How do I find out when my MOT is due?

Enter the registration number on GOV.UK’s free MOT status check or MOT history check, which show when the current MOT runs out. The date is also printed on the certificate. You can sign up on GOV.UK for a free text or email reminder a month before it is due; in Northern Ireland a reminder is posted seven weeks before.

Last reviewed 1 October 2026. The official sources it draws on, and the date each was read, are listed at the foot of the page.

Look it up on GOV.UK

The MOT status check says whether a vehicle has an MOT certificate and when it runs out. It needs the vehicle’s registration number (number plate).

The MOT history check shows past results, including pass or fail, the mileage recorded at each test and when the next MOT is due. For cars, motorcycles and vans it holds results for tests done since 2005, and for Northern Ireland tests since 2017.

Read the date on the certificate

If you have the current MOT certificate, the expiry date is printed on it.

Get a free reminder

GOV.UK’s reminder service sends a free text message or email one month before a car, van or motorcycle MOT is due. You sign up with the vehicle’s registration number and a mobile number or email address.

You have to unsubscribe yourself for a vehicle you have sold, transferred, scrapped, written off or registered as off the road.

The online reminder service is not available in Northern Ireland. There, a reminder is sent by post seven weeks before the MOT is due.

If the date has already passed

Once an MOT has run out you cannot drive or park the car on the road, except to a pre-arranged MOT test or to or from a place of repair, and you cannot renew the vehicle tax. Book a test as soon as you see the date has gone.

A newer car with no MOT yet

A new car has to be tested by the third anniversary of its registration in Great Britain (four years in Northern Ireland), so there is no expiry date to look up until then.

Sources

GOV.UK: Check the MOT status of a vehicleRead on 1 October 2026. What the status check shows and that it needs the registration number.
GOV.UK: Check the MOT history of a vehicleRead on 1 October 2026. What the history check shows and how far back the records go in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
GOV.UK: Get, view or stop MOT remindersRead on 1 October 2026. Reminders one month before the MOT is due; Northern Ireland reminders are posted seven weeks before.
GOV.UK: Getting an MOTRead on 1 October 2026. The expiry date is on the certificate and in the MOT history; the first-test rule for a new car.

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