How can I prevent my car from failing its MOT?

Fixing brake lights takes a few minutes and you can do it yourself. Your handbook tells you how and the bulb is less than £1. I carry spares all the time. It saves being stopped. The only bulbs I do not carry are those for my HIDs.

You can present a car 1 month early for MOT and not lose any time.

You should do this. As the driver you should know if it needs things done. You will feel brake suspension and steering issues.

I would do all the sensible checks lights, washers and fluid, wiper blades , tyres and then put the car in.

If it fails you have 2 weeks to sort it and pay a half retest fee.

Unless a service is due there is no need to do one first.

When you have an answer then you can see what if any issues you have.

If well looked after it should be fine. MOT's are not that scary and are to make sure we are all safe.

EDIT

I always use a local garage with a good reputation rather than a discount place as I have seen these fail things to make work.

Firstly - hardly anyone in the UK seems to use this site now as they have taken away the ability to select out stuff from other countries.

I am a qualified engineer and have been putting cars, motorcycles and lorries through MOTs for years. usually they pass but even with careful preparation on occasion sometimes one will fail as the MOT testing station has testing equipment that is not used or not even owned by private individuals or some garages.

SO THE ANSWER TO YOUR MAIN QUESTION IS YOU CANNOT - YOU CAN ONLY INCREASE THE CHANCES.

Now I will post my answer to this exact same question you posted yesterday as its still a good one no matter how many times you ask -

There is a set criteria that the car will have to meet to pass.

Some things to check yourself -

all lights must work

all warning lights on the dash that are not green or blue must both work when they should and not show a warning in normal use.

all tyres need to be pumped to the correct pressures and have art least 1.6mm of tread or more (spare if fitted is not inspected) and not have damage to sidewalls and tread area

front windscreen wipers must clear the screen properly and have no splits or nicks in the blades

front windscreen washers must work properly and have water in the tank

(rear wiper and washer not checked)

seat belts must be free to move, lock when pulled sharply and not be twisted

doors to work properly

fuel cap present

no leaks

no rust penetrating structural parts

nothing loose and about to fall off

no damage that could present a hazard to pedestrians.

no cracks or chips in windscreen over a certain size

A service is a good idea as they will at least inspect stuff, particularly below the car, that you cannot get to. the service will be a set of things pre specified including oil and oil filter change. The add other routine things according to both your wishes and the mileage and age of the car and what was done on the last annual service if known.

THEY DO NOT INCLUDE REPAIRS. THEY DO NOT INCLUDE REPLACEMENT OF WORN OUT PARTS LIKE BRAKES AND TYRES FOR EXAMPLE.

You can present the car for MOT up to one month before it expires without losing any time - for example if it is due on 20th June then you can MOT it on 21 may and the new MOT will then be for 13 months and run out 20 June 2016. So you still keep the same date for renewal.