The RDW vehicle data
Where the Dutch Number Plate Check and the other car tools get their data, how often we update it and why we show nothing about owners.
The RDW (the Dutch vehicle authority) keeps the vehicle register: the data of every vehicle with a Dutch registration number (kenteken, the number plate). The RDW puts part of it online as open data, for everyone. Our car tools take their data from it.
What the RDW open data is
On opendata.rdw.nl you find the technical data of all vehicles with a number plate. Think of the type of vehicle, the make, the model and the colour, the weight and dimensions, the engine, the fuel consumption and emissions, the catalogue price and the expiry date of the periodic vehicle inspection (APK). Names and addresses of owners are not included.
The RDW releases the data under CC0. Anyone may use and share it, without conditions. A credit is not required. We give the source anyway: Source: RDW Open Data.
Which tables we use
| RDW table | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Registered vehicles | type, make, model, colour, date of first admission, export, APK expiry date, the assessment of the odometer reading, weights and towing weight, dimensions, catalogue price, BPM (purchase tax) and energy label |
| Fuel | per fuel the power, the consumption, the CO₂ emissions and the Euro emissions standard, and for electric cars the electricity consumption and the range |
| Recalls | per action the defect, the consequences, the repair, the risk and who reported the action, with the possible hazards |
| Status per vehicle | per number plate and action: whether the repair is still open or has been reported |
Of the 93 fields in the main table we take over 33: only what a tool uses.
We do not copy the APK inspections and the defects found in them. Dutch MOT history (APK) asks the RDW for them with every search. The RDW has published them since June 2022.
How current it is
- Every week we reload all tables, completely. A vehicle that disappears from the register disappears from ours too.
- With every load we check whether all fields are still there, whether the counts are right and whether no table is suddenly much smaller. If something is wrong, the previous load stays in place.
- What changes quickly, we ask for with each search: the APK expiry date, whether a vehicle has been exported and the state of the recalls. We keep that answer in working memory for a day at most. If the RDW does not answer, we show our weekly copy, with the date.
The technical data is therefore at most a week old; the APK, the export status and the recalls at most a day.
About the vehicle, not the owner
We show data about the vehicle, not about the people who own it or drive it. We therefore leave out two things from the open data:
- Whether the vehicle is insured. The RDW publishes whether there is third-party liability insurance (WA). That says something about the owner and their choices, not about the car.
- When the vehicle last changed owner. That date says something about a person: when someone bought the car.
What we do show:
- The date of first admission and the date on which the vehicle was first registered in the Netherlands. These concern the history of the car, for example whether it was imported.
- The APK expiry date. It concerns the car, and a buyer needs it. The RDW shows it itself too. We present it neutrally: without colour, warning or judgement.
- In Dutch MOT history (APK), the inspections with their date and the defects found. Without a score, without a time of day and without the type of inspection company. Defects are usually repaired straight away; that is stated there too.
A number plate can lead to a person: whoever knows the number plate often knows whose car it is. We therefore do not store number plates. They do not end up in our database, statistics or log files. In the statistics we count only the make. More about this is on the privacy page.
Things to bear in mind
- Empty fields are common. In a sample of half a million vehicles the top speed was empty for 58 per cent and the energy label for 41 per cent. Sometimes the RDW fills an empty field with text, such as Niet geregistreerd (not registered) or N.v.t. (not applicable). We treat that as empty as well. An empty field is left out.
- Consumption and emissions come from type approval, measured on a fixed test cycle. The WLTP test has existed since about 2018. For older cars only the value from the older NEDC test is given. What a car uses in practice usually differs.
- The towing weight is often missing. For about 2.0 of the 10.2 million passenger cars it is empty (RDW, 11 October 2026). According to the RDW, most electric cars are not built for towing. Whether a trailer has a brake is not in the open data.
- Recalls are described by the manufacturer or importer. An open action means the repair has not yet been reported as carried out. Not every action applies to every vehicle of a model.
- No history. Every load replaces the previous one. We therefore do not keep how a vehicle stood last year.
Counts
Counts, as in How Rare Is Your Car? Dutch Number Plate Count and Cars in the Netherlands in Figures, concern vehicles with a Dutch number plate that have not been exported, according to the latest load. They concern vehicles, not owners.
Tools with this data
- Dutch Number Plate Check: all data of one vehicle, with the cost per 100 kilometres at the current pump prices from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). You can read more about those prices in CBS prices.
- Dutch MOT history (APK): the inspections and defects since June 2022.
- Car Recalls by Make and Model in the Netherlands
- How Rare Is Your Car? Dutch Number Plate Count
- Cars in the Netherlands in Figures
- Caravan towing check (Dutch edition only): the weights of car and trailer.
- Road tax calculation (Dutch edition only): from the plate check, the weight and fuel are carried over.
- Monthly car costs (Dutch edition only): also reachable from the plate check.
How we update and monitor the data is described in How we keep everything current.
The Sumish editorial team
More guides
- How we workHow we keep everything currentWhich data updates itself, which rates we check by hand every year and what Last reviewed means on a tool.
- DataCBS prices: inflation, fuel and energyWhich Statistics Netherlands (CBS) series we use for inflation, pump prices and energy tariffs, how often they update and what provisional means.
- DataCBS figures on neighbourhoods and municipalitiesWhere the figures for neighbourhoods, districts and municipalities come from, which year they are from and why CBS sometimes keeps a figure secret.