A new consumer survey has found that almost two thirds of drivers would prefer early MOT booking, if given the option.
With MOT season approaching, and the fragmented nature of the market showing little sign of healing quickly following the previous government’s extension plan during COVID-19, this can create busy times for garages, and concern for customers who cannot find a suitable appointment.
Taking the opportunity to bring more MOT appointments forward would also help workshops balance out the peaks in workload typically seen during the plate-change months of March and September.
Therefore, early MOT booking can help both businesses and drivers, and remove some of the pressure of the MOT itself.
The survey, commissioned by Marketing Delivery, found that 60% of UK car owners agreed with the statement: “I would prefer to book my MOT up to a month (minus a day) earlier if I could still keep the original renewal schedule.”
Awareness of early MOT booking
Overall, 78% of the car owners surveyed were already aware that they could book an MOT up to a month before it expires and still maintain the original renewal schedule.
However, awareness of this early MOT booking option was found to be lower among younger drivers, with 50% of 18- to 24-year-olds stating they did not know this was possible, indicating a potential demographic to target with additional guidance.
Marketing Delivery is currently running ‘MOT pull forward’ campaigns for its retailer clients, where customers with vehicle MOTs due in August or September are sent personalised emails and SMS communications. This encourages them to get their MOT booking in early, with optional Safety Recall checks, where applicable, to strengthen the proposition. This is helping workshops balance the cadence of aftersales bookings and flatten out peaks and troughs in utilisation.
“There is a very receptive market for these ‘MOT pull forward’ campaigns, and workshops can introduce time-limited incentives to further maximise response rates, for example by offering price promises on consumables such as tyres and wiper blades,” explains Charlotte Murray, managing director at Marketing Delivery.
Combining MOT and service bookings
In a previous survey commissioned by Marketing Delivery, 68% of UK car owners indicated they would be more likely to get their MOT booking in with a dealer that monitors the date on which it is due and makes the effort to contact them about it in advance.
Only 5% of respondents said they would not be influenced positively by this type of bespoke reminder.
Conversion rates for booking prompts issued to customers are higher when forthcoming jobs are combined. Data from Marketing Delivery’s 500 UK retailer clients for the first half of 2025 shows that combined MOT and service reminders, when both appointments are due within 30 days of each other, achieve a 44% conversion rate.
