What does vehicle status mean?

Answer 1

If you're referring to those vehicle status checks you're seeing advertised on the TV and eBay Motors listings, they're simply background checks into the history of the car. They'll tell you things such as whether the vehicle has been written-off by an insurance company, whether the vehicle has ever been reported stolen or recovered/confiscated by the police, if there's any outstanding finance owed against the vehicle, whether the mileage is known to be faked, and whether all of its various numbers (VINs, registration plates, etc) match up properly.

Some of them also give more general information such as CO2 emissions and the like. It depends on which service you go for.

If you're considering buying a used vehicle I'd highly recommend them - I almost bought a vehicle not too long ago until performing one of these checks, and found that it had been written-off in the past!