The dates you need to track
MOT for cars and vans
Most cars and vans need their first MOT by the third anniversary of registration, then by the anniversary of the last MOT. An MOT lasts a year. Some vehicles need their first test at one year old, and GOV.UK's MOT guide has a fees table showing which.
You can have an MOT done up to a month (minus a day) before the current one runs out and keep the same renewal date. So if an MOT runs out on 15 May, the earliest test that keeps the date is 16 April.
Annual tests for HGVs and trailers
Heavy vehicles have an annual test instead of a standard MOT. According to GOV.UK's guidance on HGV, bus and trailer tests, a lorry's first test is due 12 months after it was first registered with DVLA, and HGVs usually need testing every year after that. Trailers usually need their first test one year after they were first sold or supplied. If you run mixed fleets, this catches people out: a new truck is due for its first test two years earlier than most new vans.
Road tax
Every vehicle on the road needs to be taxed. A vehicle you are keeping off the road can have a SORN instead (more on that below). Each vehicle has its own renewal date, so a fleet's tax renewals tend to spread across the year.
Option 1: GOV.UK checks, one vehicle at a time
The government services are free and official.
- Check if a vehicle is taxed tells you whether a vehicle has up-to-date tax or a SORN. You need the registration number. GOV.UK notes that a recent tax or SORN application can take up to 2 working days to show.
- Check MOT history shows past results, the mileage at each test and when the next MOT is due. It covers car, motorcycle and van tests since 2005, and HGV, bus, coach and trailer tests since 2018.
- The free MOT reminder service sends a text or email a month before a car or van MOT is due, and two months before for lorries, buses and large trailers. You sign up with the vehicle's registration and a phone number or email address, and you need to unsubscribe when the vehicle is sold, scrapped or taken off the road.
Good for: a handful of vehicles, or a quick check on one vehicle before it goes out.
Weak at: scale. Each check is one registration at a time, and the reminders go to whoever signed up. When that person leaves, or a vehicle changes hands, reminders can quietly stop.
Option 2: A spreadsheet and calendar reminders
Most small fleets start here. One row per vehicle, columns for MOT due and tax due, and maybe a calendar entry a few weeks before each date.
Good for: it costs nothing, everyone knows how to use it, and you can add any column you like.
Weak at: staying true. The dates in a spreadsheet are only as current as the last time someone typed them in. An MOT done early resets the date. A failed test and retest, a vehicle sold or swapped, a typo in a year: none of these update the sheet on their own. Calendar reminders sit in one person's diary and are easy to snooze.
If you use a spreadsheet, a few habits make it much safer:
- Add a "last checked" column and re-check every date against GOV.UK on a fixed day each month.
- Use conditional formatting to colour anything due within 30 days, and anything already expired, so it stands out.
- Update the row the day a vehicle is tested, taxed, sold or taken off the road, and record who changed it.
- Keep the reminders in a shared mailbox or calendar, so they don't depend on one person.
For a side-by-side look at the trade-offs, see VCT compared with spreadsheets.
Option 3: Software that checks every night
Fleet software can look up each registration with DVLA and DVSA automatically. Because the dates come from the source, they change when a vehicle is tested or taxed, and nobody has to retype them.
Good for: fleets where vehicles, drivers and dates change often, or where more than one person needs to see the position.
Weak at: anything without a registration number. Trailers have no registration number, so they can't be looked up this way and still need tracking by hand. It also costs money, unlike the first two options.
| GOV.UK checks | Spreadsheet | Nightly software checks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free | Monthly fee |
| Where dates come from | DVLA and DVSA | Typed in by hand | DVLA and DVSA |
| Updates after an early MOT | Yes, when you next look | Only if someone edits it | Next nightly check |
| Whole fleet at once | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reminders | MOT only, per vehicle, to one contact | Whatever you set up | Built in |
| Trailers | Not by registration | By hand | By hand |
A 30-day "due soon" window
Whatever you use, pick a window that marks a date as "due soon" and act on everything inside it. Thirty days works well for MOTs on cars and vans, because it matches the period in which you can test early without losing the renewal date. Book the test as soon as a vehicle enters the window and the date stays the same.
For HGVs, consider starting earlier. DVSA's own reminder service warns two months ahead for lorries, buses and large trailers, so a longer window for heavy vehicles is worth considering.
Treat anything already past its date separately from "due soon". A vehicle with an expired MOT or tax should stay off the road until it is sorted.
SORN vehicles
A SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) tells DVLA a vehicle is off the road, for example while it waits for repair or sale. GOV.UK's SORN guidance says:
- a vehicle with a SORN can only be driven on a public road to or from a pre-booked MOT or other test
- you must tax and insure a vehicle that doesn't have a SORN, and you can be fined £80 automatically if you don't
- using a SORN vehicle on the road for any other reason can lead to prosecution and a fine of up to £2,500
- the SORN is cancelled automatically when you tax the vehicle again
In your records, mark SORN vehicles as off the road so they don't clutter your reminders or show as overdue. Then make sure they really do stay off the road. Taking a SORN vehicle out for a quick job breaks the rules above, whatever your records say.
If an MOT runs out
According to GOV.UK's MOT penalties page, you can be fined up to £1,000 for driving a vehicle without a valid MOT. The exceptions are driving it to a pre-arranged MOT test, or to or from somewhere it is being repaired.
A vehicle that fails its MOT with a dangerous problem is a separate case. GOV.UK's after-the-test guidance says driving it can bring a fine of up to £2,500, a driving ban and 3 penalty points.
How VCT handles it
VCT checks every vehicle's road tax with DVLA and its MOT or HGV annual test with DVSA every night, and you can recheck one vehicle or the whole fleet at any time. Reminder emails go out before an MOT or tax runs out, anything due within 30 days shows as due soon, and a weekly round-up goes to admins and managers. SORN vehicles count as off the road and don't get reminders. DVSA's heavy vehicle test history starts in 2018, and trailers can't be checked automatically. More on the fleet MOT and tax reminders page.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Getting an MOT
- GOV.UK: Getting an MOT: penalties
- GOV.UK: Getting an MOT: after the test
- GOV.UK: Get an MOT for a heavy goods vehicle (HGV), bus or trailer
- GOV.UK: Check the MOT history of a vehicle
- GOV.UK: Check if a vehicle is taxed
- GOV.UK: Get MOT reminders
- GOV.UK: SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification)
Checked on 14 October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.