Run an MOT Testing Station
Maintain DVSA compliance, manage testers, handle inspections, and avoid disciplinary action as an MOT Authorised Examiner.
Retail & Consumer Goods
Run a vehicle repair garage or MOT station
Repairing and servicing vehicles is not licensed in itself, but MOT testing is: only DVSA-approved stations with authorised testers may carry it out. Garages also have specific duties around air-conditioning refrigerant (F-gas) and the hazardous waste they generate. MOT testing works differently in Northern Ireland, where it is run by the state.
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You can repair and service vehicles without a specific licence, but the moment you want to MOT-test them, recover air-conditioning refrigerant, or dispose of the waste a garage generates, specific duties apply. Workshop health and safety — lifts, fumes, fuel, batteries — is covered in Run a compliant motor trade business; this guide covers the duties specific to a repair and test business.
Become an MOT test station (if you want to test)
Not every garage tests vehicles — MOT testing is an opt-in. To do it, your premises must be approved by the DVSA as a Vehicle Testing Station, with an Authorised Examiner and individually authorised Nominated Testers, and you must keep to the DVSA's standards once authorised. Two dedicated guides cover the regime in full:
- Set up an MOT testing station — becoming a DVSA Authorised Examiner, premises and equipment
- Run an MOT testing station — fees and slots, equipment calibration, tester training and quality control, DVSA inspections and the disciplinary points system
To test motorcycles you need approval as a class 1/2 (Group I/II) station with testers trained for those classes.
F-gas certification for air-conditioning work
Technicians who recover or recharge refrigerant in vehicle air-conditioning systems must hold the relevant F-gas qualification, and recovered refrigerant must be handled by certified personnel. The Environment Agency enforces the GB F-gas regime; Northern Ireland applies the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015. If you also handle electrical components and waste electricals, see meet your F-gas and WEEE repair duties.
Handle and consign your hazardous waste
Garages generate hazardous waste — waste oils, oil and fuel filters, brake fluid, antifreeze, lead-acid batteries, oily rags and airbags. It must be stored separately, moved by a registered carrier to a permitted site, and consigned on a hazardous waste consignment note. This is devolved: the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 in England and Wales, the Special Waste Regulations and SEPA in Scotland, and the Hazardous Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 in Northern Ireland.
Next steps
Make sure the cross-cutting duties for your business are in place — see Run a compliant motor trade business — then confirm everything with the motor trade compliance checklist.