DVSA has completed the first Images in Garages trial – one of the building blocks that will help us tackle errors at MOT and fraudulent “Ghost” MOTs.
In March, we asked a group of garages to take a photo of each car when it comes in for an MOT – providing evidence that the vehicle was present – this photo being automatically uploaded into the digital MOT Testing Service.
In time, this change will help reduce fraudulent MOTs, ensuring all vehicles are present for tests and retests, improving road safety and compliance.
We’re pleased to share the results of the first round of this trial – and to update you on where we’re going next.
Trial results
The six-week nationwide trial saw just over 170 MOT testers in 62 garages take part. Together, they cover all vehicle classes and include independent garages, chains, dealerships and local council testing stations.
Using a mobile phone or tablet, testers were asked to take a photo and upload it through the MOT Testing System (MTS) – where it was attached to the MOT record for that vehicle.
The response has been impressive.
Around 450-500 photos were uploaded each weekday – by the end, over 13,000 photos from all 62 garages had been submitted.
Testers were able to get to grips with the technology quickly and by the end of the first week, the top 10 busiest garages in the trial had an upload success rate of 90.2%.
Image quality
The trial has allowed us to review the images and see where any common mistakes are. We know that testers needed to get used to uploading photos – so spotting common themes helps us to provide the best guidance.
We’ve included a few examples here. The number plates have been blocked out for the blog – but testers will be pleased to hear they were visible when they came in.
This is a strong example. It clearly shows the vehicle in a garage setting with the number plate visible. Sharp-eyed testers may not be surprised to see it failed its MOT.
A perfect illustration of a tester following MTS guidance. It also highlights a well-maintained workshop, which could spark conversations within your garage around good housekeeping.
A great example in terms of image quality, though not taken in the right location. This is a useful example which prompts us to clarify our guidelines.
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 help us plan for the future – and will be considered when we run the second phase of the trial.
Early feedback
We surveyed those involved in the trial and found that half of the respondents said the experience was “easy” or “very easy” – with only 7% reporting it was “difficult”.
When we spoke to garages, one user said it was “painless and stress-free” – with another describing it as “wonderful!”
When users encountered technical issues, they remained positive, and we were able to fix some of these as they were reported to us. An issue with expiring QR codes was resolved through the trial, image timestamps were fixed, and we fixed an issue with the QWERTY keypad opening when it shouldn’t – all contributing to a smoother user experience.
It was suggested that taking images would lead to longer testing times. Photographs are taken at the beginning of tests and retests – so vehicles need to move back into the bay.
For the top 10 garages, the average test time for the first test remained at 40 minutes. The retest time was at 9 minutes – up from 7 previously. We are now working with garages to reduce this time by removing any technical barriers to the photos being uploaded.
The future
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 on 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.
But we also know the garages who signed up for the service are continuing to use this – and anyone involved in the trial can be sure they are working with DVSA to combat MOT fraud.
Read more about why we’re doing this here: How we’re combating fraud and error within the MOT – Matters of Testing
42 comments
Comment by David posted on
MOT Juice did an interview with PMM Magazine about this and a demo video of how it works.
https://www.youtube.com/@motjuiceuk
Comment by Terry posted on
I cant be doing with this BS, if it comes in I'm off.
PS Never done a dodgy test in 35 years of testing but tired of DVSA getting others to police the scheme for free.
Comment by James posted on
So frustrated ... Can the DVSA not see the root cause, or certainly playing a major part, in my opinion, in the 'Ghost' testing .The Test Fee.
It's far too low, undervalues and undermines the whole scheme, leading to cheating & cutting corners, and not attracting enough good quality people into the industry. The test fee should be based on the industries national hourly rate £85.00 - £95.00 with a percentage cap on the amount of discount for an MOT. I refused to let my son follow me into The Motor Trade, encouraging him to look elsewhere.
Comment by Pete Scott posted on
Understand the need for this, but… as mentioned in previous comments an increase in test fee must be factored into any change in the test.
Comment by mark marsden posted on
Doesn't mean it's getting a proper test though it's just a picture of a car on a ramp,another silly idea like the yearly assessment, it's just keeps civil servants in a job
Comment by LYN SOFTLEY posted on
Good idea but a better one would be live CCTV of mot bay. However with
out a much higher test fee say £100, I can not see the MOT trade investing
in any new tech. Every thing car ,van ,truck related has gone up but not the
MOT fee.
Comment by IAN DODSWORTH posted on
Who is checking the images at DVSA on the daily basis, considering the amount of uploads from potentially each & every MOT station?
Would it not be easier to ensure each station has the capacity / facility to store its own photographs... with evidence being made available if required?
This 'evidence' could be kept for say 12/24 months & refreshed, on a daily basis.
Comment by Simon osguthorpe posted on
Hi looking ok to. Thanks
Comment by Sharpy posted on
I agree the fiscal drag on the mot pricing policy is causing more garage owners to fill the day with vehicles putting testers in awkward positions with no breaks or in some cases no toilet breaks, constant vehicles to generate enough to pay the testers wage for the day, potential new testers are not bothering as it’s a pressured business with a low pay ceiling.
Comment by Manmohan Bains posted on
Agreed on the vehicles being present for obvious reasons. Also strongly in support of increasing mot test fees. Don’t feel it’s necessary to bring a vehicle into the mot bay for fast track retests .
Comment by Nik Beckwith posted on
Nik. MOT tester. In the tech age we are in, it's about time we can in brace this , and stop the Ghost testing, seen too many vehicles I've failed (with Dangerous marker's) ,be back out on the roads. I welcome and support this 100% .
Comment by Andrew Bowen posted on
That’s a good comment .
On a busy day the Mot ramp is used Constantly . Having to get a retest photo of small /quick fixes is very time consuming and will make the scheduling of works challenging.
Comment by Chris posted on
There is no doubt this will be a great addition to the safety and security of the mot test.
My issue like many other garage owners is when will the price of the mot test be raised. We are all receiving more mot processes to carry out with more costly equipment purchases but with no mot price uplift. This cannot continue.
I also agree that pulling a vehicle onto your test bay for a retest photograph for washers/wiper etc is unnecessary. An alternative solution for these situations need to be considered.
Comment by Frenchenstein posted on
The retest 5 minutes is joke; logging the vehicle on prior to checking the repairs is a sure way to cause an argument with a presenter that has inadvertently not satisfactorily completed a repair: "Another full test now, would sir like a coffee while we extract more from his bank account?".
Raise the test fee. The motor trade isn't a charity!
Comment by James Dymond posted on
As a rule I think all test should be a hour this forty minutes or 45is not on a hour test allows the right amount of time to inspect a vehicle properly do pre check correctly allowing this time to be shorter is a massive mistake on dvsa part and needs to be changed and stop lining the pockets of bigger garages
Comment by Karl moss posted on
As much as I agree it’s a good idea I would also like to mention as others have that the test fee hasn’t changed since 2010.
Based on the inflation calculator from the Bank of England website the retail for a class 4 should now be around £83.59
Perhaps once the retail fee is where it should be you could also do mileage photo straight after the picture of it on a ramp.
Comment by Mark posted on
What about vehicles that don’t have a registration number where you test via the chassis number.
Comment by Kev posted on
Will we need to take photograph of the vehicle on the lift even if it stays with us till it's fixed and retested, say for a simple item like the wiper blades failing the test and there replaced when they arrive later in the day?
Comment by Craig posted on
All rules and disciplinary procedures are already in place for such things. As others have mentioned there has been no increase to the test fee in line with rising costs etc.
Equipment prices, calibration costs and ever changing mandatory equipment costs are ridiculous.
Factor this in with salaries and ever increasing cost for utilities it’s getting ridiculous.
With all the data and information being gathered through the system on a daily basis, surely the powers that be that be know fine well which businesses are carrying out ghost mot’s and such due to the number of vehicles being tested per day, the average test times and pass rates per VTS.
Comment by Martin Burman posted on
This doesn’t actually prove that an MOT is actually taking place.A photo of a car is just saying that it’s been put on the ramp.
Comment by Joe underhill posted on
I second the mot fee increase how can this not be put up after all these years I get that a lot of people don’t charge full test fee but some do and some have to in able to make it a viable business.
I’d also like to make sure for simple retests that clearly don’t need the ramp then parking the car on the ramp isn’t necessary and perhaps in the doorway or with the garage clearly in the background would do
Comment by Dave BS posted on
i like it but 1 comment on how the picture gives an impression of the state of the MOT bay, personally i dont mind nothing to hide, but some stations may not be happy as this was for identifying vehicles under test at VTS's, not a short cut on DVSA enforcing the state/ cleanness of a VTS by an image taken by the tester, Funnily enough the VTS i was testing at today i advised the AE this may be the case
Comment by Gerrard Clements posted on
The tester should be included in the photo.
Comment by Billy posted on
I think this is a stupid idea invasion of privacy picture, does not prove anything. Might help if you actually had people who worked on cars in the past to help sort this out properly, because from what I’ve seen every single vosa agent contradicts every other agent no one has a clue what’s going on with testing and one vosa agent was more interested in vaping than watch a QC test just goes to show what type of people make the rules and enforce them. Also when training a trainer used to work for the national lottery and had no experience with vehicles just a bit of paper that said the could train people even tho he’s clueless. Also training should be relevant to testing not a a test on what disciplinary action will happen, it’s just sly black mail to testers.get people in that actually have experience not useless people from office jobs to motor vehicles it’s delusional
Comment by Christopher Cullen posted on
This will be the best thing for the country this will stop the people who think they can put pressure on mot stations and get mots for cars in other country’s
Well done looking forward to being mandatory cc
Comment by Cornel-Florin Veres posted on
As a mot tester I'm more than happy with the improvements and I can't wait for the system to improve with pictures and combat all the MOT ghosts for more safety on our roads.
Comment by Geoff Bradley posted on
Bring back class room and workshop refresher courses which were a fantastic way of also learning from other testers.
Also was a good way to “get on” with local VE’s instead of relying on technology to nail our arses to the wall…!!! Also a substantial fee increase is LONG OVERDUE….
This would be progress along with the abolition of cutting the test fees which does absolutely NOTHING but devalue the whole process in the eyes of the public
Comment by Anthony Lunt posted on
I feel that the photo would be best taken from a headlight beam tester. There were a couple of equipment suppliers which designed bean testers which would automatically take a photo of the vehicle driving towards it and the technology could (if DVSA had enough intuition) even post the image into MTS automatically. This would eliminate any possibility of fraud as the photo is automatically taken without a human. Obviously a class I/II vehicle would still need a manually taken photo with it's number plate being on the rear of the bike but still, it's a step in the right direction surely? My understanding is that DVSA weren't a fan of this option and went down the taking a photo from a phone/tablet route instead.
Comment by tim posted on
This system needs to reliable and in use asap to combat the issues us testers face on a daily basis
Comment by IAN AINSLEY posted on
It is extremely worrying that the DVSA feel the need to apply such methods as this in the first place as there are already sufficient penalties in place to stop mot stations from carrying out testing on vehicles not on site at the time of test.
Comment by Steve Duff posted on
The penalties are severe, but sadly there are still those that choose to buck the system and take the risk of being caught. If this can stop those testers from abusing the system then it can only be a good thing for road safety. Consideration should be made to partial retests that don’t really need to enter the test bay, perhaps a photograph in a position outside the test bay but clearly identifiable as being at the VTS should be acceptable.
Comment by Steve martin posted on
Only that it's a good idea for numerous
Reasons
Comment by Lee posted on
It's been fabulous addition to the MTS and has only improved security and accuracy in my opinion. Anyone who doesn't want this must have something to hide. Why wouldn't you want to show a vehicle was present should concerns be raised through cloned vehicles or fraud.
Comment by James posted on
May I suggest that the MOT price is increased in line with inflation since 2010 and the extra equipment costs now imposed on testing centres before this is made mandatory.
Comment by Martin Burman posted on
I totally agree
Comment by Richard Watson posted on
When will we receive an increase in Mot Fee’s ? It’s been the same since April 2010
The cost of wages & increase rises in new equipment are crippling the Motor Trade
Comment by David posted on
MOT Juice did a decent video on how it worked. Look simple and easy to use. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msq90H6BF08&t=9s
Comment by Tony Jones posted on
I think the garage VTS number should be attached to the area were the photo is taken so that it can be in co-operated in the photo to further prove that the car is in the correct mot test bay.
Comment by keith posted on
Are you supplying a camera to use?
Because DLSA cannot expect testers you use there own personal phone cameras for work, some don't have smart phones so what happens then?
Comment by Stephen Brown posted on
What’s the answer about using your own phone your tablet
Comment by Chris posted on
Hopefully it’s not going to be massively silly where a simple single failure of a position light off, washer fluid empty or a bad wiper isn’t going to need to be pulled onto the ramp physically to be checked. Granted other fails such as suspension needs affected area checking, I feel having to pull a car into a ramp to photograph it (could get the garage in view on the retest photo) isn’t going to be needed.
Comment by richard posted on
we were having this discussion at work yesterday about re-tests. Will it need another photo for something simple as a bulb or empty windscreen washer bottle ? granted you can use PRS as its still in the bay ,but not always the case.