MOT testing station software that knows where its job ends.

Class 4 and class 7 inspection workflows from the DVSA Inspection Manual, photographic evidence, and advisories that become authorised work. The result still goes on the MTS terminal, because that is the only place it can go.

Free plan to start. UK-built and UK-hosted. ICO registered.

An MOT bay has two halves. There is the statutory half, which lives on the MTS terminal and is not something any garage software touches, and there is everything around it: the inspection, the evidence, the advisories, the customer, and the work that follows. Autera is built for the second half, and is specific about not being the first. What that buys you is a test that produces a record worth having and a repair job worth quoting, rather than a pass certificate and a car that drives away.

THE BAY

What it covers

The inspection workflow, and what happens to what it finds.

Class 4 and class 7 templates

Built from the DVSA MOT Inspection Manual, which covers classes 3, 4, 5 and 7, with the commercial items a van carries that a car does not. Applied to a job in one tap.

Photographic evidence per item

A checklist step whose whole point is the photograph cannot be ticked without one. That rule is enforced on the app standing at the vehicle, not just at the desk.

Mileage in and out

Recorded on the job, with the out figure never allowed below the in figure, so the record you file is one you would be happy to be asked about.

Advisories that become quotes

A worn pad photographed at the test turns into a priced quote and a signed authorisation, rather than a sentence at the counter nobody wrote down.

MOT expiry tracking

Every vehicle you have tested, with its expiry from official DVSA data, so next year is a list rather than a memory.

Reminders under your name

Email and text reminders that come from your garage, with the customer able to reply or book straight back in.

The part it does not do

Autera does not submit results to MTS, and neither does anything else. The tester records the result on the MTS terminal and the VT20 or VT30 is issued from there. If a supplier tells you their product submits your tests for you, ask them to show you.

What Autera does is file the certificate against the job, so a year later the test, the photographs, the advisories and the invoice are all in one place attached to one vehicle.

Where an MOT bay actually makes money

Not on the test. The fee is capped by the DVSA and most garages charge under the maximum anyway, so the test is close to a break-even hour that fills the diary. The money is in what it finds, and whether the customer says yes.

A fail with a photograph, a price and a link the customer can approve from their phone converts. A fail explained across a counter, to someone who is already annoyed their car has failed, mostly does not. That gap is the entire commercial argument for doing the inspection in software, and it is worth more than the test fee several times over.

No, and no third-party system does. The result is recorded on the MTS terminal by the tester, and the VT20 or VT30 is issued from there. Autera covers the physical inspection workflow around it: the checklist, the photographs, the advisories, the customer conversation and the paperwork filed against the job. Anyone telling you their software submits to MTS is describing something that does not exist.

Yes. Class 7 covers goods vehicles over 3,000kg up to 3,500kg design gross weight, which is most Transit and Sprinter sized vans, and needs a VTS approved for class 7 and a tester with class 7 authorisation. The equipment differs too, ramp length and brake roller capacity. The class 7 template adds the commercial items a van carries that a car does not, and starts by confirming the weight against the V5C plate.

The class 7 template flags it before the vehicle arrives, because an unladen van often cannot reach the required brake efficiency on the rollers. Planning for a laden test or an approved alternative up front is the difference between a smooth slot and a van going away and coming back.

The DVSA-allotted time for a class 4 test is 45 to 60 minutes, and the templates are scheduled accordingly. Class 7 runs a little longer. Booking a test into a 30-minute slot is how a bay ends up running late all afternoon.

That is the point of doing it in software. An advisory recorded with a photograph and a date becomes a quote you can send, and a customer authorisation you can capture with a signature. An advisory mentioned at the desk is one you will explain again for free in six months.

Seeing which MOTs are expiring is on Starter at £29 a month. Sending reminders automatically, by email and text under your garage name, is on Workshop at £79. MOT history lookups are unlimited on every plan including the free one, so you can check a vehicle before it arrives whatever you pay.

Try it on one test

Put a single class 4 through it, advisories and all, and see what the customer receives. The free plan covers 20 jobs a month and needs no card.

Start free

Setting one up rather than running one? How to become an MOT testing station covers the approval side. For chasing the ones already on your books, see MOT reminders, and the free MOT status checker works without an account.