MOT appointments are available between:
8 am - 5 pm Weekdays
8 am - 11.45 pm Saturdays
Please phone 0118 976 0417
to book your appointment.
Everyone who uses a vehicle on the road is required to keep it in a
roadworthy condition.
The purpose of the MOT Test is to ensure that cars, other light
vehicles (including some Light Goods Vehicles), private buses and
motorcycles over a prescribed age are checked at least once
a year to see that they comply with key roadworthiness and
environmental requirements.
When your car is tested, the MOT looks at some important items to
see if it meets the legal requirements. The MOT certificate is not a
guarantee of the general mechanical condition of a vehicle however.
When should my
vehicle take an MOT Test? Vehicles should receive their first
MOT when they reach 3 years of age.
If a car is registered with no prior use on the road, the MOT will
be required three years after the date of registration. For example,
a car registered "from new" on 25th April 2000 will
require its MOT no later than 25th April 2003. If a car
is used prior to registration, as would be the case with an import,
the MOT will be required three years from the end of the year of
manufacture.
For example a car manufactured at any time in 2000 will require an
MOT no later than 31st December 2003. There is no grace
period given after these dates.
How early can
my car be submitted for test? An MOT can be carried out at any
time.
If the vehicle is presented for test within the calendar month prior
to the date that the MOT is due, the test certificate will run from
the date of the test to one year after the expiry date of the
current certificate (e.g. if the current certificate was due to
expire on 1/4/03, and the vehicle was presented on or after 2/3/03,
the certificate would run from the test date until 1/4/04). To have
this extension, the vehicle owner should present their old
certificate to the Test Station to verify that the extra time is
applicable. The tester would then write the serial number of the old
certificate in the appropriate section of the new certificate.
The same rule would also apply if the vehicle was taken in within a
calendar month of its first MOT. In this case, the vehicle owner
would need to present their registration document and the serial
number from this document will be entered in the "last certificate
serial number" box on the MOT.
If the vehicle is tested earlier than one month before its due date,
it will only run for twelve months.
