New MOT legislation and more...

[911hillclimber]

Deleted

[911hillclimber]

Yet another double post...

[KS]

I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

[911hillclimber]

Yep, seems no official body can give a clear summary about it at all!

[KS]

Just some other little snippets that are not immediately relevant to the subject here, but are of concern further down the road.

Currently under discussion at DVSA:

Making it compulsory for cars to be MOT'd at the time of change of ownership, in the same way that tax cannot be carried over between owners, the proposal is that the MOT won't be either. Why? Just to keep on top of MOT fraud etc...

On new vehicles, comparing the software on the ECU with that installed by the factory at the point of MOT. Remapping will effectively become illegal – MOT stations will be required to upgrade with equipment capable of 'reading' an ECU. A car will fail if the ECU programming does not match that of the manufacturer. The aim here is to stop people 'blanking' the EGR on diesels.

And other news…

In what amounts to an overnight decision, the Greek government has proclaimed that no vehicle registered as a classic will be allowed to drive on public roads. If you wish to do so, you'll need to 'deregister' your classic and reregister it as any modern vehicle, with all the associated regs/hassles/costs. Why? An easy sop to environmentalist groups who see old cars as gross polluters.
http://www.philpa.gr/images/FEK3641.pdf

Holland – limited the use of classic vehicles (now deemed over 25 years old) to stop people buying old cars to get round having to pay exorbitant road fund licence fees. Some urban areas saw a dramatic rise in pollution in direct result of the rise in use of 'classics' (ie, any 'old' car...).

The street rod fraternity in Germany has been battling with the powers that be (TüV comes to mind) to get them to agree to a new vehicle classification that encompasses street rods and other built-up enthusiast vehicles. Unfortunately a recent tragic fatal accident has set things back. A guy driving a '32 Ford hi-boy was waved past a pair of motorcyclist, he floored the throttle, lost control of the Model B, hit a car coming in the opposite direction, which then, I gather, swung into the path of the motorcyclists. The driver of the rod and one of the motorcyclists were killed.


There is also an outstanding case in the UK of a fatal accident involving an allegedly illegally registered kit car. More details as they become available.

[911hillclimber]

Deleted

[Winston Teague]

Anyone who has raced open wheel cars will/should recognise the dangers of no mudguards on road cars, and there are many Hotrods that are grossly overpowered for the workmanship/design of the running gear, by no means all, but many (and kit cars). Has a 911 shell that has been converted to rhd been seriously modified? W

[911hillclimber]

Deleted

[KS]

Just announced by DVLA... Not really anything much so far, just a few changes to the MOT procedure. More is to come. Over to you, Mr DVLA:

You may have heard us mention this a few times over the last few years but we’re now getting near to implementing the roadworthiness directive. This follows recent Department for Transport (DfT) consultations.

Most of the changes from this directive will need to happen in May next year, but for now, we’ll provide you with an overview of what we expect to change. We’ll focus on the detail over the next few months

What this means

The directive is a very broad set of rules that covers everything to do with the on road condition of vehicles. It won’t mean huge changes for us, but there’ll still be changes in the world of MOT, including some positive steps to tighten-up the rules on emissions.

One of the changes related to the directive is how ‘historic vehicles’ are dealt with, which is something DfT consulted on.

As a result of this consultation, the government has decided that there’ll now be a ‘rolling 40 year old’ exemption from MOT, instead of the current fixed pre-1960 rule. However, this will only apply for those vehicles that haven’t been modified.

Changes to the MOT test

The directive will change how we categorise defects. From 20 May 2018, they’ll be categorised as either ‘dangerous’, ‘major’ or ‘minor’, to help focus drivers on what’s more important.

Whilst this will help us explain to them how to look after their vehicles better, we’ll need to be careful not to let make things complex for us all.

Dangerous and major defects

‘Dangerous’ and ‘major’ defects will cause the MOT to be failed. We’re still working on how we’ll make this look for drivers, but we want to make sure that the dangerous defects stand out on the documentation. This is to make it clear to them that they shouldn’t drive the vehicle away in that condition.

Minor defects

Where ‘minor’ defects are identified, these can be considered along the same lines as advisories are today.

We’re still doing some research on how these sit alongside some of things we currently issue advisories for, and how best to display this information to drivers.

When things are clearer, we’ll blog about this again. Some of you will see us as we’re out and about doing our research, so please feel free to ask us about it!

Advisories

We’re considering ways of allowing observations to be noted that aren’t aimed at the car driver.

An example of this might be if there was something like an undertray fitted that was stopping a tester from getting to parts that they would otherwise inspect.

This could be useful information to have noted for an MOT appeal, but it wouldn’t appear on the notes given to the car drivers, because it’s not information aimed at them.

It would be good to hear your thoughts on this, so please leave your comments at the end of this blog post.

The other area on advisories that we’re considering changing, is whether we move away from manual advisories - if all the ‘test related’ and other standard ones are available and easy to find. This may be a contentious change for some, so we’ll set out our thoughts in more detail in a follow-up blog post to make sure we get your feedback.

Emissions Testing

There will also be some changes to the emissions test that will lower the limits for diesel cars. This will mean some changes to diesel smoke meter settings or software. We’re currently working with the garage equipment manufacturers to enable them to get ready to do this work.

We’ll update you on what needs changing later this month, to give you at least 6 months to schedule this work in.

The inspection manual

All of these changes will mean that the manual will change. We’ve already been getting feedback on an early version from our VTS Council members, and we’ll make sure this is captured in the revised version, ready to be published shortly.

Vehicle categories

The directive will require us to move to the standard EU vehicle categories, which will help to bring consistency, from vehicle approval through to on road use. However, we’ll keep to the MOT classes for garage authorisations, for now - so this shouldn’t change the way how we do testing too much.

Research with garages and customers

We’re determined that the directive, and the changes it will bring, should make it easier for us to accurately record MOT results and provide information that will help drivers to look after their vehicles.

This means that we’ll need to do a lot of research with garages and their customers, so expect to see us out and about.

In the meantime, we’d appreciate your feedback, below in the comments section, so we can plan the way ahead.

[911hillclimber]

Deleted

[911hillclimber]

Deleted

[brembo]

"Mr Lxxxxxs suggests that our proposals will drive a lot of owners to submit their vehicles for IVA. We do not believe that this will happen.
If a vehicle of historic interest has been substantially changed then the only requirement will be that it is submitted for an MoT test as any other vehicle would be."

This looks promising Graham,fingers crossed common sense prevails.
Quite happy to keep MOTing car anyway.

[KS]

Sadly the DVLA contact is only stating what has already been written, except that he has neglected to make mention of the 8-point ruling which has been in place for years, and which has not been changed in any way in the recent proposed 'overhaul' of the system. A vehicle that is 'of historic interest' (VHI) is only eligible for such status if it has been modified within that 8-point rule. There is nothing new here, I'm afraid.

[911hillclimber]

Deleted

[KS]

Graham, the 8-point rule is already being applied to classics – that is a fact. If it wasn't then the DVLA wouldn't be withholding V5s right now...

You have PM.