MOT checklist: how to prepare your car in 15 minutes

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment is the biggest failure category in DVSA's data: 10.44% of class 3 and 4 tests in 2025 to 2026 had at least one failed item in it. Most are bulbs, and a bulb is a two-minute job before the test rather than a retest after it.

Ask someone to stand outside while you work the switches, or park facing a shop window at dusk and use the reflection. Press the horn too: one that does not work is a major fault, and so is a multi-tone horn on cars first used from August 1973.

• Dipped and main beam headlights, both sides
• Front and rear position lights (sidelights) and the number plate light
• Brake lights, all of them (no stop lamps working at all is classed as dangerous)
• Indicators front, rear and side repeaters, plus the hazard switch
• Rear fog light, and front fogs if fitted
• Reversing light on cars first used from September 2009

The legal minimum for a car is 1.6 mm of tread in the primary grooves, across the central three-quarters of the tyre's width and around the whole circumference. The inspection manual classes tread below that as a dangerous defect, which is why tyres account for 60.60% of all dangerous faults DVSA recorded in 2025 to 2026.

Use a tread depth gauge or the wear bars in the grooves, then run your hand round each tyre on full lock. A cut reaching the cords is a major fault; a bulge with cords exposed is dangerous. Check the inside edges, where mis-aligned cars wear first.

• Tread at least 1.6 mm across the central three-quarters, all the way round
• No cuts to the cord, no lumps, no bulges
• Tyres on the same axle should be the same size and type
• Wheel nuts all present, no obvious cracks or damage to the rims

Visibility failed 4.28% of tests in 2025 to 2026 and nearly all of those are avoidable. Wipers that do not operate, are missing or are not clearing the screen are a major fault. Washers must deliver enough fluid to clear the screen, and an empty bottle is a major fault too. Top it up before you leave.

Look at the glass in good light. In the strip 290 mm wide in front of the driver, damage larger than 10 mm that affects the view fails; elsewhere in the swept area the limit is 40 mm. Clear the screen of anything that blocks the view (sat navs and air fresheners can be removed) and check both door mirrors and the interior mirror are secure.

Pull every seatbelt all the way out and let it retract. Check the webbing for cuts or fraying and make sure every buckle clicks home. Significantly damaged webbing, a buckle that does not work or a retractor that does not pull the belt back are all major faults.

Turn the ignition on and watch the dashboard. Warning lights should come on and then go out. If the engine management, ABS, airbag (SRS), stability control (ESC) or electronic parking brake light stays on, that is a major fault and the car fails. A brake pad wear light alone is not a failure and a brake fluid level light is minor, but both mean the brakes need looking at. Our diagnostics bay can read the fault code before the test rather than after.

Finally, number plates. Front and rear plates must show the same registration, be legible, secure and in the correct format and font; a missing, illegible or non-conforming plate is a major fault.

This is the one people forget. The inspection manual lists reasons a tester can refuse to test the car at all, and three are in your hands: it is so dirty that examination is unreasonably difficult; it cannot be driven for the test because it lacks fuel or oil; or a load or loose items prevent a proper test.

So check the dipstick, make sure there is enough fuel, and empty the boot and back seats so the tester can reach the spare wheel well and seatbelt anchorages. A wash helps too after a muddy week on Leeds roads.

• Oil between the min and max marks on the dipstick
• Enough fuel for the test, not a flashing light
• Boot empty, back seats clear, nothing loose in the footwells
• Bonnet, boot and fuel flap open easily

DVSA publishes a quarterly table of initial failures by defect category. The figures below are the share of class 3 and 4 tests in 2025 to 2026 with at least one failed item in each category. The two you cannot check on the drive, suspension and brakes, are the ones a pre-MOT service catches.

• Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment: 10.44% of tests
• Suspension: 8.90%
• Tyres: 6.23%
• Brakes: 6.10%
• Visibility (windscreen, wipers, washers, mirrors): 4.28%

Check your due date on GOV.UK's free MOT check. You can have the test up to a month minus a day before expiry and keep the same renewal date, and you can sign up for a free text or email reminder a month before. Driving without a valid MOT can mean a fine of up to £1,000; the only exceptions are driving to a pre-arranged test or to and from a repair.

The maximum fee a test station may charge is £54.85 for a class 4 car and £58.60 for a class 7 van, with no VAT. Those are the legal ceilings set by DVSA, not necessarily what you will pay. On the day, minor faults only still pass; any major or dangerous fault fails; advisories flag parts wearing but not yet at failure. The car's MOT history online lists past advisories, which is a good place to start your own checklist.

If the car fails on something from this list, bring it back to the same test centre before the end of the next working day and the partial retest on lamps (not headlamp aim), wipers, washers, the horn, mirrors, number plates, seatbelts and wheels and tyres is free. Left with us for repair, it can be retested within 10 working days; after that it is a full test at the full fee. Ten minutes on the drive beforehand is cheaper. To book your MOT at our Dolly Lane workshop in Harehills, call 0113 244 3544 or request a booking online.