An MOT focuses mainly on items that affect safety - your safety and the safety of other road users. So covers key components like brakes, lights, steering, exhaust, tyres and the structural integrity of the car. Emissions are tested as well as safety features like seat belts, horn, washer and wipers and many more detail points.

You only need your car, you no longer need to bring your current MOT certificate. Now that car registration details and MOT results are stored online, we can find your car and its current certificate on the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) system. When it's passed we'll print a new certificate out for you.

You can check the current status of your MOT using the Gov.uk website

It's a legal requirement to have a valid and current MOT for your vehicle once it passes its third birthday. But apart from the legal issues, it's a crucial component in keeping our roads safe.

Testers qualified by the DVSA test vehicles against acceptable standards in approved testing stations, to ensure that all vehicles being driven are roadworthy.

It is important to note that an MOT test should not be treated as the only indicator of the condition of your vehicle. Many mechanical components are not checked so regular maintenance and servicing is necessary to ensure everything is in order.

All checks are recorded, whether the car passes or fails. If it fails you'll be issued with a VT30 document which lists the reasons for failure. If your car passes but there are points of concern that aren't yet serious enough to warrant a failure notice but need to be addressed soon, they will be listed on the VT20 pass certificate as 'advisories'.

A document known as the DVSA Vehicle Inspection Manual contains details of the acceptable standards.

It's far quicker and cheaper for you if your car sails through its MOT first time. You can assist by checking and fixing quite a few problems yourself, then you don't have to pay for our parts and labour charges.

• Check all your lights work, not forgetting the number plate light - a common failure point as many people aren't aware of it. Most bulbs can be bought at motor accessory shops or garages and quickly and easily be replaced by owners.

• Tyres will be checked for tread depth (1.6mm min) and condition so look at all your tyres, including the spare. Make sure tyres are inflated to the correct pressures. Most cars up to twenty years old will have the pressures written on a plate in a door shut or on the door itself.

• Wipers and washers are common failure points. Look for split or broken wipers and buy and fit replacements yourself. You can unblock washer nozzles with a pin.

• Check all main fluid levels and top up if necessary. This includes: washer bottle, brake fluid, power steering (if you have it) and engine oil.

• Test your brakes. On a quiet, level road, brake with your hands lightly holding the steering and if it pulls to one side there could be a problem with the tyres, wheels, brakes or steering. Consider having that checked out and fixed before paying out for an MOT test that the car could well fail.

• Check the wear limits on your brake discs and pads before going in for an MOT as well.

You'll be issued with a VT30 MOT failure sheet which lists the reasons. You can either ask us to fix them and perform a retest or have them put right elsewhere and bring it back. If the car stays on our premises for the work to be done then a retest fee is not normally levied, otherwise, there is a charge for the second test.

For many small items, Pewsham garage will not charge a retest fee if the problem is fixed and the car returned for testing before the end of the following working day.

This includes problems with: bonnet, boot lid, doors, fuel filler cap, indicators, lights and reflectors - including malfunctioning hazard warning lights, mirrors, number plates, windscreen and glass, windscreen washer and wipers.

Inside the vehicle the following apply: brake pedal anti-slip device, seat belts (not anchorages), seats, horn, sharp edges or projections, steering wheel, vehicle identification number (vin).

Tyres and wheels are included too.

The letters stand for the Ministry of Transport, which was the name of the government department that introduced regular safety testing in 1960, to prevent deaths and injuries from cars literally falling apart on the road. The test is now administered by the Department for Transport but the name stuck.