What Happens If Your Car Fails Its MOT?
A failed MOT feels stressful, but it doesn't have to be complicated. Here's exactly what happens next, what the different outcomes mean, whether you can still drive the car, and what your options are for getting back on the road.
There are three possible MOT outcomes
When your car is tested, the tester assigns each item a result. The overall outcome is one of three things:
- Pass — the car meets all the required standards. A new certificate is issued, valid for 12 months.
- Pass with advisories — the car passes, but the tester has noted items to monitor. The certificate is still issued and the car is road-legal.
- Fail — one or more items have not met the required standard. No certificate is issued until repairs are made and the car retested.
What is an MOT advisory?
An advisory is recorded when something is worn, marginal, or deteriorating but has not yet crossed the line into an outright failure. The most common advisories are:
- Tyre tread approaching the legal limit (e.g. 2mm — legal, but worth monitoring)
- Slight corrosion on brake discs
- Minor oil leak that isn't yet severe enough to fail
- Suspension components showing wear but still within limits
Advisories don't fail the car — but they're a warning. The same item may cause a failure at the next test if not attended to in the meantime.
What happens immediately after a fail?
You'll receive a VT30 refusal certificate — an official document listing every item that caused the failure, with a description of the fault. Keep this document; the garage doing the repairs will need it, and it tells you exactly what needs fixing.
Can I drive the car after it fails?
This depends on whether your previous MOT certificate is still valid:
- If your old certificate is still valid — you can drive the car carefully to get the repairs done. You're driving on the strength of the previous certificate, not the new failed test.
- If the old certificate has expired — you cannot drive the car on public roads, except to drive directly to a pre-booked MOT appointment or a garage for repairs. You cannot use it for any other journey.
Important: Even if the old certificate is valid, you should not drive the car if the failure involves a safety-critical item like brakes, steering, or a tyre with a dangerous defect. Common sense applies — if it's not safe to drive, don't.
The 10 working day retest rule
If you have the repairs done at the same garage that conducted the MOT, within 10 working days, you qualify for a partial retest. The tester only needs to recheck the items that failed — not the entire car. This is usually free or significantly discounted.
If you take the car to a different garage, or come back after 10 working days, you'll need to pay for a full new MOT test from scratch.
What are the most common MOT failure reasons?
- Lighting and signalling — blown bulbs are the single most common reason for failure, and also the easiest to fix.
- Tyres — tread below 1.6mm, cuts, bulges or incorrect pressure.
- Brakes — imbalanced braking, worn pads or discs, loose handbrake.
- Wipers and screen wash — wipers that smear or don't clear the screen properly.
- Engine management light (EML) — any illuminated EML during the test is an automatic fail.
- Suspension — worn ball joints, control arm bushes or shock absorbers.
Most failures are for relatively inexpensive fixes. It's rare that a car fails for something catastrophically expensive unless it's been neglected for a long time.
Failed your MOT in Ashford? We can help.
Bring us your VT30 failure certificate and we'll quote you for all the required repairs. We're on Feltham Road in Ashford TW15 and can usually start work the same day.