Does garage software connect to the MOT testing service?

Test results are recorded in DVSA's service, not in your software

gov.uk describes the MOT testing service plainly: use it if you are an MOT tester and you need to record results of MOTs you carry out, print MOT certificates, and buy test slots and check your test station's balance (gov.uk). That is a DVSA service a tester signs in to. No garage management system on this page claims to replace it, and you should be sceptical of one that implies it does.

What the software connects to instead is MOT history

DVSA publishes an MOT history API. Its documentation states that the API now combines all vehicle types and gives access to vehicle data from Northern Ireland, covering cars, motorcycles and vans and their MOT tests in Great Britain since 2005 and Northern Ireland since 2017, and HGVs, trailers, buses and coaches in Great Britain since 2018 and Northern Ireland since 2017 (DVSA MOT history API documentation). That is what a garage system is reading when it shows you an expiry date and an advisory history against a registration.

Registration for that API is separate and is not instant. DVSA states you register on behalf of an organisation, business or as an individual, that you need to give a name, contact email and postal address, and that it can take up to 5 working days to review your request and send the API key, longer in busy periods. Read on the DVSA documentation site on 15 August 2026.

What the suppliers actually claim

• Garage Hive lists DVSA MOT Integration on its pricing page, and its MOT history page describes retrieving DVLA MOT history inside the software with automated expiry date updates and reminders.
• TechMan describes an MOT expiry lookup that gets MOT data from DVSA records, built into the front-of-house screens.
• Motasoft lists MOT history (DVLA) under its Virtual Garage Manager integrations, alongside VRM lookup.
• MOT Manager states live vehicle data integration and a vehicle look-up feature without naming the source.
• Workauto meters vehicle lookups (50 a month included) without naming the source.
• MAM Autowork Online describes a separate MOT diary handling bookings for up to four MOT bays, but names no data feed.
• Garage Software Solutions states nothing about MOT or vehicle data in the plan tables we read.

The three questions worth asking a salesperson

1. Where does the MOT expiry data come from, and is the API key yours or the supplier's? This decides who is responsible when the feed stops.
2. How many vehicle lookups are included, what happens when I exceed them, and is the charge per lookup or per bundle?
3. When a customer's MOT is recorded in the MOT testing service, how long before my system knows? Ask for a number of hours, not the word 'live'.

DVSA's IT specification for the MOT testing service sets out the equipment, internet connection and printer an MOT garage needs to use the service, and was last updated on 23 June 2022. That specification is about the DVSA service itself, not about your garage management software.