Last updated 1 November 2026.
Car Control's MOT analysis is in the Basic report, which costs £3.99 including VAT. It covers every MOT test with failures, defects and advisories, the full mileage history, a market valuation and the factory specification. The Premium report at £6.99 adds finance, write-off and stolen checks. It is a one-off payment with no subscription.
What the MOT history shows
Every time a car in Great Britain has an MOT, the tester records the result, the odometer reading and any defects. Those records go back to 2005, and together they tell you a lot about how a car has been looked after.
- Test results: each pass and fail, with the date.
- Defects: dangerous and major defects that caused a fail, and minor defects noted on a pass.
- Advisories: things the tester noticed that were getting worse but hadn't failed yet.
- Mileage: the odometer reading at every test.
How to read an MOT history
One failed test isn't a reason to walk away. Most cars fail an MOT at some point, often for a bulb or a tyre. The patterns matter more:
- The same advisory year after year, such as corrosion or worn suspension, means the problem was never fixed and may now be expensive.
- A fail followed by a pass on the same day is normal: the garage fixed the fault and retested.
- Long gaps with no MOT can mean the car was off the road, or driven without a valid MOT.
- Structural corrosion on the sills, subframes or brake pipes is worth an inspection before you buy.
What Car Control adds to the raw records
The MOT history is free to view on GOV.UK, and we link to it. The Basic report (£3.99) turns those records into something you can act on quickly:
- Every failure, dangerous and major defect and advisory grouped by test, in plain English
- Problems that keep coming back picked out automatically, so you don't have to compare tests yourself
- A full mileage check, with every reading on a chart and warnings when something doesn't add up
- Tax status, MOT expiry and the date of the latest V5C logbook
- A market valuation and the factory specification, with a ULEZ and Clean Air Zone indication
The Premium report (£6.99) adds write-off, finance and stolen checks, keeper history.
Cars with no MOT history
Cars don't need an MOT until they're three years old, so a newer car has no MOT history yet. Cars registered in Northern Ireland are tested separately and aren't included in these records. For a newer car, a Premium report still checks write-off, finance and stolen records.