HOW TO PASS THE MOT TEST
Despite its ongoing changes, an impending MOT Test should not bring dread, leading Rob Marshall to look at how your car can pass with flying colours, with a shot of DIY TLC.
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As motorcar technology continues its stratospheric march, especially in the safety and power plant arenas, it makes sense that governmental roadworthiness checks keep up. Indeed, the MOT has changed considerably, since CM wrote about it last in 2017.
Designed to rid our roads of dangerous bangers, the Ministry of Transport Test (now defunct as a governmental department) has evolved considerably, since its 1960 inception. Naturally, the MOT deals with different categories and so the focus of this feature is on Class 4 tests carried out in Great Britain, which cover passenger cars but neither motorcycles, nor certain quadricycles. Northern Irish MOTs differ, because the inspection is carried out on government premises, by the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) and not licensed independent garages that are overseen by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).
The most recent radical overhaul came in 2018 to comply with EU regulations. Diesel exhaust emissions limits were reduced, defects became categorised differently, extra checks were made (which shall be covered later) and cars over 40 years-old became MOT exempt, albeit with some exceptions.
Changes are ongoing and gradual. This year, the motor industry and road safety bodies celebrated, when the DVSA dropped a proposal to increase the minimum vehicle age for first MOTs from the current three years to four.
Be practical
With around 30 million cars requiring MOT Tests annually, the inspection can be only a basic safety inspection. After all, if a single MOT took half a day and involved extensive dismantling, the scheme would not be able to cope. Furthermore, the public would bulk at having to pay several hundred pounds for an MOT, rather than the £54.85 maximum fee that garages can charge today.
Therefore, you must have reasonable inspections. The MOT Test is and can only be a basic safety inspection. A ‘Pass’, therefore, cannot be treated as a cast-iron official sanction that the car will require no further attention for another year, or even ten miles up the road. It confirms only that the car met the minimum safety standards at the time of the inspection. You should also consider the related but different rules of Type Approval. The current ‘two-rules’ framework means that any defects (or modifications) that break Type Approval regulatio
