What you can check in ten minutes
- Lights: headlights, brake lights, indicators and number plate light, all common, easy fail points that take seconds to check with someone watching from outside the car.
- Tyre tread and condition: legal minimum is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tyre, and any visible cuts or bulges are worth addressing before the test, not after a fail.
- Washer fluid and wipers: an empty washer bottle or a wiper that smears rather than clears is a common, avoidable fail.
- Windscreen chips, a chip in the driver's line of sight larger than about 10mm can fail the test on its own.
What you can't check yourself
Emissions, brake performance under test conditions, and suspension geometry all need proper equipment, there's a limit to what a visual check at home can catch. If a car has a history of advisories in the same area at previous tests, that's worth a closer look or a quick chat with a garage before booking, rather than waiting to find out at the test itself.
Checking the official record before you book
Before booking a retest or a first test, it's worth checking what's already on record, previous advisories, past mileage, and results. MOTCO's MOT check pulls the official DVSA record by registration, so you know what's already been flagged before the tester does.
An advisory that shows up two or three tests running without being addressed has a habit of eventually crossing the line into a fail. Worth acting on early rather than waiting.
Common questions
Can I fix an MOT fail myself and avoid a retest fee?
For many faults, yes, if you fix it and get it retested at the same test centre within 10 working days, most centres only charge a partial retest fee or none at all for certain checks.
Do advisories need to be fixed immediately?
Not immediately, an advisory means the item hasn't failed yet but is worth monitoring. Leaving it unaddressed for multiple tests running increases the chance it becomes an actual fail.