MOT Advisories Check: Every Advisory and Failure by Reg

An MOT advisories check shows every advisory a tester has ever recorded against a car, test by test, with the failures alongside them. Enter the registration in the search box above: the free check reads the DVSA MOT history and shows each test since 2005 with its date, result, mileage, the advisory notes and the reasons for any failure, including the dangerous, major and minor categories used since 2018. The full report adds the history that an MOT never records: outstanding finance, insurance write-offs, stolen markers, previous keepers and a mileage anomaly check against other sources.

Check MOT advisories by reg: what you see

The free result lists the car's tests newest first. For each one you get:

• Date, result and expiry: pass, fail, or a pass with advisories, and when that certificate ran out.
• Mileage at the test, so you can see how far the car travelled between advisories and whether the readings go up in order.
• Advisory notes: the tester's own wording, for example "Nearside front tyre worn close to legal limit (5.2.3 (e))" or "Oil leak, but not excessive (8.4.1 (a) (i))". The bracketed number is the item in the MOT inspection manual.
• Failure reasons with their category, and any retest that followed.

Anyone can check any UK car with just the registration, so you can read a car's advisories before you travel to see it. The record comes from the DVSA, the body that runs the MOT scheme, and covers tests in England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland's MOT records are held separately and are not shown. For the test itself, see the MOT history check, and for a plain-English walk-through of the wording, our guide to what MOT advisories mean for a used car.

What is an MOT advisory, and how is it different from a failure?

An advisory is a defect the tester noticed that is not yet bad enough to fail the car. The car passes, the certificate is issued, and the note is there to warn the keeper that the item will need attention. A failure is a defect that breaks the MOT standard on the day; the car gets no certificate until it is repaired and retested.

Since 20 May 2018 every defect the tester records falls into one of these categories:

Tests before May 2018 use the older wording: "advisory notice item" for advice and "reason for failure" for a fail, without the dangerous or major label. The meaning is the same.

The most common MOT advisories, and what they cost to put right

Advisories cluster around a few wearing parts. These are the ones you will see most often on a used car's record, and roughly what they lead to:

• Tyres worn close to the legal limit: tread near 1.6mm, or wearing unevenly on one edge. A tyre each, and uneven wear can mean the tracking or suspension needs looking at too.
• Brake pads or discs wearing thin: "brake pad(s) wearing thin" or "brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened". Pads are cheap; discs and pads on both sides of an axle cost more.
• Corrosion: "slight corrosion" to sills, subframes, brake pipes or the exhaust. Surface rust is normal on older cars; corrosion near structural points or on brake pipes is the one to take seriously, because it fails the car once it weakens the metal.
• Play in suspension or steering: ball joints, track rod ends, drop links and bushes with "slight play". Usually a modest repair, but several at once suggests the car has had a hard life.
• Oil or fluid leaks: "oil leak, but not excessive". Often a sump gasket or a rocker cover seal; occasionally the start of something dearer.
• Undertrays, covers and "unable to inspect": an undertray or engine cover that stops the tester seeing part of the car. The note means that area was not fully checked, not that it was fine.

How to read advisories across the years

One advisory tells you about a part. The pattern across several tests tells you about the owner, and that is the real value of a full history:

• Advisory, then gone next year: the keeper fixed it. The best sign of a looked-after car, especially when it is matched by sensible mileage between tests.
• The same advisory on three tests running: never fixed. A tyre "close to the limit" for three years is a tyre that has been on the car far too long, and a corrosion note that is repeated is corrosion that has grown.
• Advisory one year, failure the next: the usual route for brakes, suspension and corrosion. If the failure was then repaired and the car retested, fine; if the car was sold soon after, ask why.
• Mileage that stalls between tests: a car doing 2,000 miles a year after years of 12,000 has usually been off the road or has had a problem. Compare the readings with the MOT mileage history.

Using advisories to negotiate

Advisories are a free, independent, dated list of what the car needs, written by someone with no stake in the sale. Use them like this: add up the outstanding items from the latest test (tyres at the limit, pads and discs, a leak), get a rough price for each, and take that list to the seller. A fair seller will either show you the receipt that proves the work was done or move on the price. A seller who says "the MOT place always says that" is telling you the work has not been done.

Do advisories need fixing before the next MOT?

Legally, no. An advisory does not affect the certificate, and the car can be driven for the full year. In practice, most advisories become failures if they are ignored: a tyre near the limit will be under it within months, and worn pads reach the metal. The sensible rule: fix anything on tyres, brakes, steering and suspension soon; plan the rest before the next test.

Advisories when buying a used car: what to budget

1. List the open advisories from the most recent test and anything that keeps reappearing.
2. Price them: tyres, pads and discs, and simple suspension parts are predictable; corrosion and leaks need a look underneath before you can put a number on them.
3. Check the next MOT date. A car with four months of MOT and three advisories will need the work before you can renew it. The MOT due date check shows the expiry.
4. Weigh it against the price. Honest advisories on a cheap, older car are normal; the same list on a car sold as "fully serviced, nothing to do" is not.

Advisories only tell you about the car's condition on test days. They say nothing about whether the seller owns it outright, whether an insurer has written it off, or whether the mileage was clocked between tests. Of the cars our customers checked in full between March 2023 and October 2026, 30.1% had at least one risk record: finance, a write-off, a stolen marker, a scrapping record or a mileage anomaly. The full car history check puts those checks next to the MOT record; the sample report shows the layout.

MOT advisories FAQs