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.

Where does the MOT history data come from?

All MOT history comes from the DVSA MOT history service, which covers MOT tests recorded in Great Britain. It is public sector information used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOTLogs does not edit it, and you cannot edit it in MOTLogs.

How up to date is it?

It depends where you look.

• Registration search and the public checker fetch from the DVSA at the time you search. The public checker keeps a result for up to one hour (ten minutes for a vehicle not found).
• The History tab of a vehicle in the Vehicles list shows a stored copy saved earlier, so a very recent test may be missing. Use a registration search to see the latest.

Which vehicles are missing?

Vehicles are normally first tested when three years old, so newer vehicles have no history. Vehicles that never needed an MOT, and those outside the DVSA's records, have none either. A mistyped registration looks the same as an unknown one.

What detail does each test include?

Test number, completion date, certificate expiry, odometer value and unit, result and any defects (type, dangerous flag and text). MOTLogs shows no tester or station name for the tests in this history.

Are results the same as my test logs?

No. MOT history shows what the DVSA published about a vehicle's past tests. Your own test logs and Test Quality Information are separate data about tests your stations conducted. Do not use this history to audit a tester.

What is not shown?

The signed-in window does not show outstanding recall information or the odometer result type, although the DVSA supplies them. It also does not chart mileage. The public checker charts mileage but does not show recalls.

Reference