How to read MOT advisories

Since 20 May 2018, DVSA has grouped defects as dangerous, major, minor or advisory. A pass can still carry minors and advisories. The category tells you whether the vehicle failed, and how soon DVSA expects the item to be repaired.

The descriptions below follow the categories DVSA publishes. GOV.UK's getting an MOT is the official source if you need to act on a result.

Dangerous

A dangerous item is a direct and immediate risk to road safety, or a serious environmental problem. The test is a fail. The vehicle should not be driven until it is repaired. On older records the word "dangerous" can also appear as a yes/no flag next to different wording. If that flag is set, this site lists the item with the failure items.

Major

A major item can affect safety, other road users, or the environment. The test is a fail. It should be repaired immediately. You may still have a separate, unexpired MOT from an earlier pass. That earlier expiry is what this site shows as the MOT date. It does not make the new dangerous or major fault legal to ignore. Read both lines.

Minor

A minor item has no significant effect on safety or the environment under the test standard. The vehicle passes. DVSA's guidance is to repair it as soon as possible. Treat a stack of minors as a shopping list, not as a shrug.

Advisory

An advisory is something that could become worse. The vehicle passes. Nobody is required to fix it before the next test, and the next test can fail on the same area if it has deteriorated. Tyres "worn close to the legal limit" are a common example: they passed today and may fail in a few thousand miles.

Repaired at the test

PRS means the defect was put right at the test station before a pass was issued. You will see it in the history even though the result is a pass. It is useful context. It is not a current fault.

Older and Northern Ireland records

Tests from before the 2018 categories often say "fail" or carry a tester's own sentence, sometimes marked "user entered". Northern Ireland results in this API usually include the pass or fail and the mileage, and not the defect sentences. An empty list there does not mean the tester found nothing. It means the text was not in the feed.

A worked example, not a real vehicle

Suppose a car fails on a corroded brake disc (major), is repaired, and passes the same day with an advisory on a tyre. The history should show both tests. The fail explains why there was a retest. The advisory is still open. The expiry date belongs to the pass, not the fail. That is the pattern to look for when two tests share a date.

Next: how mileage is recorded.