How far back does MOT history go?

The official DVSA MOT history service generally shows records going back to 2005, when MOT test results started being recorded electronically and centrally.

A few important caveats:

• If a car was first registered after 2005, its history will only start from its first MOT (typically at 3 years old)
• If a car is older than that but has changed hands or been re-registered, some very early records may be incomplete
• The history shows every test attempt, not just passes — including retests after a failure — so you may see multiple entries close together in the same month

For most buyers and owners, this depth of history is more than enough to spot patterns in mileage, recurring faults, or gaps that might suggest the car was off the road (SORN) for a period. If you need older records than the online service provides, it's worth contacting the DVSA directly, though pre-2005 paper records are limited and not always retrievable.