Printable Pre-MOT Checklist Builder

What this sheet is, and what it is not

We are not DVSA or DVA. This sheet is not the MOT test and is not any part of it.

A completed sheet does not predict a pass. Every box ticked means the things on this list were looked at. It does not mean the vehicle will pass, and we will never put a score, a percentage or a traffic light on it, because only the person carrying out the official test can make that decision.

This is not an official document. It is your garage's own record. Do not present it as anything issued by DVSA, DVA or DVLA.

It covers selected items, not the whole test. The count at the top says how many are on this sheet.

Not every item applies to every vehicle. Some checks depend on when the vehicle was first used, how it is used and what was fitted to it when it was built. Rows we know to be conditional carry a star, there is a Not applicable column to mark them with, and the line at the foot of every page tells you to check the current manual before you use it.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Pre-MOT checklist builder: how the sheet is built

Where the items come from

For England, Scotland and Wales, the item list and the section headings come from DVSA's MOT inspection manual for cars and passenger vehicles. That is the same manual a nominated tester works to. For Northern Ireland, the item list comes from DVA's separately titled inspection documents and nidirect's published test procedures; our ten NI headings are product groupings consolidated from those topics, not official DVA section headings. We take high-level item names, not inspection detail: no inspection methods, no defect-table wording, no thresholds. The applicable source stamp and the date we last checked it print on every sheet.

Why it is built from rules rather than written each time

Pick a nation, a test class, a fuel and who the sheet is for, and a rule engine selects the items from a versioned list. Nothing on it is generated, and no model writes a word of it. The same choices always produce the same sheet, which is what makes it a record rather than a draft. It all runs in your browser, so the registration you type never leaves it. There's no server to send it to.

Why there are no numbers on it

You won't find a tread depth, a headlamp tolerance or a brake figure on it, for two reasons. Limits change, and a sheet that quietly carries last year's number is worse than one that carries none. And the sheet is there to tell you what to look at, while the limits are whatever the current manual says.

Why some rows carry a star

Plenty of items in the manuals apply only to certain vehicles: a tyre pressure lamp on cars first used from 2012, daytime running lamps on cars first used from 2018, a seat belt installation check on older vehicles with more than eight passenger seats. We don't ask you for the date of first use, so we don't pretend to work those out. Instead, the rows we've read and know to be conditional carry a star. The marking columns include Not applicable, and every page of the sheet says that some items depend on the vehicle. A star tells you to go and look, and whether the item applies is still your call.

Where the two jurisdictions genuinely part company

Great Britain's manual expressly excludes hybrids from both metered emissions tests, so a hybrid sheet built for England, Scotland or Wales has none. Northern Ireland's public procedure does not expressly resolve hybrid applicability. Until DVA supplies an authoritative answer, neither NI hybrid sheet adds the metered petrol row; the petrol-hybrid state line says that this is an ambiguity, not a claimed exclusion. The diesel-hybrid sheet also has no metered row because the published NI smoke-test paragraph names heavy goods vehicles and buses rather than light diesel vehicles.

A pre-MOT check sheet that speaks the test's language

Some of the easiest MOT failures to avoid are cheap to put right: a blown bulb, a wiper blade that has stopped clearing, an empty washer bottle, a number plate spaced to read as a word. Find them on your ramp before the test and you save the customer the nuisance of a failure and retest.

What makes this sheet different from the printable vehicle inspection checklists in our dated comparison set is that it is shaped around MOT inspection topics. The GB groups follow the manual's own sections and order; the NI groups are clearly labelled product consolidations of DVA document topics. The bay copy's marking columns are the three defect categories plus advisory, so the words on your sheet match the words on the customer's paperwork, with a fifth column for items that do not apply to the vehicle in front of you.

Generic templates group by system, because that's how a service is organised. The test has its own order, and the washer bottle lives in the gap between the two.

Of the four nations, Northern Ireland is the odd one out. It has a different agency and a different manual, and its tests happen at government test centres rather than on your ramp. Pick Northern Ireland and the whole list changes, including a group of things the centre can turn a vehicle away for.

It's free, there's no sign-up, and nothing is uploaded to a server. Copy a share link and it carries your garage details and the sheet setup, but never the vehicle's details or the name of whoever checked it.

MOT inspection sheet questions garages ask

Is this DVSA's own checklist?

No. DVSA publishes its own, VT29, a one-page form for testers to use during a test when the online service is unavailable. It groups by where the tester is standing: interior, exterior, under bonnet, under vehicle, emissions, brake test. It marks pass or fail. Ours is a pre-check sheet: the GB branch follows the manual's numbered sections, while the NI branch uses product groupings consolidated from DVA document topics. It marks with the test's defect categories and forks by nation, class, fuel and who is reading it. Different job, different shape.

What exactly are the MOT defect categories?

Three of them, and DVSA's inspection manual for Great Britain defines each. Minor defects have no significant effect on safety or the environment. Major defects may prejudice safety, affect the environment or put other road users at risk. Dangerous defects are a direct and immediate risk to road safety or the environment. A vehicle with only minor defects still passes; any major or dangerous defect fails it. Northern Ireland runs its own scheme under DVA, and the marking columns on our Northern Ireland sheet are our own record columns rather than a statement of how DVA words its paperwork.

Is "advisory" a fourth category?

No, and this is worth getting right on a sheet a customer will read. Advisory sits outside the three. A tester can use it for something close to failure, a vehicle peculiarity or a defect on something the MOT does not test. Minor defects are mandatory to record where they apply; advisories are not. Our bay copy carries one more column again, Not applicable, and that one is ours rather than the test's: plenty of manual items only apply to vehicles of a certain age, body type or equipment, and a sheet that offers only defect marks would have you categorising something the vehicle has never had.

Can we copy the manual's wording onto our own sheet?

Yes, with attribution. GOV.UK content is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which grants a royalty-free, perpetual licence to copy, adapt and use the information commercially, on condition that you acknowledge the source. Two limits worth knowing: the licence does not cover departmental logos, crests or the Royal Arms, and it explicitly gives you no right to use the material in a way that suggests official status or endorsement. Our sheets carry the attribution line and say plainly what they are not.

Does a completed sheet mean the car will pass?

No, and we will not build anything that implies it does. There is no score, no percentage and no traffic light on this page, by design. A completed sheet is a record of what your garage looked at. Only the person carrying out the official test, working to the current manual, decides the result.

Why does the Northern Ireland sheet look different?

Because Northern Ireland runs its own scheme. Testing is done by DVA, part of the Department for Infrastructure, at DVA test centres rather than at private garages, and DVA publishes separately titled light-vehicle inspection documents. Cars there are first tested at four years old rather than three. The NI sheet also carries a product grouping of centre-specific preparation points, including dirt, engine temperature and arriving late. The public NI petrol-test procedure does not expressly resolve hybrid applicability, so the tool omits the metered row from both hybrid sheets and says why; Great Britain's manual expressly excludes hybrids from its metered tests.

What is on the bay copy that is not on the customer copy?

Everything under the ramp and everything that needs test-lane equipment: brake performance on the rollers, headlamp aim, the metered emissions test, suspension joints, corrosion in the prescribed areas. On a full pre-check that is 29 items out of 75 for a class 4 car. The customer copy states its own count and says plainly that it is a subset, because a sheet that looks complete and is not is worse than no sheet.

Which sources is this built from, and how do we know they are current?

The source stamp and the date we last checked it print on every sheet. For Great Britain the source is DVSA's MOT inspection manual for cars and passenger vehicles, updated 1 June 2026 at the time of writing. For Northern Ireland the DVA index was updated 26 August 2026, while individual inspection documents carry their own issue dates. DVSA's collection is a useful update-watch surface, but we also check the source pages and individual DVA documents. If our sheet has not been reviewed for six months it says so on its face rather than staying quiet about it.

Find garages and MOT test centres

Run a pre-MOT check before the test, hand the customer a sheet with your garage's name on it, and you're doing exactly what drivers search for but can't see from a listing. That belongs on your public profile. If your garage is already listed with us, claim it and put that profile to work.

Claim your listing

Browse the directory

Our other tools for garages

MOT and service reminder message writer"Your MOT is due" belongs there, not on this sheet.
Valeting price list builder

Bookmark and share. Bookmark this page for the next car. When someone else needs the same setup, use Copy shareable link. It carries your sheet setup and your garage name, but not the vehicle's details.

What should we check before it goes for its MOT?

Pre-MOT check sheet