Older drivers sometimes grumble that their MOT test is unnecessary; perhaps saying that it is just a way for the government to tax road users and car owners by stealth. It can be tempting to follow along with this belief, especially if it encourages you to think that you can save your MOT fee and rebel against the government as you do so!
However, the Ministry of Transport (now broadly the DVLA) in the 60s did not have the aim of making themselves rich off the MOT test fee, and they have, ever since then, ensured that the MOT test fee is exactly the same all over the country precisely to avoid garages and mechanics getting rich by overcharging, or by undercharging and not doing as thorough a job as they should.
MOT Testing: Why & How
If a garage is certified to give your car its MOT you can be sure that the mechanics testing your vehicle are properly trained and certified. Book your MOT within London from Iverson Tyres to ensure that you enjoy good customer service and professional MOT testing. If any repairs are needed before the vehicle can earn its MOT certificate, most qualified mechanics will be able to get your compliant and back on the road again. Do note that any repairs or processes that are not part of the test will need to be paid for separately, usually after you have been quoted a fair price for the repairs.
The MOT test has one aim: to ensure that all the cars on the road have a basic level of roadworthiness, with working lights so you can be seen when braking or when driving at night. The earliest MOT test checked just the brakes, steering of the vehicle and the lights, and originally needed to be performed when the car was ten years old, and every year thereafter. It was sometimes called ‘the ten year test’. However, accidents continued to happen at unreasonable levels – although slightly reduced – so the age was brought down to five years for a short while, before being reduced again to three: which is when modern MOTs must be performed.
However, with each revision, the MOT test included more and more items, some to ensure greater safety, others because advances in modern vehicle manufacture demanded them, such as emissions checks. Today an MOT test will test at least fifteen different parts of the car, including checking the VIN numbers to ensure that your vehicle is the car that it claims to be, and a passed MOT test will leave you content that your car is basically roadworthy.
Please do note that an MOT test will not service your vehicle and if the engine is about to fail, it will not pick up this, unless the cause is one of the points on the test. Often you can combine an MOT test with a service, so that your mechanic can spot and solve issues as they work towards issuing your certificate to you.
Takeaway
Your MOT test may feel like a nuisance – but you would soon be inconvenienced by broken down vehicles, belching exhaust burning your nostrils, and more accidents on the roads, an example could be London, should the test be done away with.
