Guide · 4 min read
How to check your car's MOT history, and what it's actually telling you
Your car's MOT history is one of the most useful free records there is. It shows every test the car has had, what it failed on, what the tester flagged and the mileage each time. Here's how to find it and how to read it.
How to check it
Quick one-off check
Go to Check the MOT history of a vehicle on GOV.UK and enter the registration. It's free, and you don't need to own the car.
Keep it with everything else
In Livery, add your car by its plate and its MOT history sits alongside your MOT and tax reminders, service records and receipts, so you never have to look it up again.
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For cars in England, Scotland and Wales you'll see results back to 2005. In Northern Ireland, results go back to 2017. To download the actual certificates or see which garage did each test (England, Scotland and Wales only), you'll also need the 11-digit reference number from the V5C logbook.
What the results mean
Since May 2018, problems found at an MOT are sorted into categories:
- Dangerous
- An immediate risk to road safety or a serious environmental issue. It's a fail, and the car shouldn't be driven until it's fixed.
- Major
- Could affect safety, other road users or the environment. It's a fail, and it needs repairing straight away.
- Minor
- Little or no effect on safety. The car passes, but get it repaired as soon as you can.
- Advisory
- Something that could get worse. The car passes, but keep an eye on it.
Advisories are where most people get caught out. A tyre "close to the legal limit" or brake pads "wearing thin" this year is often next year's fail.
What to look for when buying a used car
- Mileage that goes backwards, or jumps oddly. Each test records the mileage, so a drop between tests is a big warning sign.
- The same advisory year after year. Repeated "corrosion" or "oil leak" notes suggest a problem that's never been fixed.
- Gaps. A missing year can mean the car was off the road, or driven without an MOT. Ask the seller why.
- Lots of fails on the same item. Suspension or brake parts failing again and again can point to a bigger issue.
Keep your own record
The MOT history only covers the test itself. It won't show the services, repairs and receipts in between, and those are what prove a car has been looked after.
Livery keeps it all together: your MOT and tax dates with a reminder before they're due, your car's MOT history, and every service, repair and receipt in one history file.
Sources: GOV.UK, Check the MOT history of a vehicle; GOV.UK, MOT changes from May 2018.