Blog / MOT frequency

MOT · 4 min read

How often does a car need an MOT?

The rule is simpler than it sometimes gets made out to be: a car's first MOT is due on the third anniversary of its original registration date, and every test after that lasts exactly 12 months. There's no variation by mileage, condition, or how carefully it's been driven. A car that's covered 3,000 miles a year needs testing on the same schedule as one that's covered 30,000.

When the first MOT is due

The three-year clock starts from the date the vehicle was first registered, not the date you bought it. So if you buy a two-year-old used car, it only has one year left before its first MOT is due, regardless of who owned it before you. The date is printed on the V5C logbook, or you can look it up directly by registration number.

After the first test

Every MOT after the first one is valid for exactly 12 months from the test date, not from the previous certificate's expiry date, unless you test early. DVSA allows you to book your MOT up to one month minus a day before the current certificate expires, without losing any time. Getting it done in that window means the new certificate still runs a full year from the old expiry date, so testing a couple of weeks early costs you nothing.

Which vehicles are exempt

Two main categories don't need an annual MOT:

• New vehicles for their first three years, as covered above.
• Vehicles over 40 years old, on a rolling basis, provided they haven't been substantially modified in the last 30 years. In 2026, that means vehicles first registered before 1 January 1986.

Exemption from the test doesn't mean exemption from the requirement to be roadworthy. Both categories are still legally required to be safe to drive, and can still be stopped and inspected by police at any time.

Electric vehicles follow the same schedule

There's a common assumption that electric cars are treated differently, but they're not. EVs follow exactly the same three-year-then-annual schedule as petrol and diesel cars, and go through the same safety checks. The only difference is that the emissions test obviously doesn't apply, since there's no exhaust to test.