HGV MOT cost
What an HGV MOT actually costs, at an authorised testing facility and at a DVSA test centre. DVSA publishes the two fee schedules separately, so the cheaper headline fee is not the cheaper test.
Checked against the official source on 4 October 2026
An HGV MOT costs £112 for a two-axle lorry at a DVSA test centre, or £161 at an authorised testing facility once its £70 maximum service charge is added to the £91 test fee. The ATF route looks cheaper on the published test fee and is £49 dearer in practice (THRIVE, from DVSA).
Cite this
THRIVE HGV MOT cost. thrivefleet.co.uk/data/hgv-test-fees (accessed 4 October 2026).
What the MOT costs
ATF including pit fee vs DVSA test centre
| Category | Series 1 | Series 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 2-axle | £161 | £112 |
| 3-axle | £183 | £144 |
| 4+-axle | £207 | £177 |
In-depth guide: Operator licence and HGV compliance costs: the full UK guide
An MOT bill for a lorry has two parts that DVSA publishes in two separate places. Test at one of DVSA's own centres and you pay a single fee. Test at an authorised testing facility, which is where most operators go, and you pay a lower DVSA fee plus a service charge for the use of the ATF's pit, capped at £70 for a lorry and £50 for a trailer.
Almost every guide quotes one schedule or the other, which is why the published fee and the invoice rarely match. Counted properly, the ATF route is £49 dearer for a two-axle lorry, not cheaper. The trade-off is convenience: ATFs are far more numerous and you are not moving the vehicle as far.
A three-axle tractor unit with a three-axle trailer comes to £297 at an ATF against £228 at a DVSA centre, and both are tested separately. The service charge is the part that moves: it rose on 6 July 2026, the first change since 2010, which is the sort of adjustment that sits quietly wrong in a budget for a year.
Buses and coaches
Buses and coaches take the same annual test, priced by passenger seats rather than axles, and an authorised testing facility may add up to £90 for a bus or coach (raised from £70 on 6 July 2026).
| Vehicle | ATF fee | + pit fee | ATF total | DVSA centre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bus or coach, up to 22 passengers | £103 | £90 | £193 | £127 |
| Bus or coach, 23 or more passengers | £128 | £90 | £218 | £163 |
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| Vehicle | ATF fee | + pit fee | ATF total | DVSA centre | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-axle vehicle | £91 | £70 | £161 | £112 | DVSA |
| 3-axle vehicle | £113 | £70 | £183 | £144 | DVSA |
| 4 or more axle vehicle | £137 | £70 | £207 | £177 | DVSA |
| 1-axle trailer | £41 | £50 | £91 | £51 | DVSA |
| 2-axle trailer | £54 | £50 | £104 | £70 | DVSA |
| 3-axle trailer | £64 | £50 | £114 | £84 | DVSA |
| 4-axle trailer | £64 | £50 | £114 | £84 | DVSA |
| 5-axle trailer | £64 | £50 | £114 | £84 | DVSA |
ATF total = the DVSA test fee for that axle count plus the maximum service charge an authorised testing facility may levy. The cap is a maximum, so an operator may pay less; nothing here is a quote. The DVSA test centre column is the fee on its own, since no service charge applies there.
Fees read from DVSA's published schedules for lorries and trailers (at authorised testing facilities, at DVSA test centres) and for buses and coaches (at authorised testing facilities, at DVSA test centres), under the Open Government Licence v3.0 and refreshed from the GOV.UK content API. The parser refuses to write a shorter table than it last held, so a change to either page raises an alert rather than quietly emptying the data.
Great Britain fees, and the annual test only: six-weekly safety inspections, prohibition clearances and ADR tests are charged separately. Northern Ireland runs a separate scheme.
Figures checked against GOV.UK on 4 October 2026.
Free JSON API - no key, open CORS, cache-friendly:
curl https://www.thrivefleet.co.uk/api/v1/rates{ "rates": [ { "key": "atf_service_charge_hgv_gbp", "value": 70, … } ] }Free to use. Please credit THRIVE and link to the page a figure came from: a request, never a condition of use. See the data terms and the API guide.
How much is an MOT for an HGV?
£112 for a two-axle lorry at a DVSA test centre, or £161 at an authorised testing facility once the £70 service charge is added. Larger vehicles cost more, up to £177 for four or more axles.
Is it cheaper to test at a DVSA centre or an ATF?
A DVSA test centre is £49 cheaper for a two-axle lorry, because an ATF adds a service charge on top of a lower test fee. ATFs are far more numerous, so the trade-off is travel time against cost.
How often do HGVs need an MOT?
Every year. The first test is due 12 months after the vehicle was first registered, and trailers a year after they were first sold or supplied.
What does an HGV retest cost?
For a two-axle lorry retested within 14 days, the DVSA fee is £35 at an authorised testing facility, which may also add its own service charge, or £49 at a DVSA test centre. After 14 days you pay the full test fee again.
How much is a bus or coach MOT?
For a bus or coach with up to 22 passenger seats, £127 at a DVSA test centre or £193 at an authorised testing facility including the £90 service charge. With 23 or more seats, £163 at a DVSA centre or £218 at an ATF.
Is a heavy vehicle certificate of fitness (CoF) the same as the MOT?
Some countries call the yearly heavy-vehicle inspection a certificate of fitness. In Great Britain it is the annual test, usually called the HGV MOT, for lorries, trailers, buses and coaches, and the fees on this page are for that test. A bus or coach with more than 8 passenger seats that carries people for profit also needs a certificate of initial fitness (COIF), a one-off certificate separate from the yearly test.
Is the trailer tested separately?
Yes, and charged separately. A three-axle trailer is £114 at an ATF including the £50 service charge, or £84 at a DVSA centre.
HGV compliance, testing and operator licences: the guide