The pre-MOT check, section by section

What a pre-test check is, and what it is not

It is not a test. Only an approved test centre can issue an MOT certificate, on the DVSA's own system, and a passed pre-check is not a certificate. What a workshop sells is the check: the same items, looked at and put right before the vehicle goes for its test. No authorisation is needed to offer one. In Northern Ireland the test itself is the DVA's.

That is also why Workbay never moves a vehicle's test date when a pre-check is passed. The date is typed in off the certificate, and only a real test changes it, so a reminder cannot fall silent because the workshop did the check.

What the check covers

The pre-MOT check for cars and vans goes section by section through the MOT inspection: lamps and electrical equipment, steering, suspension, brakes, tyres and wheels, seat belts and restraints, and the rest. 48 items in the sections below.

For trucks and trailers: the safety inspection

A heavy goods operator's periodic safety inspection is a record the operator keeps rather than a pre-test check. Workbay's is laid out the DVSA's way, 64 items in the sections below, and marked satisfactory, defect, rectified or monitor. In Northern Ireland the same sheet answers to the DVA.

How the check runs in the bay

• Pass and fail are 60-point targets, sized for gloves on a trolley-mounted iPad.
• It runs entirely on the device: answers, notes and photographs are sent when signal returns.
• A fail raises a defect on the vehicle with its severity. A check whose answer raises a defect or needs a note offers a photograph there and then.
• The sheet is signed on the screen and rendered as a PDF report with every finding, and it goes to the customer with the invoice.

How a workshop sells it

• Get the date on record. The test date is typed in off the certificate when the vehicle is in; until then it shows as “not on record” rather than saying nothing.
• Watch for amber. A date turns amber three weeks out, red once it has passed, and the compliance list puts the whole fleet in that order, soonest first.
• Offer the check at amber. Three weeks is enough time to fix what it finds before the test.
• Turn findings into work. Each fail is a defect on the vehicle; an estimate goes to the customer by email and comes back approved with one tap.

Fair questions

Can a workshop issue an MOT certificate with Workbay?

No — only an approved test centre can, on the DVSA's own system. What a workshop sells is the pre-test check: the same items, checked and rectified before the vehicle goes for its test. Workbay's pre-MOT sheet is that check, and no authorisation is needed to offer one. In Northern Ireland the test itself is the DVA's.

Is the safety inspection sheet the one my O-licence needs?

It is laid out the DVSA's way and covers what a periodic safety inspection covers, marked satisfactory, defect, rectified or monitor. It is a record you keep, signed and stored as a PDF with the defects it raised — the responsibility for the inspection interval and for what is checked stays with the operator and the inspector who signs it.

Does completing a pre-MOT check update the vehicle's MOT date?

No, deliberately. A passed pre-check is not a test. The compliance date is typed in off the certificate when the vehicle is in, and only that changes it — so a reminder never falls silent because the workshop did the pre-check.

What does the customer get?

A PDF inspection report with the outcome, every finding, the photographs and the signature, attached to the job report and the invoice. Findings become defects on the vehicle, so the next visit starts from what was found last time.

Do the sheets work without signal?

Yes. The whole sheet is on the device, and answers, notes and photographs are sent when signal returns.