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MOT advisory explained

“Registration plate deteriorated but not likely to be misread”

Recorded on 1,350 of the 25,257 cars checked on this site. Every time it was an advisory.

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Cars with it
1,350
of 25,257 checked
Share of cars
5.3%
at least once
Recorded as
Advisory
100% of 2,271 visits
Back next time
35%
of 1,766 follow-up visits

What it means

Number plates must be readable at a distance and meet set rules on characters, spacing and background. This note means a plate was fading, cracked or peeling but could still be read correctly.

It is an advisory, which does not fail the car by itself. A plate that is missing, illegible or could be misread is recorded as a failure.

How it shows up in the records

Advisory 100%
35% came back
The same entry, on the same part of the car, was recorded again at the next test in 35% of cases.
50,653 miles
Median recorded mileage when it first appeared, on cars a median of 6 years old. From the 381 cars whose whole MOT history is recent enough to compare.

Share of cars with this entry, by year of manufacture

0.0%1971–730.0%1980–821.6%1983–853.5%1986–884.7%1989–914.5%1992–945.0%1995–975.2%1998–009.3%2001–039.5%2004–0612%2007–0910%2010–126.2%2013–153.9%2016–182.3%2019–210.8%2022–24

Models where it is recorded most

ModelCars with itShareSame-age cars
Ford C-MAX11 of 4723%7.1%
Vauxhall Astra35 of 20417%7.2%
Vauxhall Meriva5 of 2818%8.0%
Toyota Prius24 of 14916%6.6%
Land Rover Defender8 of 5515%5.1%
Mitsubishi L2005 of 3216%6.6%
Volkswagen Caddy7 of 4815%6.3%
Ford Transit Connect7 of 5413%4.8%

Models with 20 or more cars checked here. “Same-age cars” is the share among all checked cars built in the same years, so an older model is compared with older cars.

What to check before you buy

  • Read both plates from about 20 metres away in daylight. Every character should be clear.
  • Look for lifting film, cracks or a discoloured background, and, on a car made from 1980 on, check that the front plate is white and the rear plate yellow.
  • Ask whether the plate has been replaced since the test.
  • Check that the plate matches the V5C and the registration shown in the MOT history.

Cars checked here with this entry

Checking a car with this on its MOT?

Repair costs depend on the car, so this page does not quote one. Enter the plate and the free report estimates them for that car, alongside every test and advisory on its record.

Check a car’s MOT history

Counts are of cars checked on this site, from official public records. Updated 22 Sept 2026 · figures as of 4 Oct 2026. All MOT entries explained.