The DVSA has revealed major changes to its MOT procedures after successfully completing a trial across the UK at the beginning of the year.

The agency will now look to make photographing vehicles compulsory during MOT tests as part of plans to ensure testing remains safe.

The initiative marks a significant shift in testing procedures completed by DVSA centres and aims to tackle growing fraud practices across the UK.

Between March and June 2025, the DVSA conducted a six-week trial for the new MOT testing measures, which involved 170 testers across 62 garages.

DVSA |

The changes to the testing aim to reduce the number of fraudulent MOTs and ensure vehicles are tested properly

The trial included independent garages, chains, dealerships and local authority testing stations, covering all vehicle classes.

As part of the new system, it required testers to capture an image of each vehicle in the testing bay using a mobile phone or tablet.

These photographs needed to be automatically uploaded to the digital MOT Testing Service and attached to the vehicle's MOT record.

The DVSA stated that the trial received positive feedback, with approximately 450 to 500 photographs being submitted each weekday.

By the end of the trial period, the agency explained that more than 13,000 images had been uploaded.

Testers also seemed to adapt quickly to the new technology within the first week, seeing the 10 busiest garages achieve an upload success rate of 90.2 per cent.

DVSA | Testers will be required to upload images of vehicles they conduct MOT tests on

Feedback from participants also revealed that half experienced it as "easy" or "very easy", while only seven per cent reported difficulties.

One garage user called the process "painless and stress-free", with another describing it as "wonderful".

But as with every trial, there were some issues, with the DVSA stating that any technical problems that arose during the trial were swiftly addressed, such as expiring QR codes, correcting image timestamp errors, and fixing an issue with the QWERTY keypad appearing inappropriately.

The photo requirement forms part of DVSA's broader strategy to eliminate fraudulent MOT certificates, particularly "ghost" MOTs where vehicles receive passes without being present at testing stations.

These ghost tests were seen to represent nearly 80 per cent of all fraudulent MOT activity, according to DVSA data.

Chris Price from the DVSA explained that the measure would provide evidence of vehicle presence during tests and retests and therefore prove that the vehicle had been checked by experts.

The agency added that introducing photographic evidence would create a deterrent effect while also helping enforcement teams identify testing stations involved in fraudulent practices.

The DVSA shared: "The trial has allowed us to catch these issues early, but it also raises some important changes we will need to make.

"For example, if we evolve the system to automatically capture registration plates, we will need to make sure the software can sift out those on other vehicles.

"Spotting these helps us plan for the future, and will be considered when we run the second phase of the trial."

PA |

The need for more measures follows the rise in MOT ghost tests

But the DVSA has ruled out using webcams for image capture, restricting the process to only smartphones and tablets.

The agency added: "The success means DVSA will be widening the trial with more garages after we’ve collated all of the feedback from the garages who took part in the first trial.

"This will help us to get insight into how we can improve the software and process for every kind of garage.

"We know there’s still room to refine and enhance image capture and upload, and we’ll continue making improvements as we go.

"The second phase of the trial will focus on testing the system at scale to ensure it’s ready for a phased rollout."

For the top 10 garages, the average test time for the first test remained at 40 minutes, with the DVSA hoping to work with garages to reduce this time by removing any technical barriers to the photos being uploaded.