test, an automatic fine from the CJIB (the Dutch central fine collection agency) follows, even if the car isn't parked on a public road at all: there is no general grace period for repairing and re-testing it in the meantime. An expiry date that's close, or has just passed, isn't a detail to skim past: it decides whether the car may legally be driven right now.

What repeated defects give away

One defect on one inspection date doesn't say much. Parts wear out; that's ordinary. What's worth noticing is a defect code that keeps reappearing across consecutive inspections, or several entries that fall within the same system, such as corrosion in the same spot, a leak that keeps coming back, or repeated notes on the suspension. That pattern usually points not to bad luck but to maintenance done just well enough to pass the test, without fixing the underlying cause. Check a pattern like that against the service book: if there's no matching repair between the two inspection dates, that's a concrete question for the seller, not proof that something is wrong.

The limits: why this isn't a condition report

This comes down to three gaps. First, the history only shows inspections where a defect was actually logged; a clean pass leaves no separate line, only a new expiry date. Second, the open data carries no severity rating: you can see that a defect was reported and how often, not whether it failed the car outright or was just a note for later. The paper inspection report the owner gets at each APK does draw that distinction, but it doesn't automatically travel with an online history. Third, and this is the core point: every inspection is a snapshot of a single day. Between two inspections, sometimes close to two years apart, the history says nothing about the current state of the brakes, tyres or suspension. A car with a spotless history could have picked up damage yesterday that no inspection has yet seen.

What this means for the buyer

Check the expiry date first: the closer it is, the sooner you'll be dealing with a fresh inspection yourself. Then scan the reported defects for repetition within the same part, and ask the seller for the matching repair invoices if they don't come with the car already. Ask, too, for the paper inspection reports from recent visits, since those do show whether a defect caused a fail at the time. Never treat a clean history as proof of a clean car today: it means nothing was reported up to the last inspection date, not that nothing has happened since. A Plateop report lines up the expiry date and any reported defects automatically as soon as you look up a car with a Dutch number plate, to the extent RDW has them on record. Check a car with a Dutch number plate before you buy at plateop.com.