An MOT test station runs on evidence: the daily and monthly checks DVSA requires, the two-monthly quality-control record, calibration certificates, and every tester's annual training and assessment — all against a site review that can come without warning and a risk rating that updates every month. MOTGuard is the VTS compliance diary that keeps that whole evidence pack open, current and one press away.
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.
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.
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 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.
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. Coming soon — register your interest to help shape it.
The daily, weekly and monthly 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.
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 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.
At least three hours per vehicle group of adaptive annual training, followed by the annual assessment delivered through a DVSA-recognised awarding organisation — so each tester's yearly requirement is met, evidenced and dated in the same system that tracks the deadline.
Training records held for the five years DVSA requires, alongside your Test Quality Information reviews and quality-management documents — a single retained archive per station and per tester, indexed and searchable when the question comes.
QMS, calibration certificates, quality-control history, training records and TQI reviews assembled into a site-review readiness export in one press — the pack an unannounced DVSA reviewer asks for, ready without a scramble.
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.
Register your interest See what's inside
MOTGuard is coming soon and is not yet available to buy. It 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. Tester assessment is delivered through a DVSA-recognised awarding organisation.