MoT changes could make costs worse for drivers, AA warns
- Transport secretary Grant Shapps suggested relaxing the frequency of MoTs at a cabinet meeting.
- Drivers could face higher repair bills if MoT rules are changed, AA says.
- Previous plans to move the MoT were dropped on safety grounds.
A suggestion to change the MoT from every year to every two years to ease the cost of living crisis could actually make things worse for drivers, the AA has warned.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps is reported to have suggested relaxing the frequency of the MoT test in a cabinet meeting yesterday (26 April 2022).
Currently, once a vehicle is three years old it must have an MoT test certificate, which is renewed on an annual basis.
The maximum cost for the test is £54.85 for a car and £29.65 for a standard motorcycle.
Commenting on the suggested changes, Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said: “Though well intended, moving the yearly £55 spend on an MoT to every two years could make costs worse for drivers with higher repair bills, make our roads more dangerous and would put jobs in the garage industry at risk.”
In 2018 the Government abandoned plans to increase the wait before the first test from three to four years after a campaign by HonestJohn.co.uk, which called for the changes to be dropped on safety grounds.
Our research identified that 385,000 vehicles that would have failed their first MoT would have slipped through the net and remained on the roads unrepaired.
The AA said that its polling shows “overwhelming support” from drivers for the current system as they like the security that an annual health check provides.
Cousens said: “The MoT now highlights major and dangerous defects too, showing how important it is to keep cars in a safe condition.”
The RAC has also raised safety concerns. It head of policy Nicholas Lyes said: “The purpose of an MoT is to ensure vehicles meet a basic level of safety for driving on our roads. Shifting it from annually to every two years would see a dramatic increase in the number of unroadworthy vehicles and could make our roads far less safe.”
The AA's Cousens suggested that to reduce motoring costs, drivers would rather see pump price transparency to revive competition on the forecourts or expanding Park & Ride schemes so drivers can avoid higher inner-city driving costs.
The Department for Transport declined to comment on the proposed MoT changes.
How much does an MoT cost?
The maximum cost for the MoT test is £54.85 for a car and £29.65 for a standard motorcycle.
How often is an MoT required?
Once a vehicle is three years old it must have an MoT test certificate, which is renewed on an annual basis.
How can I check a car's MoT history?
You can not get results for tests carried out prior to 2005.
Tailgate lock not working - will my car fail the MoT?
Are parking sensors included in an MoT test?
Comments
Sarah Tooze
Honest John Awards 2017: Land Rover Discovery Sport named Most Popular SUV for second year in a row
2022 Smart #1 SUV: price, specs and release date
2023 Ferrari Purosangue SUV: Prices, specs and release date
Citroen DS3 Racing revealed
Infiniti adds diesel to the range
Volvo XC90 chosen as SUV of the year at 2014 Honest John Awards
March new car registrations better than expected
.jpg)
on 27 April 2022
One might be forgiven for expecting most MOT failure type items to be picked up on the annual services.In the Bad Old Days, I used to ask for my car to be serviced then MOTed, expecting all items that would normally fail the MOT to be picked up and sorted first. Much to my surprise and annoyance, this was reversed so my cars "failed" or had "advisories" listed giving the appearance of a badly owned vehicle.
The "advantage" of this system listing failures and advisories now allows me to see what forthcoming disasters are coming my way for cars of a similar type and registration...via HJ's MOT Guide and others...
DJM
====
hissingsid on 28 April 2022
If the MoT interval is extended to two years, some cheapskate motorists will simply stop having their cars serviced annually.If they are involved in an accident their insurers, assuming that they are insured, may discover mechanical faults attributable to poor maintenance and refuse to pay the claim.
tony123456789 on 28 April 2022
It's been every 2 years in the Eu for decades. The garages will moan but that's all.GI on 28 April 2022
The cost of an MOT is about £50, making it every 2 years instead of every year saves £50 every 2 years, which is about 50p per week.Is that really going to make any difference to the average car driver? Shouldn't the government be looking at meaningful savings instead like reducing fuel tax, reducing vat etc
Contax139 on 29 April 2022
Rather they keep it at 1 year but maybe reduce VED by £25 a year from forth year, that way cars are checked on a regular basis, many drivers today don't know how to check even their tyre pressures so cars get neglected. I only do 700 miles a year between MOT's from new, now 11 years old and still like new, service every 20K or 2 years but never reaches 1,500 between services. Most cars do a lot more mileage so the MOT more important not only to keep your car safe for you but for other road users also.
Brian rowe on 28 April 2022
DJM Has the best idea, I do the same with my car irrespective of the mileage,Mind you, my local non franchised has looked after me for 30yrs +.
PC. on 29 April 2022
We need to concentrate on safety this seems a very bad idea there must be farbetter ways to help motorist
davethesteam on 29 April 2022
1 of the 2 craziest ideas this government has come up with.Most correspondents have covered the reasons for this daft idea - keep present system , Tyres deteriorate after time, things get rusty - an annual test is the best way to ensure cars are safe.
While we are at it- this idea of making 'drivers' in charge of autonomous vehicles free of blame in event of an accident??? Absolutely daft. If you are behind the wheel of a vehicle, you are in charge of it and responsible for it. Another one of HMG's crazy ideas that needs to be scrapped immediatley
jchinuk on 29 April 2022
I'm a bit concerned that some motorists, if we believe the AA's claims, only rectify problems once they are highlighted at an MOT test?I was taught, by my Dad, long before I passed my driving test to notice "odd" or "unusual" noises around the car and investigate (well, back then he did the investigating, I passed him the spanners).
If my brakes feel a bit 'soft', they get attention immediately, it's easier these days with lights flashing warning on the dashboard. Are there really drivers who just think "that red light is pretty" and carry on till expensive damage occurs? Perhaps once self-driving becomes common the cars will drive themselves to the nearest dealers?
Damage1_1 on 29 April 2022
Having been in the motor trade for over 40yrs and mostly running my own business I can fully attest that drivers either fully maintain their vehicles or only repair when broken (generally an mot fail).
I find that with most vehicles they only see the inside of a professional Garage once a year and that would be for the Annual Mot test.
However... I am still very surprised that Insurers don't ask for servicing history when insuring cars, trucks, bikes etc. Surely it must be in their best interests to know exactly what type of vehicle they are insuring and can help them assess the actual cost of insurance.
For example : a vehicle under 8yrs old with regular servicing and a good annual Mot has to be a better bet than the same vehicle which doesn't have any service history and a series of Mot failures?
Obviously this is just my point of view.
paul mack on 29 April 2022
My view in this latest ‘cost of living’ disaster from Mr Shapps has already been mentioned ie we will save a MASSIVE less than 50p per week!I’m not sure what planet these people are on.
The same Mr Shapps has given us
SMART Motorways
E Scooters (now to be made legal after ‘30 trials’ across the country)
Driverless cars
Common sense is something that seems in very short supply to those in positions of ‘power’.
In the meantime, I look forward to my less than 50p per week saving to help with my bills.
David Hewson on 29 April 2022
As some have mentioned, the car's mileage could be taken into account. Perhaps an MOT every two years or 18000 miles ( like my car's service interval )The first MOT could be at four years or 50000 miles, whichever comes first.
on 29 April 2022
It has often been stated by the car industry that the MOT only actually certifies a car as safe and road legal on the day of the test. That means that for the following 364 days it is the car drivers responsibility to ensure it remain road legal and safe. So the certified safety of cars on the road really has only changed by one day, the drivers responsibility for all the other days safety remains.
Also when you see MOT failure numbers quoted now, you really need to strip out all of the failure due to non safety reasons such as number plates and other regulations checking that don't affect whether the car remains in safe control on the road, before you compare it with days of old when the MOT used to only check out the true basics that affect a car's driving safety.
The MOT and car servicing people will soon step into the gap due to the loss of MOTs with cheap (or even free) Mot intermediate safety checks, rather like they all offer winter safety checks at the moment.
Palcouk on 29 April 2022
Atlanticboy on 29 April 2022
I live in North Devon and used to be an apprentice assessor for the Automotive industry and in my view moving to a two year MOT cycle would be a bad move, certainly here in the South West.I once did some research on the age of vehicle ownership by region, not surprisingly the South West of the UK came out with the highest ownership percentage of vehicles over ten years old. This coupled with low wages, sparce population and poor public transport means that car owners will inevitably change their priorities when deciding whether to have the car checked/service once a year or pay for things like higher energy/food costs.
When visiting garages as part of my job I was frequently shown dangerous defects on customer vehicles where the customer wasn't aware of any problems or asked if it was really necessary to fix the problem.
Oldboy on 29 April 2022
I have my car serviced every year, and a oil change even if it has only done 5000 miles ( oil is cheaper than engines !)But the Audi suggested service interval is 2 years or 20,000 miles.
At one MOT I was surprised to be informed that one of my front springs had snapped, there were no funny noises, the car was not lower on that side, and in normal driving the handling did not appear to have been affected. The garage however informed me that had I gone over a large pothole at speed, the broken spring could have been dislodged.
So without that MOT check I could have been driving for another year with potentially dangerous front suspension ( in a 350 bhp 150mph car )
I believe that annual MOTs should continue.
BrandyG on 29 April 2022
SirI have long thought that rather than having to pay an additional cost for MOT it should be abolished and a requirement made mandatory for every car to be properly serviced and inspected every year regardless of its age. For those that have an annual service, hopefully the majority, this should be cheaper as a service and m o t duplicates much of the same work
W. Clicker on 2 May 2022
Before I buy any vehicles I always check the registration number on the Government MOT site. If a vehicle shows MOT failures or advisories. Then subject to the seriousness, I know if the vehicle has been maintained and looked after properly. I think the MOT should be left yearly, for the sake of saving £50, is it worth changing. Having said that, annual mileage is a big factor. Why not have a MOT test every 20k miles. Then you win some and lose some SIMPLES !Add a comment