About CarTrace
One honest placefor every car question.
CarTrace is Europe's first complete car platform with AI built in. We help people check a car before they buy it, understand what they are buying, look after it once it is theirs and get it back if it is stolen.
Our story
It started with stolen cars.It grew into everything around them.
We are a small European team from software, security and automotive backgrounds, and we have been building CarTrace since 2023. We began with vehicle theft: how cars are stolen, moved across borders and recovered, and how badly owners were served by slow queues, national registers that do not talk to each other and websites that had not changed since the early 2000s.
The more owners and buyers we spoke to, the more we heard one question before any other: what do I actually know about this car? The answers were spread over a government register, a tax calculator, forums, classifieds and a theft database. So we brought them together in one report, added an AI that explains it in plain words, and kept building around the car's whole life.
What we do
Four jobs, one platform
- Check
One licence plate gives a full report: register data, APK inspections, recalls, odometer judgement, value, running costs, reviews and a stolen check.
Check a plate - Decide
Compare cars side by side, see whether leasing or buying costs you less, and ask Leo anything along the way.
Compare cars - Own
My Garage keeps your cars, mileage and service log together, and reminds you before APK and maintenance are due.
Open My Garage - Protect
A theft map, a public stolen-vehicle register, sightings from the community and practical protection advice.
See the theft map
What we stand for
How we build it
- Every source namedEach part of a report says where it came from. When a figure is our estimate, we say so, and we never invent numbers to look bigger.
- Free where it mattersChecking a car, the stolen check and reporting a theft cost nothing, with no account needed to check. The full report is an optional extra.
- AI that explainsLeo turns register data and inspection findings into plain words in English, Dutch or German, so you do not need to be a mechanic to understand a report.
- Private by designBuilt by a European team under the GDPR. Your garage and your reports are yours, and you can delete your account and its data at any time.
How we use AI
Leo is an AI, and says so.
Leo is an AI assistant built on a large language model, not a person, and it tells you so. Other text written by AI, such as comparison verdicts, summaries and automatic translations, is labelled where it appears, and no decision about you is made by AI. Registry facts come from official sources, but the sentences around them are generated and can be wrong, so check the report before you decide.
Did Leo get something wrong? Email info@cartrace.nl with the date of the conversation and what Leo said, and we will review it and correct the system.
Read how AI works on CarTraceWhere the data comes from
Official records first
CarTrace is independent. We are not affiliated with the organisations below; we read the data they publish.
- Dutch vehicle registerRegistration, specifications, APK inspections, odometer judgement and recalls from the RDW's open data.
- Safety authoritiesModel safety alerts from the EU Safety Gate, Germany's KBA and the US NHTSA.
- The used-car marketLive adverts from the large Dutch classifieds sites, for listings and similar cars.
- Reviews and crash testsOwner opinions, motoring clubs, car magazines and Euro NCAP results.
- Theft register and communityThe CarTrace stolen-vehicle register, sightings from spotters and an international stolen-vehicle check.
- Public camerasPublic traffic camera feeds along motorways, borders and ports.
Our mission
Make every car decision in Europe an informed one, and make a stolen car harder to hide.
Questions, press or partnerships? Get in touch