For those of you in the UK that are not already aware, you can now check online any cars MOT history going back to when the electronic MOT's started. Just google MOT history check and you'll find a link to the governments web site and after entering the registration number and make, you will see the MOT history of the car including any fails and advisories.

Being rather sad, I have just spent a few hours checking out various XK8's and XKR's being advertised on flea bay and compared the dealers / owners description with the advisories on the last MOT. I found a dealer selling a 1999 XK8 for £6500 described as being a 3 owner immaculate car inside and out, one of the best available and it had a list of advisories as long as your arm including corrosion around all suspension mounts, front and back sills, floorpan, seat belt mountings, brake pipes front and rear, worn front and rear shock bushes, front upper shock mountings, front upper and lower wishbones bushes, front and rear wheel bearings, oil leak, coolant leak and power steering fluid leaking from nearside steering rack. Pity the poor soul who buys this one.

I also found cars that failed on serious corrosion, leaking shocks, worn bushes etc that then passed on retest the same day suggesting to me that you can still get bent Mickey Mouse MOT's despite being the new more rigorous electronic type.

You can also be nosey and have some fun by entering your neighbours cars details and see what comes up.

 

Great find this. Didn't know it existed. Nor do some of my friends apparently! 😂

 

It's been around for a while but you had to enter the V5C vehicle registration certificate (log book) number to access it. It's great the government have now changed it so anybody can a view a cars MOT history.

It will help us weed out dodgy cars when buying or using the information to haggle on the price. I have found several cars for sale that had failed the MOT on major items and were retested on the same day and passed with no advisories.

Maybe they were genuinely repaired the same day but logic says due to the time involved ordering parts and then adding the labour time to fit them that the new MOT is fake. Maybe I just have a suspicious nature but I have never found a garage that you can turn up to and have major repairs completed the same day without booking in advance.

 

Found this site a wile back,got all my mots up from befour i purchased the car printed them off for future buyers if I ever come to sell,it's not a printout of the actual mot but it does give you a good idea of what the previous mots went through

 

Being equally sad, I've just had a quick look through, too... Wow! looks like the UK MOT system hasn't changed much. I'm sure that's why black tar underseal became so popular

Interesting to see that front brake pipe corrosion is a common advisory.

M

 

Just because the MOT listed those advisories doesn't mean that the car isn't immaculate now just as long as they were sorted. I've done all of those and more on my car and as a result of that would definitely describe it as immaculate

 

And what's the chances that all the advisories have been sorted? Although you take pride in your car, there no way a dealer is going to spend even a £1 extra to repair or make right advisories.

 

Agreed, although some of the histories show the same advisories repeated for two or three years in a row and they don't result in a fail.

I'm absolutely not rubbishing work done properly: there are some fine examples of how to do it right demonstrated by members on this forum. I accept that it doesn't make commercial sense to make every car perfect, but structural integrity issues on a 150+ mph car aren't something I'd want to have to worry about.

Just my


Mike

 

Thank you for this and i guess there are lots of other sites too that gives mot history check like mothistorychecker and their info's are simliar to the govt one.

 

You dont have to take any action on advisories to get an MOT . They are not failure items.
My 97 has had an advisory on play in rear driveshaft for 3 years but the MOT man says its so slight its not worth doing.

 

Pretty cool to see my first car - a 1986 Mini Mayfair is still road legal with nearly 200k miles on it! Ahhh the stories they could tell!

 

What you need is a sensible MOT station not attached to a garage . My guy said I wont fail you for a blown bulb (one rear fog)and was then amazed I had every spare for the car ..I travel to france and it a legal requirement . He said he is very keen on rust but loved my waxoil treatment .