What Is an MOT Advisory?

An advisory is a note from the MOT tester about something that isn't bad enough to cause a failure but is worth monitoring. The car still passes, and it's perfectly legal to drive — but the tester is flagging that a component is showing wear and may need attention before the next test.

Many buyers see advisories and walk away. That's often a mistake. Nearly every car over five years old will have at least one advisory, and many of them are inexpensive to fix. The key is knowing which ones matter.

Low-Cost Advisories (Under £100 to Fix)

These are routine wear items that any mechanic can sort cheaply:

• Brake pads wearing thin — £40-£80 per axle for pads. Budget for this within 3-6 months
• Tyres approaching legal limit — £60-£150 per tyre depending on size. You'll need these soon
• Wiper blades deteriorated — £15-£30. Fix it yourself in five minutes
• Number plate lamp not working — usually a £5 bulb
• Minor exhaust corrosion — often cosmetic and monitored for years before needing action

These advisories are actually useful — they give you a legitimate reason to negotiate £100-£300 off the asking price.

Medium-Cost Advisories (£100-£500)

These need attention but are standard maintenance items:

• Brake discs worn but above minimum — £150-£300 per axle for discs and pads
• Suspension bush worn — £80-£200 per corner depending on the car
• Drop link worn — £60-£150 per side, common on cars with 60,000+ miles
• Slight oil leak — could be a £30 gasket or a £300 repair, needs inspection
• Exhaust flexi-pipe corroded — £100-£250 to replace

Factor these costs into your offer. If a car has £400 of upcoming work flagged in advisories, your offer should reflect that.

Expensive Advisories (£500+) — Proceed with Caution

These advisories can indicate serious upcoming costs:

• Subframe corrosion — structural rust that may be uneconomical to repair on older cars
• Catalytic converter deterioration — £500-£1,500 to replace, and aftermarket cats don't always pass emissions
• DPF warning — diesel particulate filter replacement costs £800-£2,000
• Gearbox noise — could be bearings (£300-£800) or a gearbox replacement (£1,500+)
• Structural corrosion monitored — if it's been advisory for multiple years, it's getting worse

These don't automatically mean walk away — but get a quote before committing, and adjust your offer significantly.

The Pattern Matters More Than the Individual Advisory

A single advisory is rarely a concern. What matters is the pattern:

• Same advisory every year, never fixed — the owner doesn't maintain the car
• Advisory that appears and disappears — it was fixed. Good sign
• Growing list of advisories — the car is entering its expensive maintenance phase
• Zero advisories after 8+ years — either very well maintained or the tester wasn't thorough

Using Advisories to Negotiate

Advisories are your negotiating tool. Here's how to use them:

1. Check the MOT history before viewing — know the advisories in advance
2. Get repair quotes from a local garage for each advisory item
3. Present the total cost to the seller: “The MOT shows £350 of work needed in the next few months”
4. Ask for that amount off the price, or ask them to fix the items before sale

This approach is factual, fair, and hard for a seller to argue with — the advisories are right there in the official record.

Let AI Do the Analysis

DriveSage analyses every advisory across the full MOT history, categorises them by severity, estimates repair costs, and tells you exactly how they should affect the price. It's the difference between guessing whether an advisory matters and knowing.