Essential documents: car theory test questions

1. Three years after it was first registered ✓
2. One year after it was first registered
3. Five years after it was first registered
4. Only when it's sold to a new owner

Answer: Three years after it was first registered. Cars must normally pass an MOT three years from the date of first registration, and every year after that.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Every two years
2. Every three years
3. Every year ✓
4. Only after a major repair

Answer: Every year. After the first test at three years, a car must have an MOT every year. Driving without a valid MOT when one is needed is an offence.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. To and from work until you can book the test
2. For up to 14 days after the old certificate runs out
3. Only at night or early morning, when roads are quieter
4. To a pre-booked MOT test, or for repairs needed to pass it ✓

Answer: To a pre-booked MOT test, or for repairs needed to pass it. You must not drive a vehicle without a valid MOT when it needs one. The exception is driving to a pre-arranged test appointment, or to a garage for repairs required for the test.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Third party, fire and theft
2. Comprehensive
3. Breakdown cover
4. Third party ✓

Answer: Third party. Third-party insurance is the minimum cover required by law. It covers injury or damage to other people and their property, but not damage to your own car or injury to yourself.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Cover if your own car is stolen or damaged by fire ✓
2. Cover for any damage to your own car in a crash
3. Free breakdown recovery
4. Cover for any driver who uses your car

Answer: Cover if your own car is stolen or damaged by fire. Third party, fire and theft adds cover against your vehicle being stolen or damaged by fire. It still doesn't pay for damage to your own car in a collision.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Third party only
2. Third party, fire and theft
3. Comprehensive ✓
4. None – no policy covers this

Answer: Comprehensive. Comprehensive insurance also covers damage to your own vehicle, up to its market value, and personal injury to yourself, as well as other people and property.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. The DVSA
2. Your local council
3. The DVLA ✓
4. The police

Answer: The DVLA. You must tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) if you change your name or address. The same applies to your vehicle's registration certificate.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Proof that the vehicle is insured for you to drive
2. Details of the vehicle and its registered keeper ✓
3. That the vehicle has passed its most recent MOT
4. The vehicle's full service and repair history

Answer: Details of the vehicle and its registered keeper. The registration certificate describes the vehicle (make, model and so on) and gives details of the registered keeper. The registered keeper isn't necessarily the legal owner.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Tell your insurance company, but nobody else
2. Remove the number plates and keep them safe
3. Nothing – an unused car doesn't need any paperwork
4. Make a Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN) to the DVLA ✓

Answer: Make a Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN) to the DVLA. If you want to keep a vehicle untaxed and off the public road, you must declare SORN to the DVLA. It stays in place until you sell, tax or scrap the vehicle.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Motor vehicles used or kept on public roads ✓
2. Only vehicles that are driven more than 1,000 miles a year
3. Only vehicles less than three years old
4. Only vehicles used for business

Answer: Motor vehicles used or kept on public roads. Vehicle Excise Duty must be paid on all motor vehicles used or kept on public roads. A vehicle kept off the road without tax needs a SORN instead.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Pay an on-the-spot fine of £1,000
2. Post them to the DVLA within 24 hours
3. Take them to a police station within seven days ✓
4. Leave your car at the roadside until you fetch them

Answer: Take them to a police station within seven days. You must be able to produce your licence, insurance certificate and (if needed) MOT certificate when the police ask. If you can't, you may be asked to take them to a police station within seven days.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. They're at least 18 and have held a full licence of any type for a year
2. They're at least 25 and are named as the owner of the car
3. They're a qualified driving instructor with a dual-controlled car
4. They're 21+ and have had a full licence for that type of car for 3 years ✓

Answer: They're 21+ and have had a full licence for that type of car for 3 years. A supervisor must be at least 21 and have held a full licence for that type of car (manual or automatic) for at least three years. You also need to be insured to drive the car.

Highway Code Annex 3: Learner driver requirements

1. Clearly visible from the front and the back ✓
2. In the rear window only, facing backwards
3. On both front doors, facing sideways
4. On the roof, where they face forwards

Answer: Clearly visible from the front and the back. L plates must meet legal specifications and be clearly visible from in front of and behind the vehicle. In Wales, D plates, L plates or both can be used.

Highway Code Annex 3: Learner driver requirements

1. They must stay on so other drivers are careful
2. They should be removed or covered ✓
3. Only the front plate needs to come off
4. They can stay on if the car is insured for learners

Answer: They should be removed or covered. L plates should be removed or covered when the car isn't being driven by a learner, except on driving school cars.

Highway Code Annex 3: Learner driver requirements

1. Your theory test centre
2. The DVLA ✓
3. Your local police station
4. Your MOT garage

Answer: The DVLA. You must report any health condition likely to affect your driving to the DVLA. Check with your doctor if you're unsure.

Highway Code rule 90

1. 15 metres
2. 20 metres ✓
3. 30 metres
4. 45 metres

Answer: 20 metres. You must be able to read a number plate from 20 metres (20.5 metres for an old-style plate). If you need glasses or contact lenses to do this, you must wear them whenever you drive.

Highway Code rule 92

1. Report it to your insurer within one month and send them photos
2. Tell the DVLA within 14 days and send them a copy of your licence
3. Tell the police within 24 hours and produce it within seven days ✓
4. Nothing, as long as you swapped names with the other driver

Answer: Tell the police within 24 hours and produce it within seven days. If someone is injured and you don't produce your insurance certificate at the time, you must report it to the police as soon as possible, and within 24 hours, then produce the certificate for the police within seven days.

Highway Code rule 287

1. Six months
2. One year
3. Five years
4. Two years ✓

Answer: Two years. Your theory test pass certificate lasts two years. You need to pass your practical driving test within that time or take the theory test again.

GOV.UK: Theory test pass mark and result

1. A provisional driving licence ✓
2. A full driving licence
3. A completed course of driving lessons
4. An MOT certificate for the car you'll learn in

Answer: A provisional driving licence. You need a provisional driving licence to book your theory test, and you take a photocard licence with you on the day.

GOV.UK: Book your theory test

1. Up to 3 months
2. Up to 5 years
3. Up to 12 months ✓
4. For as long as it's valid

Answer: Up to 12 months. Holders of non-EC licences who become UK residents can drive on that licence for up to 12 months. Before then they should get a British provisional licence and pass a test, or exchange it if their country allows.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. 3
2. 6 ✓
3. 9
4. 12

Answer: 6. If you get six or more penalty points within two years of passing your first test, your licence will be revoked. You'd have to pass both the theory and practical tests again.

Highway Code Annex 8: Safety code for new drivers

1. One year
2. Five years
3. Ten years
4. Three years ✓

Answer: Three years. A driver who builds up 12 or more penalty points within a three-year period must be disqualified, for at least six months.

Highway Code Annex 5: Penalties

1. Seize it and have it crushed ✓
2. Only issue a warning letter
3. Nothing until the owner is convicted in court
4. Put a parking ticket on it

Answer: Seize it and have it crushed. Uninsured drivers can be detected automatically by cameras, and their vehicles can be seized by the police, taken away and crushed, as well as the driver facing penalties.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Your car's service history
2. Your driving licence ✓
3. Your insurance certificate ✓
4. Your theory test pass certificate

Answer: Your driving licence; Your insurance certificate. You must be able to produce your driving licence, a valid insurance certificate and, if appropriate, a valid MOT certificate when a police officer asks.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation

1. Make sure the DVLA is told about the sale ✓
2. Complete the registration certificate (V5C) details with the buyer ✓
3. Hand your insurance certificate to the buyer
4. Cancel the car's MOT certificate

Answer: Make sure the DVLA is told about the sale; Complete the registration certificate (V5C) details with the buyer. You must tell the DVLA as soon as possible when you buy or sell a vehicle. The buyer and seller complete the registration certificate together. Insurance doesn't pass to the buyer, and the MOT stays with the car.

Highway Code Annex 3: Motor vehicle documentation