How to Check a Car's MOT History (Free)

Every car's MOT history is public. Checking it before you buy a used car is one of the quickest ways to spot a clocked odometer, a neglected vehicle or an expensive fault waiting to happen — and it's completely free.

What you need

Just the vehicle's registration number (number plate). You don't need the owner's permission or any documents.

How to check it here

Type the registration into the search box below.
We retrieve the official DVSA MOT record for that vehicle.
You'll see every test, the mileage recorded each time, and every advisory and failure.

What to look for

Mileage that doesn't add up. The odometer reading is recorded at each test. If it drops, or jumps suspiciously between years, treat it as a red flag for clocking.
Recurring advisories. The same advisory appearing year after year (corrosion, oil leaks, worn bushes) suggests a fault that was never fixed.
Pass/fail pattern. A long history of clean passes is reassuring; repeated fails for the same component less so.
Gaps in testing. A missing year can mean the car was off the road (SORN) — worth asking why.

Why use this site over the basics

As well as the raw record, we calculate the vehicle's overall pass and failure rate, highlight recurring faults, and break the advisories down by type and by year — so you can see the story behind the numbers, not just a list of tests.