New service issues free copies of MOT certificates

13 May 2019

If you've been turning the house upside down and still can't remember where you left your car's MOT certificate, then you're in luck - because as of this week, you won't have to pay to have a new one issued.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has launched its new, free service that allows motorists to download, print and save a copy of their vehicle's MOT certificate if they have misplaced it.

Previously, drivers would have had to visit an MOT test centre and pay a fee of £10 to get a copy of this document.

Last year, some 630,000 copies were issued, so this could amount to a collective saving of £6.3 million if the figure is similar in 2019.

All you need to do if you've lost your MOT documentation is head to www.gov.uk/replace-mot-certificate, enter your vehicle registration number and the 11-digit V5C number in your log book to download the paperwork that pops up.

However, you'll only be able to do this for paperwork that was issued from May 20th 2018 onwards, meaning drivers with anything older will still need to call into their test centre and pay the replacement fee.

Roads minister Jesse Norman said: "This is part of a government drive to keep costs down for motorists and remove unnecessary barriers to getting out and about safely."

It might also help drivers to be able to access their documents online if they're prone to forgetting when they last had an MOT done.

Last year, an AA-Populus poll found two million Britons have been late renewing their MOT by up to a week at least once, while more than a million forgot for up to a month.

Simon Benson from the AA admitted dates are the sort of thing that can "easily slip through the cracks", but pointed out that MOTs are legally imperative for every vehicle under 40 years old.

The government has been on a roll in terms of offering online services to drivers, having already launched an online service history checker and moved vehicle taxation from paper to digital.