What is an MOT advisory?
An advisory is the tester's way of saying "this is fine today, but keep an eye on it", and it isn't a fail. The official MOT inspection manual is clear about this. When an item "is not sufficiently deteriorated to justify rejection, there may be an option to select 'advisory' to inform the presenter of this fact."
Found a used car with a trail of advisories in its MOT history? Don't panic, and don't walk away on that alone, but don't ignore them either. Advisories give you free information about how the car has been treated, and it's worth reading carefully when you're buying someone else's car.
The classic example is tyre tread. The legal minimum is 1.6mm. A tyre sitting at 2mm still passes, but a tester will often flag it, because it's clearly going to need replacing before long. Same idea with a bit of surface corrosion near a structural area but not on it, or brake pads wearing thin without being dangerous yet.
To be clear, an advisory is not one of the defect categories the MOT uses to pass or fail a car. It sits outside them.
Advisory vs fail — the difference that actually matters
Since 20 May 2018, MOT defects have been sorted into three severity categories. Older records may read differently, so keep that date in mind when you scroll back through a long history.
Dangerous and major defects (these fail the car)
- Dangerous defects are, in gov.uk's words, "a direct and immediate risk to road safety or having an impact on the environment." The car fails, and you shouldn't drive it away.
- Major defects "may prejudice the safety of the vehicle, have an impact on the environment, put other road users at risk." These also fail the car until they're fixed and it's retested.
Minor defects (a pass, but recorded)
A minor defect has "no significant effect on the safety of the vehicle or impact on the environment." The car passes and gets its certificate, but the fault goes on the record. It's the tester telling you to sort something out, even though it wasn't a fail.
Advisories (a pass, and an early warning)
Advisories sit below even minor defects. They don't appear as a failure reason and they don't stop the car passing. Think of them as an informal early warning, not a defect category. They flag a part that's on its way out.
How to check a car's MOT history, step by step
It takes about a minute, it's free, and all you need is the number plate.
- Get the registration. It's in the advert, or on the plate if you're standing at the car.
- Put it into our free car check. No account and no payment.
- Read the oldest tests first, not the newest. The pattern is the point, and it only shows up in order.
- Check the mileage climbs at every test. A figure that drops, or barely moves for a year, is the clearest sign of clocking you'll get for free.
- Read the advisories across years rather than one at a time. The same advisory three years running is a different story from three unrelated ones.
Run it from the advert, before you drive an hour to see the car. It costs nothing and it rules out a wasted trip.
For each test on file you get:
- the test date
- the pass or fail result
- the mileage recorded at that test
- the reasons for any failure
- any advisory notices the tester recorded
The useful bit is reading them together across several years. Watch the mileage at each test especially, because it's your first line of defence against a clocked car: the recorded figures should only ever climb.
Two limits to know. The service shows MOT records only, so it won't show a car's service or maintenance history. A clean MOT record isn't the same as a full-service record.
Coverage has a start date too: it goes back to 2005 for cars, motorcycles and vans in England, Scotland and Wales, and to 2017 in Northern Ireland. Older than that and the trail simply isn't there.
Want it all in one place while you're comparing cars? Our free MOT check tool runs the same lookup, plus the DVLA tax and SORN status.
Common MOT advisories — and what they can mean
These are the advisories you'll see most often. It isn't an official DVSA ranking, just the ones testers and garages often flag:
- Tyres: tread getting close to the 1.6mm limit, uneven wear, perishing or minor damage.
- Brakes: pads or discs wearing thin, or the beginnings of an imbalance.
- Corrosion: surface rust near a structural or braking component, but not yet on it.
- Suspension: worn bushes, or play starting to develop in a joint.
- Lighting: a dim or misaligned lamp, or a lens starting to fade.
- Wiper blades: split or smearing, flagged for visibility.
On their own, these are the ordinary wear and tear you get on any used car. Most are cheap to fix. A single "tyre worn close to legal limit" advisory tells you almost nothing bad about a car.
Red flags: reading an MOT history like a buyer, not a mechanic
Look at several years of history together. Some patterns are worth pausing on:
- The same advisory, year after year, never fixed. A "brake pads wearing thin" note that reappears at three consecutive tests suggests an owner doing the bare minimum to scrape a pass. Mechanics and experienced buyers generally see recurring advisories left unfixed as a sign of deferred maintenance rather than isolated bad luck. Treat it as a prompt to look harder, not a diagnosis.
- A cluster of related advisories in one test. Corrosion plus worn suspension plus tired brakes, all in the same year, points to a car that's been run hard or maintained on the cheap. It isn't necessarily unsafe today, but it's a fair negotiating point and a good reason to pay for an independent inspection.
- Gaps in the test history. A missing year, beyond a legitimate SORN period, raises the question of where the car was and why it wasn't tested.
- A suspiciously clean pass straight after a long advisory list. If last year's test had six advisories and this year's is spotless, ask what was actually done, and ask for the receipts. Genuine repairs come with invoices.
Of those four, the repeated and never-fixed advisory is the one I'd push hardest on.
None of these is proof of anything on its own. They're prompts to ask a question, knock the price, or get a professional to look. Not reasons to run.
What an MOT history check can't tell you
Be honest with yourself about the limits of the free record.
It doesn't cover general servicing, so no oil changes, cambelts, clutches or gearbox health, only the safety and emissions items the MOT actually tests. A car can have a flawless MOT history and a neglected engine.
And a pass, even a clean one, is a point-in-time check rather than a guarantee. It says the car met the standard on the day it was tested. Nothing more.
The Highway Code is clear that keeping a vehicle roadworthy is the driver's ongoing responsibility. It also says to investigate a developing fault straight away rather than waiting for the next MOT. A certificate from eight months ago tells you very little about the car in front of you today.
There's another catch. The record is only ever as reliable as the tester who signed it off.
DVSA does police this. MOT Special Notice 05-25 was published on 19 December 2025. From 9 January 2026, a tester or authorised examiner principal given a two-year or five-year disciplinary "cessation" cannot hold any MOT role for the whole of that period.
Tighter enforcement is a good thing. It's also a reminder that the person who stamped a historic test wasn't infallible, and a small number aren't honest.
That's why it's worth going a step further before you hand over money. The MOT record won't show a car's write-off or finance history, and it won't check mileage against a fuller data set. A Comprehensive check pulls the wider vehicle history together, so the MOT record isn't the only thing standing between you and an expensive mistake.
Before you view a car, spend two minutes reading its MOT record. It's free, it's official, and it often tells you more than the seller will. Run the plate through our MOT check tool, read the advisories as a pattern, and let what you find shape the questions you ask and the price you pay.
Common questions
Is an MOT advisory the same as a fail?
No. An advisory is a note that something is wearing but isn't bad enough to fail the car. A car can pass with advisories on it. Fails come from dangerous or major defects.
Do I have to fix an MOT advisory?
Not immediately, and not to keep your certificate valid. But you're legally responsible for keeping the car roadworthy at all times, so an advisory is best treated as a job to plan for rather than ignore.
How do I check a car's full MOT history before buying it?
Run the plate through our free MOT check tool. You'll see every test date, result, mileage figure, failure reason and advisory on record, from just the number plate.
Does the MOT history check show service history too?
No. It shows MOT test records only, not a car's servicing or maintenance history. Ask the seller separately for a service book and invoices.
Should I walk away from a car with lots of MOT advisories?
Not automatically. Look at whether the same advisories recur unfixed, or cluster together. That pattern is the concern, not the raw number. Use it to negotiate or to justify an independent inspection.
How far back does MOT history go?
To 2005 for cars, vans and motorcycles in England, Scotland and Wales, and to 2017 in Northern Ireland.