Guidance

MOT testing service: known issues and workarounds

Known problems for MOT testing stations using the MOT testing service, and how they can workaround the issue.

• From: Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
• Published: 17 August 2015
• Last updated: 21 July 2017
  Show all updates

  1. 21 July 2017

     Removed workarounds that are no longer needed; issue duplicate certificates, record contingency tests and slot accounts not updated.

  2. 11 February 2016

     Update about debit and credit card payment process.

  3. 18 January 2016

     Update about signing in problem

  4. 10 December 2015

     Contingeny test issue removed.

  5. 19 October 2015

     Update about slot accounts not updating when payments are made by debit and credit cards.

  6. 5 October 2015

     Updated as some issues now fixed.

  7. 2 October 2015

     Updated information about duplicates workaround.

  8. 14 September 2015

     Updated issuing duplicates workaround.

  9. 9 September 2015

     Updated advice about slot payment and expiry date issues.

  10. 8 September 2015

      Updated advice about duplicates issue.

  11. 27 August 2015

      Updated with information about entering contingency testing results.

  12. 17 August 2015

      First published.

This guidance was withdrawn on 1 March 2023

This guidance has been withdrawn because it is out of date.

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Known issues with the MOT testing service

There are some known issues with using the MOT testing service. They’re all temporary, and are being fixed by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

You can use workarounds until the issue is permanently fixed.

Incorrect expiry dates

Issue

MOT certificates are showing an incorrect expiry date for cherished transfer registrations.

Workaround

You should tell customers they won’t lose any of the extra days off their MOT as a result of this issue. DVSA will automatically correct all these kinds of certificates in due course.

However, if a customer urgently requires a corrected certificate then they should contact DVSA’s customer service centre on 0300 123 9000 (Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 6pm) which will correct the expiry date and issue an updated replacement.

Please advise customers that they’ll need to provide:

• the vehicle registration
• the vehicle identification number (VIN) on their current certificate
• the MOT test number on their current certificate

If customers want to be sent an updated electronic or postal certificate they’ll also need to provide one of the following:

• an email address
• a postal address

DVSA is currently working through a large backlog of these enquiries and it may take up to 10 weeks for customers to receive their updated certificate.

Text size on certificates

Issue

Some users are having problems reading testing certificates because of the size of the printed text.

Workaround

Check your printer settings. These should be set for A4 paper, in black and white. Contact your IT supplier if you have any further problems.