The DVSA has completed the first “Images in Garages” pilot, a scheme that could become a key weapon in tackling both MOT errors and fraudulent “ghost” MOTs.
Back in March, a group of selected garages were asked to take a photo of each vehicle as it arrived for its MOT and upload that image directly into the MOT Testing Service.
The idea is simple: to prove the vehicle was physically present, creating a visual record attached to that vehicle’s digital MOT history.
If adopted nationwide, this change could sharply reduce fraudulent MOTs by ensuring vehicles are genuinely presented for inspections and retests, adding another layer of traceability to the process and ultimately improving road safety.
The DVSA has now shared the full results of the first six-week trial and outlined what comes next.
Across 62 garages and more than 170 MOT testers, covering everything from independents to dealerships, council testing bays and fast-fit chains, testers used phones or tablets to capture photos and upload them to MTS.
The results were stronger than expected. By the end of the pilot, over 13,000 images had been submitted, with 450 to 500 uploads occurring each weekday.
Testers adapted quickly, and by the end of the first week the busiest garages in the pilot were achieving a 90% success rate when uploading photos.
Importantly, the trial allowed the DVSA to study how testers actually used the feature and where the common issues were.
The agency noted that while testers generally found the process straightforward, there were understandable teething problems such as occasional poor image quality and the need to ensure the correct vehicle was being photographed.
DVSA officials highlighted that if they introduce automated number plate recognition in the future, the system would need to avoid capturing plates from nearby cars – a challenge they are now planning for following the trial.
Feedback from garages was broadly positive. In surveys, half of the participants described the process as either “easy” or “very easy”, with just seven percent saying it was difficult.
Several testers directly told DVSA staff that it felt “painless and stress-free” and one even called it “wonderful”.
Technical snags, such as QR codes expiring too quickly and issues with timestamps or on-screen keyboards, were identified and fixed during the pilot, which in turn improved the overall user experience.
One concern raised early on was whether taking photos might slow down MOT times.
Since photos are taken at the start of both the initial test and any retest, there was some worry about cars needing to be moved in and out of the bay.
In practice, the DVSA reports that the average time for a full test at the ten busiest garages stayed at 40 minutes – the same as before.
Re-test times did increase slightly, from seven minutes to nine. The DVSA says it is now working with testers to shave that time back down by removing technical barriers in the image-upload process.
Following the success of this initial phase, the DVSA will expand the trial to include more garages once all the feedback has been reviewed.
The larger second phase will help them understand how the software performs at scale and whether any processes need improvement before any wider rollout across the industry.
While there is still room to refine how images are captured and handled, the agency believes this technology has strong potential to strengthen the MOT system against fraud.
The pilot group is continuing to use the feature, and the DVSA says those garages can be confident that they’re actively contributing to the fight against ghost MOTs.
