You can do an MOT test as early as one month (minus one day) before your current MOT certificate expires without affecting the renewal date of your MOT. For example, if your MOT expires on August 10th, you can take the test from July 11th onwards, and if your car passes, the new MOT will still expire on August 10th of the next year. You can also take the MOT test earlier than that, but if you do, the expiry date of your new MOT will be one year (minus a day) from the date of the early test, meaning you lose the extra weeks you had before the original expiry date. This can be useful if you want peace of mind or are planning a long journey, but generally, it is advised to stick to the one-month window before expiry. In summary:
- The official early booking window is up to 1 month minus one day before expiry for keeping the same expiry date.
- You can do it anytime earlier but it will shift your next MOT due date to the test date anniversary, losing days on the current certificate.
This is applicable in the UK context under standard MOT regulations.
