Free MOT History Check
Enter a registration to see MOT status, expiry date, test history, advisories, failures and recorded mileage instantly.
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What is an MOT test?
An MOT is an annual test that checks a vehicle meets the minimum road safety and environmental standards required by law. It is carried out at an approved test centre by a DVSA-approved tester, and the result is recorded against the registration.
It is important to understand what the test is not. An MOT is a check against minimum legal standards on the day, not a service and not a health check. A car can pass its MOT in the morning and develop a fault the same afternoon. Passing means nothing fell below the legal threshold while the tester was looking.
What does an MOT test check?
The tester works through a defined list of items. These are the main areas:
Condition, operation, aim and colour, plus dashboard warning lights
Condition, efficiency and performance, including ABS and stability control where fitted
Tread depth, condition, security, and the correct size and type for the vehicle
Condition, operation and corrosion of steering components, springs and shock absorbers
That they are present, in good condition, correctly secured and working
Excessive corrosion or damage, particularly in specified structural areas, and sharp edges
Exhaust security and completeness, and emissions limits for the vehicle’s age and fuel type
Mirrors, windscreen condition, the driver’s view of the road, wipers and washers
The test also covers the horn, doors, seats, registration plates, the VIN, the fuel system and visible wiring. Notably, it does not assess the condition of the engine, clutch or gearbox, so a car can pass its MOT with a failing gearbox or a tired engine.
Common reasons cars fail an MOT
Most failures are not dramatic. A large share come down to a handful of ordinary items, many of which cost very little to put right if they are caught early.
- Faulty lights. Blown bulbs, a failed indicator, poorly aimed headlamps. Consistently one of the most common failures, and one of the cheapest to fix.
- Worn tyres. Tread below the legal minimum, uneven wear, or damage to the sidewall. Uneven wear across one tyre often points at an alignment or suspension problem behind it.
- Brake problems. Worn pads and discs, imbalance between wheels, or insufficient braking efficiency on the rollers.
- Suspension faults. Worn bushes, tired shock absorbers, damaged springs. These build up gradually, which is why they so often appear as an advisory first.
- Emissions failures. Readings outside the limit for the vehicle’s age and fuel type, often caused by a fault in the exhaust or engine management rather than the exhaust itself.
- Windscreen and visibility issues. Chips or cracks in the driver’s line of sight, worn wiper blades, or washers that do not work.
MOT advisories explained
Since May 2018, anything the tester finds is placed into one of these categories. Two of them fail the test. Two of them do not.
A direct and immediate risk to road safety, or a serious impact on the environment. The car should not be driven away.
May affect the vehicle’s safety, put other road users at risk, or affect the environment. Must be repaired and retested.
No significant effect on safety or the environment. The car passes, but the item is recorded and should be repaired as soon as practical.
Something that is still within the legal limit but could become more serious in future. The car passes, and the item is noted for you to monitor.
An advisory is therefore not a failure and not a fault. It is the tester telling you where the car is heading. A single advisory on a used car is entirely normal. What it is really useful for is the pattern it forms over several years, which is covered further down.
How often does a car need an MOT?
A new car needs its first MOT on the third anniversary of its registration. After that it needs one every year, on the anniversary of the last test. Some vehicle types must be tested from one year old.
You can have the test done up to a month (minus a day) before the current certificate runs out and keep the same renewal date, so there is no benefit in leaving it late. Driving without a valid MOT can bring a fine of up to £1,000.
How much does an MOT cost?
The government sets a maximum fee rather than a fixed price. For a car (up to 8 passenger seats) the maximum is £54.85. For a standard motorcycle it is £29.65.
Because these are caps, many garages charge less, and some offer the test at a discount in the hope of winning the repair work that follows. The test fee is separate from the cost of any repairs needed to pass.
How to check MOT history
Enter the registration in the checker at the top of this page. You will see the current MOT status and expiry date, then every recorded test: the date, the result, the mileage recorded on the day, and the specific advisories and failure items the tester noted.
The data comes from DVSA records and the check is free, with no account needed. Digital MOT records generally run from 2005 onwards, so an older car may have a shorter history than its age suggests.
What MOT history can reveal
One test result tells you very little. The value is in the sequence. Read across several years, MOT history works like a rough maintenance diary: it shows what a tester found on a handful of specific days, and what kept coming back. These are the patterns worth raising with the seller or a mechanic.
Repeated advisories
The same advisory returning year after year (tyres near the limit, corroded brake lines, worn suspension bushes, underbody corrosion) suggests it was noted, ignored, and left to get worse. That tells you as much about how the car was looked after as it does about the part itself.
Repeated failures
A single fail proves very little, and plenty of cars fail on a blown bulb and pass again an hour later. What matters is what it failed on, and whether it kept happening. Repeated failures on the same system, such as brakes, suspension or emissions, can point to a fault that was patched enough to get through the test rather than actually fixed.
Recurring defects on the same component
Read the defect text, not just the pass or fail. The same component named across several tests is the kind of thing that eventually becomes an expensive bill, and structural corrosion in particular rarely improves on its own. A car that starts failing on alignment or suspension items after a specific date is telling you something about what happened around that date.
Mileage inconsistencies
Mileage is recorded at every test, which gives you a series of dated readings rather than a single number on a dashboard. It should climb steadily. A reading that goes backwards, or a stretch where the car covered implausibly few miles between tests, is worth having explained. Check the units too, because some readings are recorded in kilometres, and that alone can look like a jump.
Long gaps between tests
A gap often just means the car was SORN or off the road, which is not a problem in itself. But it removes the data points you would otherwise use to sanity-check condition and mileage, so it is worth asking the seller where the car was during that time.
What MOT history cannot tell you
It is worth being clear about the limits. MOT history is a snapshot taken on test day, not a service record and not a damage record. It will not show accident damage that was repaired without ever failing a test, it will not tell you whether the car was serviced between tests, and it says nothing about how the car was driven.
A clean MOT record does not mean a car has never been crashed, written off or clocked. It means nothing was flagged at the specific moments it was inspected. Equally, a car that is too new to need an MOT, or has spent years off the road, may have very little history at all, and that absence is not evidence either way. Use MOT history to raise the questions, then use the answers, an inspection and the wider vehicle record to settle them.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if my car's MOT is valid?
Enter the vehicle registration into the free MOT checker. You will see the current MOT status, expiry date, test history, advisories, failures and recorded mileage.
Is this MOT check free?
Yes. The Carpeep MOT check is free and no signup is required. Enter a registration number to see MOT status, history and advisories.
What does an MOT check show?
An MOT check shows recorded MOT test history, including pass and fail results, test dates, recorded mileage, advisories and failure reasons. It also shows the current MOT status and expiry date where available.
How far back does MOT history go?
MOT history is generally available from 2005 onwards, when MOT records became digital. Older vehicles may have limited or incomplete digital records.
What does no MOT history mean?
No MOT history means no MOT records were found for that registration in the data returned. This can happen if the vehicle is too new to need an MOT, has been imported recently, has been off the road, or if records are not linked as expected.
What should I look for in MOT history when buying a car?
Look for recurring failures on the same components, large or unexplained mileage changes, long gaps between tests, and advisories that appear across multiple tests. These patterns can help you decide what to ask the seller or mechanic.
What's the difference between an MOT check and a full car history check?
An MOT check shows recorded test history and current MOT status. A full car history check can also show recorded finance, stolen markers, insurance write-offs, keeper changes, mileage concerns, import/export history and scrapped status.
Does a clean MOT history mean the car has never been in an accident?
No. MOT history is a snapshot taken on test day, not a damage record. Accident damage repaired without ever failing a test will not appear in it, and a clean record only means nothing was flagged at the moments the car was inspected. Recorded insurance write-off history sits in a full car history check, not an MOT check.
Do MOT advisories matter when buying a used car?
A single advisory is normal and not a reason to walk away. What is worth noticing is the same advisory returning year after year, such as tyres near the limit, worn suspension bushes or underbody corrosion. That pattern suggests the issue was noted and left, and tells you something about how the car has been maintained.
Run a complete car history check
The MOT record above is free and complete. Enter the registration again to add recorded finance, stolen markers, write-offs, mileage analysis and ownership history in one report.
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