MOT Check

Just enter the reg to check for a current MOT and full MOT history. You also get our feature packed free car history check as well!

Every car driven on public roads in the UK must have a valid MOT certificate (unless it is exempt) and be kept in a roadworthy condition. You can drive a car without an MOT certificate but only if you are taking it to be repaired or to a pre-booked MOT test.

It usually takes up to 24 hours for an MOT test to be picked up by our database. It can take up to 5 days in some circumstances.

It is valid for 12 months. You can see the expiry date for the current and past certificated on one of our MOT checks.

There are three probable reasons for this. If the car is under three years old, it does not need an MOT test and almost certainly won’t have one.

Second, the car’s last MOT test was before 2017 (for Northern Ireland) or before 2005 (for the rest of the UK) and we don’t have that information in the database.

Third, the vehicle may be MOT exempt.

Yes, but only to drive it to a place to be repaired or to a pre-booked MOT test.

If you still have a valid MOT certificate you can continue to drive the vehicle but only if no "dangerous" defects were recorded on the MOT test that failed.

If you don’t have a valid MOT certificate, you can only drive it to a place to be repaired or to a pre-booked MOT test.

Just enter the reg of the car into our MOT check tool to get not only the current MOT status but its MOT history and our free car history check.

If your existing MOT certificate has expired or the MOT failure contained any "dangerous" defects then you won’t be able to legally drive your car on the roads. The only exception to this is to drive it to a place to be repaired or to a pre-booked MOT test.

Even if you do have an outstanding MOT certificate you could still get into trouble if the car is not considered roadworthy. It is usually a good idea to get the car fixed and pass an MOT as soon as you can.

Cars over 40 years old don’t require a yearly MOT test. There are also a few categories of vehicle that don’t but even in these cases you are obligated to maintain them in roadworthy condition.

If the test occurred more than 28 days ago, you will need to contact the DVLA to correct the mistake. Otherwise you can ask the centre that conducted the test to issue a replacement certificate.

An MOT certificate is valid until midnight of the expiry date.

If your vehicle is under 3 years old you will not need an MOT. Otherwise just enter the reg of the vehicle into our MOT check tool to find out.

A valid MOT certificate is a good indicator the car is in a roadworthy condition, especially if tested recently. The MOT history provides insight into how well a car has been maintained and also can help highlight any persistent or ongoing issues.

We would recommend doing a full car history check before buying any vehicle but our MOT history check is a free way to get some idea of a car's history.

All components and systems in your car that are safety critical and those that impact environmental standards. The inspection will look at;

• Steering
• Tyres
• Suspension
• Brakes
• Seatbelts and seats
• Exhaust emissions
• Windscreen, mirrors and wipers
• Basic electrics
• Vehicle identification Number (VIN)

You can find the full checklist here.

For your car’s first MOT test (or first after a numberplate change) you should take along the logbook (V5C). Otherwise it is a good idea to check your car over before an MOT test as many failures are due to small things that most people can resolve themselves.

Simple things you can check/fix are;

• Windscreen wiper blades are in good condition
• Screen wash isn’t empty
• Clean the numberplate if it is dirty
• Remove any child seats/boosters from the car
• Make sure all external lights (headlamps, indicators e.t.c) are working

It usually takes between 45 minutes and an hour. However if you agreed for the test centre to fix any issues as well, the process might take longer, depending upon the repairs needed.

We'd generally recommend avoiding any test centre that doesn't charge the maximum an MOT test centre is allowed to charge for a test (currently £54.85 for cars).

Centres that charge less need to make up the difference somewhere and there is always the temptation for an edge-case to become a failure. Otherwise we’d recommend any garage with a good reputation that carries out tests.

Many local authorities run MOT test centres and if you are close to one, these can be a good choice as they usually don’t carry out repairs and so there is no potential conflict of interest.

If the vehicle is being used on the road then it would need to be reported to the police. An abandoned vehicle should be reported to the relevant local council.