MOT advisories explained, and what they are telling you about the car
An advisory means the car passed and the tester wrote something down anyway. It is the most useful free information you can get about a used car, because it is a stranger with a ramp telling you what is wearing out, and the whole list going back years is public from the number plate.
Advisory, minor, major, dangerous
The test records what it finds at four levels and only two of them fail the car.
- Dangerous. Fails, and the car should not be driven away from the test.
- Major. Fails.
- Minor. Passes, and it is recorded.
- Advisory. Passes. Something is wearing out or is not quite right.
So a car with eight advisories passed its MOT. A car with one dangerous defect did not. People read the length of the list and panic about the wrong thing.
The advisories we see most often, and what each one means
These are the ones that come up most across the MOT histories we have read, counted on 10 October 2026. The wording is quoted as the record gives it, section number and all, so it matches what you are looking at.
Tyre worn close to legal limit, or worn on edge
The most common advisory by a clear margin, and it appeared on the front tyres more often than the rear. The tread is close to one point six millimetres, which is the legal minimum, and worn on edge means it is wearing unevenly.
Uneven wear is the part worth reading twice. A tyre that is worn on one edge usually means the alignment is out, so a new tyre fitted without sorting that out will wear the same way. Expect to buy the tyre, and ask for the alignment to be checked at the same time. Driving on one below the limit is penalty points and a fine for each tyre.
Brake pads wearing thin, and discs worn, pitted or scored
Pads are a wearing part and replacing them is routine. The line to watch for is a disc described as worn, pitted or scored but not seriously weakened, which came up almost as often as the pads on the cars we read. When both appear in the same test it usually means discs and pads together rather than pads alone, which is a bigger bill, so read those two lines as one job.
Oil leak, but not excessive
As common as the worn tyres in our data. Oil is escaping and dripping but not enough to fail the test. The cost depends entirely on where it is coming from, and that is the one thing the advisory does not say. It can be a cheap gasket. It can be a seal behind the gearbox, which is mostly labour.
The useful move is to look at the older tests. If the same leak has been noted for three years running, then nobody has ever investigated it, and that tells you how the car has been looked after as much as it tells you about the oil.
Registration plate deteriorated but not likely to be misread
The cheapest thing on the list. A faded or cracked plate, a few pounds to replace. Worth knowing only because a car that has been sold with this advisory outstanding for two years is a car whose owner does not fix anything.
How to read the list when you are buying
Read it as a story rather than a score. Four things matter more than the number of lines.
- The same advisory repeating year after year. That is not a fault report, it is a report on the owner.
- A mileage reading lower than an earlier one. That is a different problem altogether and it is the one to walk away from.
- A dangerous or major defect in the recent history, and whether the retest shows it was really fixed.
- A gap with no tests at all, which means the car was off the road. Ask why.
Then add up the advisories that are really repair bills, usually tyres and brakes, and raise that number when you talk about the price. It is a fair thing to raise and the seller already knows it.
Read any car's advisories for nothing
The whole MOT history is public from the number plate. Check an MOT history on GOV.UK. Every test, every advisory, every failure, and the mileage recorded each time. Do it before you travel.
What the MOT record cannot tell you
The MOT is a roadworthiness test, not a history of who owns the car or what has happened to it on paper. Nothing in it shows outstanding finance, a stolen marker or an insurance write off, because that is held by lenders, the police and insurers rather than by DVSA. Those are the three that cost people the whole car rather than a set of tyres.
What a car check tells you before you buy covers those three in plain words, and the £5 check looks them up for one number plate along with the full mileage story. If you have not found a car yet, the £10 Road Ready pack watches the market for you and tells you when something turns up under the going rate.
Common questions
What is an MOT advisory?
It is something the tester noticed that is not bad enough to fail the car, but is heading that way. The car passed. The advisory is a note that a part is wearing out, or that something is wrong in a way the test does not fail a car for. You do not have to do anything about it by law, and ignoring the ones about tyres and brakes is how people fail the next test.
Is an advisory the same as a fail?
No. The MOT records defects at three levels. Dangerous and major both fail the car. Minor and advisory do not. A dangerous defect also means the car should not be driven away. So a long list of advisories is a car that passed, and a single dangerous defect is a car that did not.
Does an MOT advisory need fixing?
Legally, no. In practice it depends which one. A tyre worn close to the limit is going to be illegal in a few thousand miles, and a tyre below the limit is three penalty points and a fine per tyre, so that one is not really optional. An oil leak that is not excessive can be watched. A deteriorated number plate is a few pounds. Read each one for what it is rather than treating the list as one thing.
What does tyre worn close to legal limit mean?
The tread is near one point six millimetres, which is the legal minimum across the middle three quarters of the tyre. Worn on edge means it is wearing unevenly, usually because the alignment is out, and that both wastes the tyre and tells you something is not set up right. This is the single most common advisory we see. Treat it as a tyre you are buying soon, and if two or four are called out, price that in.
What does brake pad wearing thin mean?
There is life left in the pads but not much. Pads are a routine wearing part and a normal job. A disc called out as worn, pitted or scored at the same time usually means discs and pads together, which costs more than pads alone, so read those two lines together rather than separately.
What does oil leak but not excessive mean?
Oil is getting out somewhere and dripping, but not fast enough to fail the test or to be an environmental problem. It can be a cheap gasket or it can be a gearbox seal that means a lot of labour. The important question is which, and that needs somebody to put the car up and look. If the same advisory appears on three years of tests, nobody has looked yet.
Do advisories affect the value of a used car?
They are not a marker on the car in the way a write off is, so they do not move the book price by themselves. What they give you is a repair bill you can point at while agreeing a price, and that is a fair thing to raise. Four tyres and a set of discs and pads is a real number, and the seller knows it.
Where can I read a car's MOT advisories for free?
On GOV.UK, from the number plate. It costs nothing, it needs no account, and it gives you every test, every advisory, every failure and the mileage recorded each time. Do it before you travel to see the car.
What should worry me more than a long advisory list?
The same advisory on year after year, which is a car nobody maintains. A mileage reading that is lower than an older one. A dangerous defect in the recent history. And a gap in the testing, which means the car was off the road and you should ask why.