Guidance

Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) for buses and coaches: help to get a pass

How to avoid the top 10 reasons buses, coaches and other M2/M3 category vehicles don't pass the Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) inspection.

• From: Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
• Published: 22 October 2015
• Last updated: 15 June 2017 — See all updates

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Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) for buses and coaches: help to get a pass

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This guide tells you how to avoid the top 10 reasons that buses and coaches in the M2 and M3 inspection category fail the IVA inspection.

Full compliance with this guide doesn’t guarantee a pass. You’ll need to view the IVA Inspection manual for the full requirements and testing procedures needed to get your vehicle passed.

You must apply for vehicle approval if you’ve:

• built a vehicle
• rebuilt a vehicle
• radically altered a vehicle
• reconstructed a classic vehicle
• imported a vehicle

Vehicles in the M2/3 categories are defined as:

• M2 - Vehicles designed and constructed for the carriage of passengers with more than eight seats, in addition to the driver’s seat, and having a maximum authorised mass not exceeding 5 tonnes
• M3 - Vehicles designed and constructed for the carriage of passengers with more than eight seats, in addition to the driver’s seat, and having a maximum authorised mass exceeding 5 tonnes

Published 22 October 2015
Last updated 15 June 2017 + show all updates

1. 15 June 2017

   Changed the order of the guide and added the section on seatbelts.

2. 22 October 2015

   First published.