What are MOT advisories?
An MOT result can list problems as “dangerous”, “major”, “minor” or “advisory”. gov.uk says a car fails if the result lists dangerous or major problems, and that you may also get a list of minor or advisory problems to monitor or fix in the future. Advisories don’t make the car fail, but they stay on the car’s MOT history, which you can see on gov.uk with the registration number. Our page MOT advisories explained has the DVSA’s wording in full.
How do advisories affect your price?
When you type your reg, our form shows the advisories from the car’s last MOT and asks, for each one, whether it has been sorted since:
| Your answer | What it means for your price |
|---|---|
| Not done | We take the cost of putting it right off the price. |
| Done – I have the invoice | Nothing comes off. Just show our driver the invoice. |
| Done – no invoice | We take off half for now, and our driver checks the work on the day. If it has been done, you get that half back; if it hasn’t, the full cost comes off. |
A few kinds of advisory need one of our buyers to look at the details, for example corrosion to the car’s structure, leaks or warning lights. When that happens, a buyer calls you within 30 minutes (9am–6pm Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm Sat) instead. Your price page explains anything that has lowered your price.
What if the car failed its last MOT?
gov.uk says you can only drive a car away after a failed MOT if its current MOT is still valid and no dangerous problems were listed.
How we handle it: when the last MOT was a fail, one of our buyers prices the car and calls you within 30 minutes (9am–6pm Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm Sat). If the car can’t be driven, choose collection.
What if the MOT has run out?
gov.uk says you can’t drive or park a car on the road once its MOT has run out. The exceptions are driving to or from somewhere to be repaired, and driving to a pre-arranged MOT test.
How we handle it: one of our buyers prices the car and calls you within 30 minutes (9am–6pm Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm Sat). You choose collection, because the car can’t be driven to us.
Do I need to fix anything before I sell?
No. You don’t need to repair anything to sell to us. Tell us what’s been done and what hasn’t, and we price the car as it is.
General information only, not advice about your own situation. gov.uk has the full MOT rules.