MOTLogs documentation

How to use MOTLogs to review MOT test logs, track TQI, manage testers and keep your testing station audit-ready.

Getting started

What you see after you sign in — This page is for anyone signing in to MOTLogs. It explains which page opens first for each kind of user, and what the old Member route does.
Creating your user and completing first-time set up — This page is for new users. It explains how to start a free trial, receive your passcode, and finish the three set-up steps that MOTLogs shows on first sign-in.
Verifying your email address — This page is for anyone who received a MOTLogs email asking them to verify their email address. It explains what the link does and what to do if it fails.
Finding your way around MOTLogs — This page is for anyone who has signed in. It explains the sidebar, the top bar, the Help dialog, the account menu and the phone layout.
MOTLogs glossary — This page is for garage owners, Authorised Examiners, quality control managers and testers who meet an unfamiliar MOT or DVSA term in MOTLogs. Each entry says what the term means a
My work: a tester's own month — This page is for MOT testers, and for managers without a tester id. It explains what My work shows, how to get it, and what each state means.
Choosing organisation, station and month, and searching — This page is for anyone using MOTLogs with more than one organisation or station. It explains the scope picker in the top bar and the search box that jumps to pages and looks up re
Signing in to MOTLogs — This page is for anyone with a MOTLogs user. It explains the two steps of signing in, what to do when the code does not arrive or is rejected, and what happens when your session en
Themes and keyboard shortcuts — This page is for anyone who wants to change how MOTLogs looks or move around without a mouse.
What is MOTLogs — This page is for garage owners, Authorised Examiners, quality control managers and MOT testers who want to know what MOTLogs does and how its areas fit together.

Overview dashboard

Choosing the organisation, station and month — This page is for anyone with access to more than one organisation or station who wants to change what the Compliance overview shows.
First-month, empty and lapsed-subscription screens — This page is for new users, and for anyone who opens the Compliance overview and sees a welcome panel, a "subscription ended" panel or an empty card instead of figures.
The four key figure tiles — This page is for anyone who wants to know what the four tiles at the top of the Compliance overview measure, what the arrows and colours mean, and how the small trend lines work.
The Needs review card — This page is for quality control managers, AEs and testers who work through flagged tests from the Compliance overview.
Reading the Compliance overview — This page is for garage owners, Authorised Examiners (AEs), quality control managers and testers who want to know what the Compliance overview shows and what to look at first.
The page header and the ... menu on every section page — This page is for anyone using Performance, MOT test log, TQI log, Testers, Vehicles, Documents or Certificates and wanting to know what the header and the ... menu do.
The Tester comparison card — This page is for quality control managers and AEs who want to see which testers need attention at a glance.
The sign-off button on the overview — This page is for AEs and station owners who use the Compliance overview to see whether a month is ready to sign off.
The TQI vs national card — This page is for AEs and quality control managers who want to see how each tester's Test Quality Information (TQI) compares with the national average.
Where each part of the overview and section pages leads — This page is for anyone who wants to know which page each card, tile or link takes them to, and what that page covers in one line.

MOT tests and test logs

Filtering the MOT test log and the At-risk view — This page is for anyone who reviews MOT tests in MOTLogs and wants to narrow the list to flagged tests, failed tests, tests outside hours or one tester's tests.
Fixing missing or wrong MOT test data — This page is for garage owners, AEs and quality control managers who find tests missing from MOTLogs, upload errors, wrong flags or an empty At-risk list, and need to know what to
Justifying a test with a comment, image and Mark as complete — This page is for AEs, quality control managers, garage owners and testers who need to explain an MOT test that MOTLogs has flagged, attach evidence, and mark it complete, or to und
Reviewing a flagged test — This page is for AEs, quality control managers and garage owners who open a test from the MOT test log to see why it was flagged, compare it with the tester's usual times, and reco
Reading a test's Details, Concerns and Test History — This page is for AEs, quality control managers and testers who open the full record of an MOT test and want to understand the Details tab, the Concerns list and the Test History ta
Uploading MOT test logs — This page is for garage owners, AEs and quality control managers who need to get MOT test logs into MOTLogs from the DVSA MOT testing service (MTS), so that tests, tester timings a
Viewing the MOT test log — This page is for garage owners, Authorised Examiners (AEs), quality control managers and MOT testers who want to read the list of MOT tests that MOTLogs holds for a station and mon
What makes a test at-risk — This page is for garage owners, AEs and quality control managers who want to know exactly why MOTLogs flags a test, how High and Medium are decided, and what each reason means.

TQI and performance

Commenting on and attesting a TQI figure — This page is for quality control managers and Authorised Examiners who need to record that they have reviewed a tester's TQI figure, with a note and optional photo as evidence.
Getting TQI into MOTLogs — This page is for Authorised Examiners and site managers who need to download Test Quality Information from DVSA and load it into MOTLogs.
TQI measures explained — This page is for testers, quality control managers and Authorised Examiners who want to know what each row in the TQI table measures.
National comparison and outliers — This page is for quality control managers and Authorised Examiners who want to know exactly how MOTLogs decides that a tester's TQI figure is a Watch or an Outlier.
Performance by tester and the 13-month trend — This page is for quality control managers who want to see which testers are furthest from the national or station figure on a Performance metric, and how that has moved over a year
Performance tiles — This page is for managers and testers who want to read each tile on the Performance page: its number, its change from last month, its trend line and its comparison with national.
The Performance page — This page is for Authorised Examiners, quality control managers and testers who want a quick view of how a station is doing against the national figures this month.
The sign-off panel on the Performance page — This page is for Authorised Examiners and quality control managers who want to see at a glance whether this month and last month are signed off.
Reading the TQI table — This page is for quality control managers, Authorised Examiners and testers who want to understand every part of the TQI table: the columns, the rows, the colours and the arrows.
Troubleshooting the TQI log page — This page is for anyone who opens the TQI log page and sees an empty table, the wrong month or an error.
Using the TQI log page — This page is for Authorised Examiners, quality control managers and testers who want to see DVSA Test Quality Information (TQI) for their stations inside MOTLogs and compare each t

Testers and sign-off

Adding a tester photo — This page is for Authorised Examiners who want a photo on a tester's record.
Adding a tester — This page is for Authorised Examiners and station owners who cannot see a tester on the Testers list.
Editing a tester — This page is for Authorised Examiners and station owners who want to update a tester's phone number or photo, or open their hours and certificates.
Missing a monthly sign-off — This page is for station owners and Authorised Examiners who want to know what happens if a month is not signed off on time.
Opening a tester's MOT log — This page is for quality control managers who want to jump from the Testers list to the tests one tester carried out.
Reading the tester figures — This page is for quality control managers and Authorised Examiners who want to understand the Tests, Fail %, At-risk and Median columns on the Testers page.
Searching and sorting the Testers list — This page is for anyone with a long Testers list who wants to find a tester quickly or change which columns show.
Setting a tester's hours — This page is for Authorised Examiners who record the hours a tester works.
Sign-off statuses — This page is for anyone using the Monthly sign-off page who wants to know what each status and check means.
Signing off a site for the month — This page is for Authorised Examiners who need to sign off each station's MOT log at month end.
Uploading tester certificates — This page is for Authorised Examiners who keep a tester's training and compliance certificates on record.
Using the Monthly sign-off page — This page is for Authorised Examiners, consultants and managers who want to see every station's sign-off position in one place.
Verifying a tester's phone number — This page is for Authorised Examiners who need a tester's mobile number confirmed in MOTLogs.
Viewing the Testers list — This page is for Authorised Examiners, quality control managers and garage owners who want to see every MOT tester at their stations in one table.
What is monthly sign-off — This page is for Authorised Examiners, consultants and station owners who want to know what monthly sign-off is and why MOTLogs asks for it.
Who can sign off — This page is for station owners and managers who need to know whether they, or a colleague, can sign off a month.

Vehicles and MOT history

Defects, advisories and dangerous items on an MOT test — This page is for anyone who has clicked a test in a vehicle's MOT history and wants to read the list of defects and advisories.
Looking up a registration from the search box — This page is for signed-in users who want to check the MOT history of any UK vehicle by its registration, whether or not it has been tested at their station.
Where MOT history comes from and its limits — This page is for anyone who needs to know how current and complete the MOT history in MOTLogs is, and why a vehicle might look different from what they expect.
The public MOT history checker — This page is for anyone, signed in or not, who wants to check a vehicle's MOT history on the MOTLogs website without an account.
Reading a vehicle's MOT history — This page is for anyone looking at the History tab of a vehicle, or at the MOT History window opened from a registration search, and wanting to understand each column.
Why a registration lookup shows nothing — This page is for anyone whose registration search, vehicle History tab or public MOT check came back blank or with an error.
Vehicle details, photo and stored MOT history — This page is for anyone who has clicked a vehicle in the Vehicles list and wants to know what the vehicle window shows and what they can change.
Viewing the vehicles tested at your stations — This page is for garage owners, Authorised Examiners (AEs), quality control managers and testers who want to see which vehicles have been tested at their stations and open any one

Stations and your organisation

Declaring a test station's IP addresses — This page is for garage owners and Authorised Examiners who want to tell MOTLogs which internet connections a test station uses, and to understand what happens when a test is logge
Editing a test station's details — This page is for garage owners and Authorised Examiners who want to change what MOTLogs holds about a verified test station: its set-up, contact details, photo, opening hours, IP a
Linking a test station to your organisation — This page is for garage owners and Authorised Examiners (AEs) who need to add a test station to MOTLogs, check whether it is verified, or remove it.
Setting a test station's opening hours — This page is for garage owners and Authorised Examiners who want to record when a test station is open, so MOTLogs can tell whether a test took place inside or outside those hours.
Creating and editing an organisation — This page is for garage owners and Authorised Examiners who need to set up the business that owns one or more test stations in MOTLogs, keep its details up to date, or accept an in
Working with several stations and organisations — This page is for owners and managers who run more than one test station, or belong to more than one organisation, and want to know how MOTLogs decides what to show.
Uploading a test station's certificates — This page is for garage owners and Authorised Examiners who want to store a station's certificates in MOTLogs, such as calibration or equipment certificates, so they are on hand fo
Inviting team members and setting roles — This page is for Authorised Examiners (AEs) and Authorised Examiner Delegates (AEDs) who want to add colleagues to an organisation, decide what each can do, and remove people who h

Documents and compliance

Certificate details and downloads — This page is for station owners, AEs and quality control managers who want to open a compliance certificate record or save the certificate file.
Compliance certificates list — This page is for station owners, AEs and quality control managers who want to see which compliance certificates are held for their stations and when each one ends.
Keeping a station audit-ready for a DVSA visit — This page is for station owners, AEs and quality control managers who want a routine that leaves them ready for a DVSA site review. For an overview of MOTLogs itself, see What is M
Why a document is missing or will not download — This page is for station owners, AEs and quality control managers whose Documents or Certificates page is empty, missing a row, or gives an empty file.
Opening and downloading a document — This page is for station owners, AEs and quality control managers who want to see the details of a document or save a copy of it.
Viewing your documents — This page is for station owners, Authorised Examiners (AEs) and quality control managers who want to find the documents MOTLogs holds for their stations.
Where documents come from — This page is for station owners, AEs and quality control managers who ask how documents get into MOTLogs and what the Documents page can and cannot do.

Profile, plans and billing

Changing your email address or phone number — This page is for signed-in users who need to change or verify the email address or phone number on their MOTLogs profile.
Claiming a discount code — This page is for anyone who has been given the MOTLogs discount page address, for example from a QR code, and wants to claim a personal discount code. You do not need to be signed
Help and support — This page is for signed-in users who need help with MOTLogs or want to contact the team about billing, plans or their profile.
Paying for a plan — This page is for station owners and AEs who need to subscribe a test station to a MOTLogs package, and explains what happens on the payment screens.
Payment history and invoices — This page is for station owners and AEs who want to see what they have paid, how long they are covered, and download an invoice.
Photo, description and preferences on your profile — This page is for signed-in users who want to add a profile photo, enter a DVSA user ID, or control emails from MOTLogs.
Plans and prices — This page is for station owners, AEs and managers comparing MOTLogs plans. It lists the three packages and their prices exactly as the Pricing page states them.
Renewing, changing or cancelling a plan — This page is for station owners and AEs whose subscription has ended, who want a different plan, or who want to stop paying. It also covers failed payments and the Close my access
Your profile — This page is for any signed-in MOTLogs user who wants to see or change their own details, and explains every field on the Profile page.