Data coverage · 2026 Q2
How complete is our MOT data?
Every quarter we check our MOT records against the Department for Transport's own count of cars on Great Britain's roads. On 30 June 2026, our records held 105.7% of the DfT's count. Here's why we hold more cars than it does.
Department for Transport
27,038,296
cars in Great Britain that needed an MOT on 30 June 2026
Hope It Passes
28,566,446
cars with a valid MOT in our records on the same day
Why our number is higher than the DfT's
Our records hold 1,528,150 more cars with a valid MOT than the DfT counts as needing one: 5.6% more. A difference this size is expected, because the two sources count at different points in a car's life:
- 1 Scrapped and exported cars keep their MOT on record. When a car is scrapped or leaves the country, the DfT stops counting it straight away, but its MOT certificate stays valid in the DVSA's records until it expires, up to about a year later.
- 2 Off-road (SORN) cars can still have a valid MOT. The DfT counts cars declared off the road separately from licensed ones, but many still have months left on their MOT.
- 3 Imported used cars. The DfT counts an imported car as newly registered, so taking out "cars under 3 years old" also takes out some older imports that do need an MOT.
A shortfall is what would point to missing data, so any model where we hold noticeably fewer cars than the DfT is flagged in the table below.
Comparing like with like
The DfT counts every registered car; we hold MOT records. So we start from the DfT's count of licensed cars and take out the ones that don't need an MOT:
On our side we count cars with a valid MOT certificate on the same day (a taxed car must have one, so that's the closest match to "licensed"), and take out the records the DfT figure doesn't cover:
139M+
vehicles with MOT history, including ones since scrapped or exported
Daily
new MOT results added; this report used data up to 2026-10-06
Quarterly
coverage check, after each DfT release. Every result stays published below.
Model by model
Every car model with at least 1,000 cars needing an MOT. Download all models (CSV)
| Model | DfT: needing an MOT | Ours: valid MOT | Coverage | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ Within 3% ↑ Above ↓ Below Too few to judge Not comparable |
↑ Above usually means cars that were scrapped, exported or declared off the road after their last MOT, which still show a valid certificate in MOT records, or a model name that the two sources split differently. ↓ Below means records we haven't matched to the DfT's model name yet, or data we're missing, and we investigate each one. MINI is compared as a whole make, because the DfT splits it by trim level rather than model. Where the DfT lists performance or renamed versions as models of their own (Audi S3 and RS3, BMW M3, Ford Ka+), we compare them together with the main model, as the row name shows. Not comparable rows are cars the DfT has no model name for, and its "AMG Class", which collects Mercedes-AMG cars of every model; they still count in the totals above.
Every quarter we've checked
| Quarter | DfT: needing an MOT | Ours: valid MOT | Coverage | Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q2 | 27,038,296 | 28,566,446 | 105.7% | CSV |
Method and caveats
Great Britain only. Our MOT history comes from the DVSA, which runs MOTs in England, Scotland and Wales, and also includes vehicles tested in Northern Ireland by the DVA. We compare against the DfT's Great Britain tables, so we leave out vehicles tested in Northern Ireland. Where a DfT table only covers the whole UK (the historic-car figures), we scale it to Great Britain using each model's share of UK cars.
Each car counted once. When a car moves to a private plate, or back to its original one, its MOT history is sent again under the new registration. We recognise the shared test history and count the car once, not once per plate.
Cars only. We compare car models: those the DfT records as at least 90% cars. Vans, motorbikes and other vehicles aren't in this check yet.
Why the counts can't match exactly. A car scrapped or exported after its last MOT still has a valid certificate in MOT records until it expires. A car can be declared off the road (SORN) while its MOT is still valid. And some taxed cars are driven with an expired MOT. Most of these push our count up, so we expect to be a few percent above the DfT's figure; it's a shortfall that would point to missing data. In the model table, ✓ means within 3% either way, and we publish both numbers rather than round the result off.
Estimates on the DfT side. "First registered in the last 3 years" includes a small number of older imported cars, which do need an MOT. Historic cars come from the DfT's latest annual year-of-first-use table, which can be up to 18 months older than the quarter. Both effects are small, and they make our coverage look slightly higher, not lower.
Matching model names. The two sources name models slightly differently: the DfT has one "Hyundai Ioniq" where the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 are separate models to us. We match names with a reviewed mapping table, and cars we can't match are left out of our count, never guessed.
Sources
DfT figures: Vehicle licensing statistics data files, Department for Transport. This report used:
- df_VEH0120_GB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6aad4b12ce3f006bd4346ccf/df_VEH0120_GB.csv (SHA-256 afdc4feb04a9…)
- df_VEH0120_UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6aad4b12086ce7c57b8186f3/df_VEH0120_UK.csv (SHA-256 6a4c83265dcb…)
- df_VEH0160_GB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6aad4b1d086ce7c57b8186f4/df_VEH0160_GB.csv (SHA-256 81702c732cfc…)
- df_VEH0124_AM: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69ef3c3a20a498c16734afd1/df_VEH0124_AM.csv (SHA-256 86fe32407fde…)
- df_VEH0124_NZ: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69ef3c8520a498c16734afd2/df_VEH0124_NZ.csv (SHA-256 6a04aebfe779…)
MOT records: DVSA MOT history. Both contain public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Report 2026-Q2, generated 6 October 2026.