When is my MOT due?

The clock starts when the car is first registered: its first MOT has to be done by the third anniversary of that date. An MOT lasts for a year, so from then on the car needs a new one every year, by the anniversary of its last MOT.

Not sure when your car was first registered? DVLA’s vehicle enquiry service shows the date, and when the current MOT expires, from the registration number.

Some vehicles need their first test at one year old instead, including taxis and ambulances. GOV.UK’s table of MOT fees gives the age of the first test for each type of vehicle.

Northern Ireland has its own MOT rules. For cars registered there, nidirect says a test is generally due from four years old: see how the MOT scheme works on nidirect.

Any of these will tell you, and the online checks need only the car’s registration number:

• Your MOT certificate. The date your current MOT runs out is printed on it.
• The MOT history. GOV.UK’s MOT history service shows when the next MOT is due, along with whether each past test was passed or failed and the mileage recorded at it.
• The MOT status check. Check the MOT status to see whether the car has an MOT, and when it runs out.

Lost the certificate? MOT results explained covers getting a replacement.

You don’t have to wait for the last day. The test can be done up to a month (minus a day) before your current MOT expires, and if the car passes then, your renewal date stays the same.

An example

Say your MOT runs out on 20 October. The earliest you can have the test and keep that date is 21 September. Pass on any day from then until the old MOT runs out, and the new one runs out on 20 October the following year.

Test any earlier and the date moves. The new MOT then runs out a year (minus a day) after the day the car passed: pass on 19 September, for example, and it runs out on 18 September the following year.

Testing before the old MOT runs out has another advantage. If the car fails while that MOT is still valid, you may be able to drive it away for repairs, and MOT results explained sets out when.

Due a service as well? You can post both as one job, ‘MOT and service’, under Car servicing.

GOV.UK runs a free MOT reminder service. Sign up with the car’s registration and a mobile number or email address, and you’ll get a text or email a month before the MOT is due.

Use the same service to view or stop your reminders. They don’t stop on their own: GOV.UK says you have to unsubscribe if you sell the car, scrap it or register it as off the road.

Once the MOT has expired, you can’t drive the car on the road or park it on one, and you can be prosecuted if you’re caught. Driving without a valid MOT can mean a fine of up to £1,000.

There are two exceptions. You can drive the car:

• to an MOT test that’s already booked
• to or from somewhere it’s being repaired

On either journey it still has to meet the minimum standards of roadworthiness, or you can be fined.

Vehicle tax

You can’t renew the car’s tax while its MOT has expired. If the tax is about to run out as well, GOV.UK’s advice is to register the car as off the road (SORN), book the MOT, then tax the car again once it has passed.

Once a car is SORN, the exception for repairs no longer helps: GOV.UK says you can only drive it on a public road to or from a pre-booked MOT or other testing appointment.

Booking the test

You can post an ‘MOT test’ job on Matchanic with the car’s registration and postcode, and garages on Matchanic can choose whether to quote. In England, Scotland and Wales the test itself has to be done at an approved MOT test centre. Matchanic doesn’t check whether a garage is one, so ask before you accept a quote. What an MOT checks explains how to recognise a test centre, and the maximum fee.

Some vehicles don’t need an MOT at all. A vehicle built or first registered more than 40 years ago is exempt, as long as it hasn’t been substantially changed, for example by replacing the chassis, body, axles or engine in a way that changes how it works. You don’t have to apply to stop the tests, but you must still keep it roadworthy. GOV.UK’s guidance on historic vehicles explains the rules.

Tractors, and electric goods vehicles registered before 1 March 2015, are exempt too. Other exempt types are listed on form V112, which you fill in to tax an exempt vehicle or apply for a tax exemption. GOV.UK’s page on vehicles that don’t need an MOT links to it.