The MOT is watched three ways at once — and it's all documentary.
Being an Authorised Examiner isn't a one-off approval. DVSA judges your station on standing evidence: what each tester has trained and passed each year, the quality-control checks you record, the calibration certificates you hold, and the logbook you keep every day the law requires it. Stations that keep that evidence well have nothing to fear from a site review. Stations that keep it in heads, drawers and loose paper carry the risk every day.
Train, pass, or lose testing status
Every nominated tester must complete at least three hours of training per vehicle group each year and pass the annual assessment — an 80% pass mark for 2026/27 — by 31 March. Miss either and testing status is suspended until it's put right. (MOT testing guide, Appendix 6; GOV.UK annual training and assessments guidance — quoted in full at motguard.uk/testers.)
The evidence you must keep on file
A documented quality management system, a recorded quality-control check on at least one test per tester every two months, equipment calibration certificates (external specialists only since April 2023, kept two years), Test Quality Information reviews, and training records kept five years. (DVSA, 'Manage your MOT centre'; MOT testing guide, Appendix 2.)
Unannounced, and rated every month
DVSA carries out site reviews at least every three years, and they are not diarised in advance. Between visits, each station and tester carries a monthly red/amber/green risk rating driven by the data — so the file has to be ready all the time, not just review week. (DVSA, 'Manage your MOT centre'.)
Your whole DVSA evidence pack — and your testers' assessments — in one place.
MOTGuard is built duty-by-duty to the way DVSA inspects a VTS: the checks you must record, the deadlines you must hit, and the file a site reviewer asks to see. It's live — your station sets itself up from its VTS site number, free for 30 days, no card.
The daily VTS logbook
The daily, weekly and periodic statutory checks in one diary that opens every day the law requires it — recorded, dated and attributed, so the logbook DVSA expects is written as you work, not reconstructed the night before a review.
Calibration & deadline reminders
Equipment calibration certificates tracked with their two-year retention and next-due dates, and every tester's annual training-and-assessment clock counting down to 31 March — reminders in good time, so nothing lapses into a suspension.
The two-monthly quality-control record
The required quality-control check on at least one test per tester every two months, prompted on schedule and recorded against each tester — a live view of who's covered and who's due, ready to hand to a reviewer.
Adaptive annual tester training + assessment
At least three hours per vehicle group of adaptive annual training — self-directed study is explicitly allowed by DVSA; what matters is that it happens and is recorded — followed by the annual assessment, which you book through the IMI or Skills and Education Group Awards. Each tester's yearly requirement met, evidenced and dated in the same system that tracks the deadline.
Training records, kept for good
Training records held for the five years DVSA requires, alongside your quality-control history and calibration certificates — every entry dated, attributed and retained per station and per tester, ready when the question comes.
One-press site-review readiness
Your readiness verdict, every tester's training and assessment record, the calibration register with certificate dates, and the last 12 months of diary evidence — assembled in one press into one document, ready when an unannounced reviewer asks.
Your DVSA register entry, watched
Link your VTS site number and see your station exactly as the DVSA active-stations register holds it — classes, address, register status — with a change trail when anything on your entry moves. Your record, not our guess.
It chases, so you don’t have to
A weekly “you're covered — next thing due” note when all is well, and a heads-up when something's coming: tester deadlines, calibration dates, the QC cadence. The diary works while you're under a car, not just when you open it.
One price. Per site, per month.
No per-tester charges, no tiers to decode. Start with the free readiness check and your station's personalised site-review pack — keep both whatever you decide. The diary is one flat price after a free 30-day trial, monthly or annual.
The VTS compliance diary
- Free readiness check + your station's personalised site-review pack (evidence checklist, DVSA-format training log, calibration wallchart)
- The daily, weekly and periodic statutory logbook
- Calibration & 31 March training-deadline reminders
- The two-monthly quality-control record, per tester
- Adaptive annual tester training (assessment booked via the IMI or SEG Awards)
- One-press site-review readiness export
All prices exclude VAT. £29 per site each month, or £290 a year (two months free) — every tester at the station included. Free for 30 days, no card to start, cancel any time. The readiness check and site-review pack are free and stay free. MOTGuard is not DVSA and does not guarantee any DVSA outcome.
Questions, answered
- Can our testers do their annual MOT training themselves, without paying for a course?
- Yes — that is the rule, not a loophole. DVSA's MOT testing guide (Appendix 6) says how MOT annual training is completed is purely at the discretion of the tester and authorised examiner. GOV.UK's guidance (Take your annual MOT tester training and assessment) lists the valid self-directed methods: studying the MOT inspection manuals, special notices and the testing guide; discussing what you're learning with another tester or group of testers; demonstrating what you're learning to another tester; or learning from a more experienced tester. Booking a provider course is optional. Two things are not optional: the training must be recorded on the MOT testing service — you and your business can be suspended if it isn't — and the annual assessment must be passed — booked through the IMI or Skills and Education Group Awards — with the pass recorded by 31 March.
- So what does MOTGuard's training actually add?
- Structure, speed and the record. MOTGuard turns self-directed training into a guided study-and-check flow: experienced testers test out of what they can already demonstrate and spend their time on the gaps, every must-know point is always covered, and a dated, per-tester training record (date, topics covered, what was learned — with the session duration confirmed by the tester) is written into the station's compliance diary automatically. You still record your training in your MOT testing service log and book the assessment with the awarding organisation — MOTGuard tracks both deadlines so neither slips to 31 March.
- Is MOTGuard's knowledge check the DVSA annual assessment?
- No. GOV.UK lists exactly two routes to book the annual assessment — the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) and Skills and Education Group Awards — and you book and sit it with them. MOTGuard's knowledge check is training — structured study with scoring that evidences your annual training and produces the training record.
- Who runs what — and what happens if a tester misses 31 March?
- Three different things, run by three different parties. The annual TRAINING (at least 3 hours per vehicle group) can be done by the tester themselves — with MOTGuard or without — and must be recorded on the MOT testing service. The annual ASSESSMENT (30 open-book multiple-choice questions, 80% pass mark for 2026/27) can only be issued through the IMI or Skills and Education Group Awards, and the pass must be recorded on the tester's MTS profile by 31 March. Miss that date and the tester is suspended from testing — to come back they must train and pass the assessment on the NEXT year's topics, then pass a demonstration test: a practical MOT carried out in front of a DVSA officer, run only by DVSA. The full plain-English guide, with the GOV.UK sources, is at motguard.uk/testers.
For the independent garage that lives on its MOT bay.
MOTGuard is built for the everyday test station — the family garage and the small group — that carries the full weight of DVSA's requirements without a compliance manager to keep the logbook, chase the calibration dates and marshal every tester's annual training and assessment. It sits alongside how you already work, keeping the evidence pack and the assessments in one place, so an unannounced site review is a filing question, not a fire drill.
Start free — set up your station See what's inside
MOTGuard provides compliance tools, record-keeping and training content; it is not DVSA, is not connected to DVSA, and does not provide legal advice. The logbook, records, reminders, quality-control tracking, training and readiness exports it produces are designed to support and evidence your compliance with DVSA's requirements for MOT test stations and nominated testers — they support, but do not replace, the station's own responsibility as an Authorised Examiner and DVSA's own requirements. The annual tester assessment is booked and sat through an awarding organisation (the Institute of the Motor Industry or Skills and Education Group Awards), not through MOTGuard.