MOT no change

Hooray! The Department of Transport (DFT) has decided NOT to extend the first MOT of cars and motorcycles to four years due to safety concerns.

After a consultation period, the DFT has listened to members of the public, motoring bodies and those working in the industry and decided that moving the first MOT to four years, from three, is not a good idea. I agree that keeping it at three years is the right decision – moving it to four years would be detrimental to road safety.

The MOT test is conducted to confirm the roadworthiness of a vehicle, as well as highlighting potential dangers in the future through the advisory system. It was introduced in 1960, requiring all new vehicles to be checked after 10 years, which was then reduced in 1967 to three years. Although the build quality of modern vehicles has vastly improved since the 1960s, parts still wear out: tyre rubber slowly erodes or suffers damage (sometimes unseen), suspension bits break or fall off, brakes leak fluid or wear down below recommended limits, etc. The majority of motorists never check over their vehicles regularly, so someone should be doing it annually, at least.

Cars today rack up huge mileages in a year and need to be tested at three years. Take the 2015 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI being sold on ebay recently. It had done 409,000 miles in less than three years, but still wasn’t old enough to be presented for its first MOT!