Failed your MOT?
First: a failure isn’t an instruction to spend money at the garage that failed it. You can have the repairs done anywhere, or do them yourself. What the failure sheet does tell you is how urgent it is — and that depends entirely on one word on the certificate.
Dangerous, major, minor
| Category | What it means | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Dangerous | A direct and immediate risk to road safety, or a serious environmental risk | Fail. Do not drive it. |
| Major | May affect safety, put others at risk, or harm the environment | Fail. Repair and retest. |
| Minor | No significant effect on safety, but should be repaired soon | Pass, recorded on the certificate |
| Advisory | Fine today, heading towards a problem | Pass, noted for next year |
Dangerous means dangerous. If a dangerous defect is recorded, driving the car is an offence even if your old certificate hasn’t expired. That’s the one category where we’ll tell you to leave the car with us or arrange recovery rather than drive it home to think about it.
Three situations, three answers
- Old certificate still valid, no dangerous defect. Generally yes, you can drive it — but the defects are still there and still need doing.
- Dangerous defect recorded. No. Not home, not round the corner. Repair it here or arrange recovery.
- Old certificate expired. Only to a pre-arranged repair appointment or a booked retest. Anything else risks a fine of up to £1,000 and an insurance problem.
The ten working day rule is the whole game
| What you do | Retest |
|---|---|
| Leave the car with us, we do the repairs, partial retest within 10 working days | free |
| Take it away, repair elsewhere, return within 10 working days | partial fee |
| Return after 10 working days | £34.85 |
| Go to a different testing station | full fee there |
Working days, not calendar days, counted from the day it failed. A car that fails on a Friday has until the Friday a fortnight later. Miss it and you’re paying for a whole test again — which is why we put the deadline date on your paperwork.
You get the sheet, the photos and a decision to make
- The tester walks you round it. Every failure item shown on the car, not described at a counter.
- Written quote, itemised. Each failure priced separately so you can see what’s what, and decline any of it.
- We tell you what’s urgent and what isn’t. Some failures are genuinely serious; some are a bulb. We won’t pretend they’re the same.
- Your retest deadline is written on the paperwork. So you can shop around without accidentally losing the partial-retest window.
Second opinions are normal and we don’t take offence. If you think a failure is wrong you can challenge it with DVSA, and you can take the car to another tester. We’d rather you did that than paid for something you weren’t sure about.
After a failure
Do I have to have the repairs done here?
No, and you shouldn’t feel any pressure to. Have them done anywhere, or do them yourself. Just come back inside ten working days to keep the retest cheap.
Can I get the failure overturned?
Yes, there’s a formal DVSA appeal process, and it has to be started before repairs are carried out. Ask us for the form — we’d rather point you at it than have you feel stuck.
The car failed on emissions. Is that expensive?
Not necessarily. It can be a sensor, a leak, a partly blocked filter, or simply a car that’s only done short cold journeys for six months. Worth a diagnostic before anyone quotes you for a catalytic converter.
What if I can’t afford the repairs right now?
Tell us. We’ll rank the list by what genuinely has to be done to make it legal and safe versus what can wait, and quote just that. It’s a normal conversation and nobody here thinks less of you for having it.