The MOT first started on 12th September 1960 – but whilst an annual requirement, initially it only applied to vehicles over ten years old. That changed in 1961 to vehicles over 7 years old, and then six years later in 1967 the current three-year old vehicles having to have their first MOT was set up. That remains the case today.…
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Recently in the news the BBC highlighted the issue of the glare from LED, laser light and bi-xenon sourced headlights on modern cars. This isn’t new. For some years now people have been put off driving at night due to the blinding intensity of those modern headlamp systems. And the problem is made worse by the increasing sales of larger…
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Ghost MOTs refers to the situation where MOT Testing Stations issue MOT pass certificates on vehicles that have never been in an MOT Testing Station. This practice is advertised on some social media sites and poses a serious threat to road safety. Whilst this probably only applies to a very few dishonest Testing Station owners—or perhaps some Testers who do…
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Drivers across the UK have been warned they could face repair costs averaging £617 if they skip an MOT test or ignore necessary repairs. The warning comes amid data highlighting how many motorists are hit by unexpected breakdowns and expensive repairs when maintenance is neglected. (Original source: GB News – Millions face huge £617 repair bill without MOT test) What…
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Recently there have been several scare stories in the press suggesting that thousands of motorists’ vehicles will fail the MOT because their vehicles have safety-related manufacturing defects which have not been remedied. These articles are wrong. There has been no recent change to the MOT Testing rules which would apply to the vehicle defect Safety Recall system resulting in an…
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Detailed information on aspects of the MOT Test. The road safety dangers of worn tyres… Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) Tests One year after the introduction of tyre labelling, Rezulteo, the purchasing guide and tyre comparison website, wanted to find out whether European consumers were more familiar with the system and if their purchasing behaviour had changed. In 2004, the…
Read MoreOur recent headline in MOT Testing magazine informed readers that the MOT fee, frozen since 2010 will remain frozen until April 2014. And that even though tentative discussions on the 2014 fee were started last Summer, they were halted when Department for Transport (DfT) Officials had to spend all their time dealing with the latest EU expensive MOT proposals. However,…
Read MoreThe IMI welcomes and supports the Richard Review of Apprenticeships published on 27 November 2012. Many of conclusions and recommendations align with the IMI’s own published manifesto ‘Our vision for the UK automotive retail industry ‘ which has future skills needs and attracting talent at its core. We welcome that the review recognises employers are at the heart of apprenticeship…
Read MoreSnap-on Diagnostics, brand leaders in diagnostic tools, software and information for the automotive industry, has announced the expansion of its Sun-branded vehicle lift range with the introduction of a new 2 post lift, the SVL 43. The SVL 43 is a 2 post based, 4 tonne service lift which is ideal for servicing anything from small cars, 4×4 or light…
Read MoreAs domestic vehicles become more complex, and with safety items such as ABS, multiple airbags, high-performance headlamp light sources, power steering and electronic stability control becoming increasingly commonplace, the MOT Test regulations must constantly change in order to ensure that these components are included in the items to be checked. That is sometimes not so easy; the authors of the…
Read MoreFalse qualifications There will always be dishonest and unscrupulous people who ‘make up’ their qualifications. With modern desk-top publishing, anybody with a minimum skill on a computer could quickly create a good quality facsimile of the qualification requirements to become an MOT Tester, put them into VOSA together with the application form, and hope the dodgy certificate isn’t detected. It…
Read MoreKwik-Fit Tester issued fraudulent MOTs A Kwik-Fit Tester issued certificates for 172 MOT Tests on behalf of the company, pocketing the £35 for each MOT himself. He was found out when a woman complained that although her car had failed the MOT on nine failure items, she was provided with a pass certificate. An internal investigation by Kwik-Fit discovered that…
Read MoreMOT Statistics – Japanese Cars Best Using figures obtained by VOSA, the website honestjohn.co.uk has conducted a comprehensive analysis of MOT results. Which cars fail the most, which areas have the best pass figures, at what age is a vehicle most likely to fail the MOT and so on. These figures make very interesting reading, although it’s not always easy…
Read MoreThe Transport Committee has decided to undertake an inquiry into the Government’s strategic framework for road safety which was published in May 2011. The Government’s vision for road safety is to ensure that Britain remains a world leader on road safety and that the relatively high risk of accidents amongst some groups, such as cyclists and children from deprived areas,…
Read More“…dangerous to drive…” Whenever an MOT Tester decides a vehicle should fail the MOT Test, there is an option to declare that one or more of the defects discovered render the vehicle ‘dangerous to drive…’. This is stated in a box at the bottom left of the failure certificate, and the dangerous items are noted as such in bold, and…
Read MoreLate last year, the Parliamentary Transport Committee decided to scrutinize the DfT’s framework plan for road safety and asked for anybody who had an interest to provide evidence. Our Editor, Jim Punter in his role as Chairman of the MOT Trade Forum, a body which promotes the interests of the MOT industry, provided written evidence to the committee noting that…
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