MOT management

MOT bookings, reminders, history, zero-rated VAT – all built in.

MOTs are the heartbeat of an independent UK garage.

A typical workshop runs MOT bookings, MOT reminders, MOT history checks, and zero-rated MOT invoicing across the diary every day. Most garage software bolts these together as separate add-ons. In TorqueFlow they’re one connected workflow.

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  • DVLA lookup built in
  • Zero-rated VAT per labour code
  • Voice AI books MOTs

How MOTs work in TorqueFlow

One connected workflow, from the lookup to the invoice.

01 – DVLA lookup

Type a registration, get the vehicle.

Type a registration number, get the vehicle straight from DVLA – make, model, colour, MOT status, MOT expiry date, tax status. No manual entry, no typos, no out-of-date records. The vehicle’s MOT history populates automatically, including past advisories and fail reasons.

This matters because every MOT booking starts with “is this car due?“ – the DVLA lookup answers that in 2 seconds.

02 – MOT bookings in the scheduler

Drop into the bay diary with the right defaults.

MOT bookings drop into your bay scheduler the same way as any other appointment, but with the right defaults: standard MOT slot length, the right bay if you have an MOT-only bay, the appropriate technician (if you have an MOT-tester role), and the zero-rated VAT labour code pre-selected.

03 – Automatic MOT reminders

Set the timing once. Torqueflow fires the rest.

Set the reminder timing once (typically 30 days before MOT due) and TorqueFlow fires reminders automatically:

  • By SMS – a short message with a one-tap booking link.
  • By email – fuller version with vehicle details and a direct portal link.
  • By the customer portal itself – a banner appears the next time the customer logs in.

The reminder offers an online booking slot in the same message, so the customer can book themselves without a phone call.

04 – Voice AI handles MOT booking calls

Customer rings. Voice AI books. No human in the loop.

Customer rings to book their MOT. The Voice AI:

  • Recognises the caller by phone number, pulls their vehicle and MOT due date.
  • Confirms which vehicle they’re booking (“Is this for the Focus or the Octavia?”).
  • Offers available slots from your scheduler.
  • Books the appointment.
  • Sends a confirmation by text.

No human intervention needed for the routine MOT bookings that account for a large share of every garage’s incoming calls.

05 – Zero-rated VAT on MOT labour

Set once per labour code. Every MOT invoice gets it right.

MOT testing is zero-rated for VAT – but most garage software treats VAT as a single org-wide setting, forcing you to manually adjust every MOT invoice. TorqueFlow lets you set VAT per labour code.

Configure the MOT labour code as zero-rated once and every MOT invoice gets it right automatically. No manual adjustment, no quarterly reconciliation pain.

06 – MOT history on every vehicle

Every test, every advisory, on the vehicle record.

Open any customer’s vehicle record and you see the full MOT history pulled from DVLA – every test date, every pass, every fail, every advisory.

When the same car comes back two years later, you don’t have to ask what was advised last time. It’s already there.

Why this matters

Independent garages run MOTs as a high-volume, low-margin workflow.

The economics only work if the surrounding admin is automated. The garages that win on MOT volume aren’t the ones with cheaper testers – they’re the ones whose software does this for them.

Booking automation

MOT bookings are simple enough that a human shouldn’t have to take the call. Voice AI does.

Reminder automation

Chasing the customer for next year’s booking is what drives repeat business. SMS reminders do this without needing your team to remember.

VAT automation

MOT labour is zero-rated; getting that right per-invoice is the difference between a clean VAT return and an evening with a calculator.

What you need to do an MOT in Torqueflow

Once it’s set up, the daily flow is short.

  • Customer rings → Voice AI books the MOT into the scheduler. Or **customer taps the SMS reminder** → books themselves online.
  • Customer arrives → mark the vehicle present, technician picks up the job card.
  • MOT happens → tester records the result. (We don’t run the MOT testing equipment itself; that’s the VOSA-approved MOT system. Torqueflow records the outcome and updates the customer.)
  • Customer collects → invoice generates with zero-rated VAT on the MOT labour line, paid in person via TakePayments terminal or by Stripe link if they want to pay later.
  • Reminder for next year → set automatically. The customer hears from you 30 days before MOT due, every year, without you remembering.

It works on desktop too, of course. But most of your customers will only ever see it on a phone.

Frequently asked

The questions garages ask before they switch.

No — the MOT testing equipment and its computer system are VOSA/DVSA-approved and supplied separately. TorqueFlow handles everything around the MOT: bookings, reminders, history, VAT, invoicing, customer comms. The two systems sit alongside each other in the workshop.

Yes – you set the days-before-due and the channel (SMS / email / portal). Common settings are 30 days before, 14 days before, and the day after expiry as a “you missed it” follow-up.

A customer record has one set of contact details. If both household members share a Yes — the customer portal includes online booking, and the SMS / email reminder includes a direct booking link. They tap, pick a slot, you have the booking.or email, both can use the magic links interchangeably. If they have separate emails, they need separate customer records (which is generally how you’d want it for clarity anyway).

Yes – that’s one of the core call types it handles. Customer rings to book their MOT, the AI checks the scheduler, offers slots, and books the appointment.

You configure the MOT labour code in Settings → Finance → Labour & Time as taxable=No (or VAT rate=0%). Every MOT labour line on every invoice picks it up automatically. No manual VAT adjustment per invoice.

Yes – the financial reports include filtering by labour code, so you can see MOT volume by month, MOT revenue, MOT pass/fail rate, and so on.

We pull MOT history from DVLA’s public lookup. Direct integration with the DVSA testing service for live test status during the test itself isn’t part of the current product.

Soft-deleted customer records keep the MOT history (HMRC retention applies). Reminders stop firing for deleted customers automatically.

Try Torqueflow for MOTs.

Start a free trial, configure your MOT labour code in 5 minutes, take your first booked MOT call from the Voice AI on day 2.

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