The Great MOT Debate

Government are proposing to change the MOT system to 4 years for the first MOT from the current 3 years, and having two year tests instead of every one year; this is called the 4-2-2- test system , so what do people think.

MOT testing began in 1960 for vehicles at 10 years old, and this changed to a first test every 3 years in 1967, at that time there were less than 10M cars on the road and the death rate was around 7000 road deaths per annum. 4-2-2 testing is a general method of introducing MOT tests in countries with no annual or other MOT testing so they have some form of MOT testing to improve road safety in these countries, but how would it work in the UK?

We currently have around 35M cars on the roads and in 2015 we had a death rate of around 1500.

Reasoning for an annual MOT test at four years is mainly due to to the fact that a manufacturer has extended its warranty period and most manufacturers offer the customer a 3 year warranty, some offer much longer warranties, and the logic behing the thinking is that if a manufacturer offers a standard 3 year warranty the customer goes back to the manufacturer approved dealers for servicing and they only use manufacturer approved components for the first 3 years, than they add an additional 1 year to give 4 years. The reasoning is that an annual MOT is done every year and if the last dealer service is done at 3 years it falls within the annual 1 year testing period as the system currently stands.
Who wins? in reality there are cost savings but as over 60% of all new cars sold are to companies, they are making the greatest savings, this logic follows with many companies going for fixed period leasing of cars, and often they are keeping company vehicles longer than the traditional 3 years and if they are on a lease deal they are tied into main dealer servicing for longer; and as a company car costs a lot in lost revenue it is beneficial for a company to make a small outlay for the correct servicing compared to the loss they make if the vehicle is off the road.

Much of this logic follows through to privately bought vehicles as many company car drivers have, or buy their own vehicles and use them for company use during working hours, and that an increasing number of self employed individuals also buy their own cars; and they are paid an annual fixed payment to cover additional costs such as business insurance and servicing, and a mileage allowance to cover their travelling costs and additional costs such as depreciation.

There are some downsides and these are that consumable items such as brakes or suspension components do not last any longer than they did in the 1960's and the main areas of failure are springs, shock absorbers, and braking components. In some instances such as brakes environmental legislation has forced the removal of asbestos from disk pads and they are now much harder and wear out the brake disks much quicker.
Other downsides are the way the vehicle is used, roads are the first issue as pot holes have rapidly increased the loads on suspension components, traffic calming measures such as speed humps also accelerate the loadings and wear on suspension components as well as a huge increases in wear on braking components due to the constant acceleration and braking between speed humps.
Traffic restriction measures such as those being imposed in Nottingham as an example also create more congestion and the constant stop start during peak periods increases the wear on engine emissions equipment and they wear much quicker than a repmobile constantly on the motorway at a consistently high speed and not constantly stop starting and wearing out the brakes and clutch.

How safe is your car? in reality the annual MOT is merely a test to test the safety systems on your car at the date it is tested, it cannot allow for wear and safety 3 months down the road, and it cannot allow for an instantly failing component such as a coil spring snapping, what it does do is inroduce the "advisory" which is where an MOT tester sees a component is fit enough to pass the MOT test, but is sufficiently worn to require replacement or repair in the near future, so it actually acts as a warning to a motorist that something will need future replacement.

What are your thoughts?

With the potholes in Northampton , we need a mot each month

Hi assassin

Could be a problem for the small independent garages T.H.E.Y. seem to have been trying to put out of business. i also suspect T.H.E.Y. will double the price of the test, but i do seem to have become a bit more cynical over last few years so maybe i'm wrong....

Cheers!

It accounts for approximately 7-8% of their income according to statistics, but if we switch to two year MOT's I dont mind them putting up their prices by 10% to cover their loss.