MOT 6 month deferment
 

We are not a regular poster on the forums, but we thought we would give our view on the Government's decision to defer car and bike MOT's for six months.
The Independent Garage Association and the majority of small independent garages are very worried about the decision for the following reasons.
The deferment period is too long, coaches, buses and lorry have only a 3 month’s deferment which is fair enough; they are regulated by Operator Licences and carry out safety checks every 6 weeks and keep a log.
If you self-isolate and do not use your car during this period, fair enough, but if you use it for shopping or going to work, the onus is on the driver to keep the car safe and roadworthy. If you have bald tyres, defective brakes etc. you can still be prosecuted under the Road Traffic Offences Act with a maximum £2500 fine if you are caught out.

Two other points we are not sure about
Road fund tax usually requires the car to have a current MOT. If it runs out is the tax null and void. Not sure how this will now work.
Insurance companies normally only pay out a total loss claim if the MOT is valid, and sometimes not on repair claims, especially if the vehicle has bald tyres. How will they view this if they find the car is unsafe or not roadworthy; will they wriggle out of paying under these circumstances.

Looking at the full picture, how many independent garages and test stations will survive to be able to test all the extra vehicles in six months. Although garages and test stations are exempt from lockdown and the Government has asked them to stay open for key workers, with the loss of income from MOT’s many independents have decided to close up, and possibly may not survive to reopen again. The MOT back log in six months times will be horrendous, and many car owners will have lost their friendly local independent and have to rely on national ‘quick fit’ centres.

Those of us who are trying to stay open are providing collection and delivery, courtesy cars, and taking bookings by appointment only, to maintain social distancing between customers and staff, and following all hygiene rules.

Many owners of older ‘bangers, who do not worry too much about maintaining their cars properly and rubbing their hands together and will just continue to drive cars with bald tyres faulty brakes etc. This does not include our forum members who cherish and maintain their cars.

No doubt there will be some critics of this post who think we should all lock down and stay inside, but certain business are being told to continue and we have to do this to the best of our ability in the safest possible way. Especially if we want our business to survive these terrible times.

Finally, I would say to all Forum members please take care and keep safe and lets us hope we all survive these terrible times.
Lynn

You will still be able to get VED (there is no road tax) for your vehicle providing it has a valid extension cert. as though it has an MOT.

My insurance and any that I have had (and families too) make no mention of an MOT, however it does stress the vehicle MUST be in a roadworthy condition. It is up to the driver to make sure of this, and to take it to a competent garage if they have any doubts, or lack the ability - this has not changed. The legal issues on taking a car to a retest would be a nightmare for insurance companies if this were the case, so by using the Road Traffic Act instead, it would avoid this pitfall. I am sure some insurance companies would try to use a lack of MOT as a get out and some may even state that it has to have one to be insured (but I would doubt this).

The roadworthiness is the important part. Even with a valid MOT, a car can be deemed uninsured because of its roadworthiness. The certificates here (in NI) state that the cert. is NOT proof of condition. It can only be valid at the moment it is created.

The banger owners will still be bound by the same regs as they were before, and the police will have the power to invoke a DOT inspection, or remove it from the roads.

Garages would have been deemed to be important enough to stay open to be available to those who are not competent to know if their vehicles are roadworthy or not, as a minimum, and obviously to carry out the repairs.

Lynn, thank you for the post.
could I ask, if the mot ran out in October 2019, where does that car and driver stand with the 6 moth extension if spotted by the police today?
They live with someone vulnerable but neither has covid 19

macafee2

If the MOT ran out in October 2019 then the car has no MOT. The 6 month extension is only for those who's MOT expire on or after 30th March 2020.

The 6 month extension is from the date your MOT was due to expire. For example our 75's MOT runs out on 12th April, so is now extended to 12th October.

Yes it only applies to vehicle that require an MOT from the 1st April.
If it ran out before that date, then it would need a new MOT before you took it out on the road.
Following Government guide lines, as garages and MOT test stations are exempt from lockdown as an 'essential' service, if the presenter of the car is not subject to self isolation and practices social distancing, then they should be allowed to drive the car to the test station. That is our interpretation of the Government advice. If you have a local garage that will do a collection service that would be even better. Make sure you have the car booked in by appointment with your reg no and it should be OK

In our experience, the only time an insurance company get excited about the car's MOT is if they are paying out a total loss claim, when they will check the MOT.

It is not MOT tested Ian, this is an extension of existing MOT tests due from 1/4/20 not an exemption from MOT testing.

If you feel strongly enough about a vehicle being driven without the correct items being in force such as tax MOT or insurance, then you can report the vehicle in question to the police.

Brian :D

It shouldn't be as it is a deferment from the date it is due AFAIK, in other words if an MOT expires on 30 September then it won't need to be MOTd until the end of May 2021 ...... or am I wrong?

You get six months from the date of expiry to extend the expiry date so if your mot expires today then it will be extended until 5 October. There will be an increase in tests needed after we get back to normal as the cars due in 6 months would be the norm plus the ones from now. However, new registration times are manic for mot’s at 3,4,5 years etc in September and March so I think the trade will cope.I think once back to normal there will be a few months of garages doing nothing else but mot’s but I don’t think many customers will rush to mot early if they have some test remaining.

Correct in principal, vehicles are being extended 7 days before the current expiry date however the 30th Sept is a bit far away to say it will have an extension, once lockdown ends, i'm sure the DVSA will also end the extension.

I do indeed for this driver. Went for months in 2018 without mot. Police do not focus on no mot due to lack of resource and also no mot does not incur points and it does no invalidate the 3rd party part of insurance. There is a web site you can report offence by but mot is not listed for reasons stated.

tax is due soon, lets see what happens then.... that can be reported via web site

macafee2