Every vehicle record carries a next MOT due date. Pistonlog reads it from the DVSA when you create the vehicle and updates it whenever you re-run the lookup. MOT reminders are scheduled separately, when you complete a jobcard containing a job tagged as an MOT — see Reminder triggers.
Where the date comes from
- On vehicle creation: DVSA returns the current MOT expiry and Pistonlog stores it.
- On booking: selecting a vehicle in the New Jobcard dialog re-checks DVSA automatically and warns you if the MOT has expired or is due soon.
- On jobcard completion: the first time a jobcard moves to a completed status, Pistonlog re-checks DVSA in the background and updates the vehicle's MOT date (it never wipes a known date if DVSA has nothing).
- Manually: You can edit it on the vehicle record at any time.
- DVSA refresh: on the vehicle record, re-run Lookup next to the registration and click Save Changes; on a jobcard, use the button next to MOT Due in the Inspector panel's Vehicle tab. It reads Refresh when a date is already stored and Look up when the vehicle has no MOT date yet.
- Company MOT Refresh: company owners can bulk-refresh MOT dates for every vehicle in the company from Workshop Settings → Company MOT Refresh (a paid, one-off run).
MOT due warning
How far ahead Pistonlog treats an MOT as "due soon" is a company setting, not a fixed number.
Open the setting
Go to Workshop Settings → MOT Refresh and find the MOT due warning card.
Set Warn from
Enter the number of days before expiry at which a vehicle should start being flagged. The default is 60, and it accepts anything from 1 to 365.
Save
Click Save. It applies to the whole company straight away.
This one number drives every due-soon signal in the app: the amber "MOT due in N days" banner when you pick a vehicle in New Jobcard, the MOT colouring on the Vehicles list, and the MOT line in the Inspector panel's Vehicle tab. Raise it if you like chasing MOTs early, lower it if 60 days of amber badges is too much noise.
Expired MOTs are always flagged, whatever this is set to.
When the date is wrong
If a customer says their MOT was renewed but Pistonlog still shows the old date, the DVSA's lookup hasn't picked it up yet (their database refreshes overnight). Re-run the DVSA lookup on the vehicle — usually fixes it within 24 hours of the test.
What "MOT due" actually means
The date is the expiry of the current MOT certificate (taken from the latest passed test). Note that MOT reminders don't count down from this date: they're scheduled when you complete a jobcard containing an MOT-tagged job, 12 months on from the work date, sent a configurable number of days ahead. Driving without a valid MOT in the UK is illegal — set the reminder countdown to at least a week as a safety margin.