Failed your MOT? What to do next, step by step
A failed MOT is not the end of the car, but the next ten working days matter. Here's the order to do things in so you don't pay twice or break the law.
Checked against the MOT inspection manual and GOV.UK guidance · Updated November 2026
1. Read the failure document properly
When a car fails, the tester gives you a VT30 "Refusal of an MOT test certificate". The same details go onto the online MOT history immediately. Every item is listed under one of five headings:
- Dangerous – a direct and immediate risk to road safety or serious environmental impact. The car must not be driven until it's repaired.
- Major – could affect safety, put other road users at risk or harm the environment. Must be repaired immediately.
- Minor – no significant effect on safety. Doesn't fail the car on its own but should be repaired as soon as possible.
- Advisory – something to monitor; may become a problem.
Any dangerous or major item is a fail. Each defect has a reference to the section of the MOT inspection manual (for example 5.3.1 is a shock absorber, 1.1.13 is a brake hose). Our defect categories guide explains what each level means in practice.
2. Decide whether the car can move
This is where people get into trouble. Two questions decide it:
- Is your previous MOT certificate still in date? Many people test up to a month early, so the old certificate may still be valid.
- Is anything listed as dangerous?
| Situation | Can you drive it? |
|---|---|
| Old MOT still valid, only major defects | Legally yes, until the old certificate runs out, but the car must still be roadworthy and you can be fined if police find it isn't. |
| Old MOT expired, major defects | Only to a pre-booked MOT test or to a garage for the repairs needed to pass. |
| Any dangerous defect | No. Up to £2,500 fine, 3 penalty points and a possible driving ban. |
Full detail is in Can I drive my car after failing its MOT? If the car can't legally be driven, a garage will usually collect it, and scrap collections are done on a recovery truck.
3. Get the repair priced – properly
The test centre will almost always offer to do the work. That's often convenient (and it keeps the retest free – see step 4), but you're under no obligation. Before agreeing:
- Ask for a written, itemised quote per defect: parts, labour hours and hourly rate.
- Ask whether any advisories will become failures next year – price those in too if you plan to keep the car.
- Get one comparison quote for anything over a couple of hundred pounds. Independent garages typically charge £50–£90 an hour; main dealers £120–£200+.
- For corrosion, ask exactly how much welding is needed and whether more is likely to be found once old metal is cut out. Welding quotes grow.
Our repair costs guide lists realistic price ranges for the common failures.
4. Use the retest window
The retest rules can save you the full £54.85 fee:
- Leave the car at the test centre for repair and it's retested within 10 working days – the partial retest is free.
- Take it away and bring it back by the end of the next working day – free retest if the faults were only on a list of simple items (lamps, tyres, wipers, mirrors, number plates and similar).
- Take it away and bring it back within 10 working days – partial retest for up to half the full fee.
- After 10 working days, or at a different test centre, it's a full new test.
Details and the full free-retest list: MOT retest rules.
5. Decide: repair, sell or scrap
Do the sums before you authorise work. A simple test: value of the car once it has passed, minus the repair bill, minus what it's worth right now as scrap or sold as seen. If that number is small or negative, the repair is not an investment – you're paying to own an old car for one more year, and next year's MOT is likely to find something else.
Cars most often written off by an MOT are older, lower-value vehicles failing on:
- structural corrosion near suspension, brake or steering mounts (sills, subframes, floor pans)
- emissions – a failed DPF or catalytic converter can be £600–£1,500
- several suspension and brake items at once
- airbag or ABS faults needing diagnostic work and expensive modules
Try the repair-or-scrap calculator with your quote.
6. If you scrap it, do it the legal way
Only an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) can scrap a car. They must pay by bank transfer – cash payment for scrap vehicles has been illegal since the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 – and issue a Certificate of Destruction, which tells the DVLA you're no longer the keeper. You'll get any full months of remaining vehicle tax refunded automatically. How scrapping a failed car works.
7. Don't forget tax and insurance
If the car is going to sit off the road while you decide, declare it SORN with the DVLA. A car with no MOT can't be taxed (unless exempt), and an untaxed car kept on a public road can be clamped or fined even if you don't drive it. Tell your insurer too – an expired MOT can affect a claim.