DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Congratulations to all you residents of England, Scotland and Wales who can now drive your 40+ year old motors legally without an MOT.

Commiserations to my fellow dwellers in the third world country that is N.Ireland where, due to the lack of a functioning local assembly, the necessary legislative change has not been signed off....

Mr Angry from over here...

Count your blessings and hold your new MOT stickyfoot aloft for if you ever have to make a claim on your insurance policy there will be no doubting you cars legal roadworthyness and the process will proceed with speed.

Agree - as much as it is convenient, seems like a crazy stupid idea to me.

Why oh why would anyone be angry about having to get their car MOTd each year? Sorry, don't get it.

Personally as a relatively recent inhabitant in the UK's hidden Jewel I much prefer the NI MOT system.

No dodgy back street garages and variability in the tests.

You know what you are getting and the stations all follow the same procedure, automated, efficient etc.

My car will be getting an annual test regardless of whether they bring the ruling in over here.

Funnily enough I can't say I have noticed that much difference to my life since the assembly has been suspended, at least I don't have to watch the politicians all snarling at one another and trying to score cheap points at the others expense.

Matt

Shhh...Matt, don't tell anyone, I'm trying to put the others off...

In all seriousness, my post is more driven by frustration with our politicians than anger that I can't drive with no MOT. However...I have 4 cars that qualify and I was looking forward to a bit of flexibility. For example, the 1971 Spitfire I'm taking to Le Mans (first car I owned and first car I drove to Le Mans in 1999!!) lives at a friends house about 6 miles away and is on a sorn and it's MOT has expired. I had planned to tax it yesterday, take it home last night (swapping over with my current 911, an '83 SC which is of course MOT'd) and do some fettling on it to get it ready for LMC. So now I still need an MOT I am going to have to drive to another pals house, borrow his car transporter, drive to the Spitfire, take it home, transport the SC back to its new home and then leave the trailer back. That's a lot more faffing around than I was hoping for.

I will most likely get an MOT on all my exempt cars anyway. It's a second pair of eyes no matter how good a mechanic we think we are. But I might not do it every year, maybe every other year like they do in Southern Ireland.

Can I come off the naughty step now?

Al.

mycar wrote:Count your blessings and hold your new MOT stickyfoot aloft for if you ever have to make a claim on your insurance policy there will be no doubting you cars legal roadworthyness and the process will proceed with speed.

From the Gov website

You’re responsible for making sure your vehicle is always safe to drive (‘roadworthy’). It can be unsafe even if you have a current MOT certificate.

You can be fined up to £2,500, be banned from driving and get 3 penalty points for driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition.

And the Gov Guide says it all.
MoT is a Good Thing, but not an absolute safety test for the year ahead, but has worked for decades.
Taking the opt-out option where no indie looks at the car is silly, stupid and suspicious. I have read no good reason why the DfT have introduced this.

Talk about the grief it has caused!

My local village MoT station is a very old school place but nothing gets missed or compromised, surely the best way.
Good value for money imho.

I taxed my 1974 Range Rover over the week end. No MOT and nothing asked for, not even self declaration of any mods.

mycar wrote:...there will be no doubting you cars legal roadworthyness....

Only proves the vehicle is roadworthy at the time of the test

This is true but it would be impractical to MOT a car every morning before commuting to work so the government has decided that a car with a current MOT is deemed to be roadworthy for one year from the date of testing.

Is that how it works ?

mycar wrote:This is true but it would be impractical to MOT a car every morning before commuting to work so the government has decided that a car with a current MOT is deemed to be roadworthy for one year from the date of testing.

Is that how it works ?

An MOTed car is not automatically deemed to be roadworthy. You are responsible as the driver of the car for it to be roadworthy at any time that it is used on a public road.

What then does a valid MOT certificate certify ?

I think with the stats showing all the evidence they needed to come to the conclusion of a low risk. It's as always down to the one person who will drag out of a bush a wrecked car and start driving it down the road!!
Some one will I am sure..

But the same law will apply to them as before.. the vehical is not fit for the road and they will go though all the faults and court action I am sure will be secured on that basis.

But for the rest of us that use our cars as hobby, low miles between past MOT's I don't see it being too much of an issue. In my head I am looking at going every two years to my MOT man.. that should be about 400 miles on the car.. if that.. As most classic owners are very hands on, when it comes to their cars.. I know every years i get my 69 out of storage and pop the wheels off and go though the brakes just in case they have stuck over winter and free them off.. have a look round to see if it's all good and go from there..

At least I can take a 912 I have had in storage to years out.. David's old 912.. but can I go zooming off up the road.. hell no.. I can at least move the car now legally to get the front suspension pan replaced and get jobs done.. So I can see that car coming out this summer.. not been seen for 10 years plus

Isnt it likely that many of those who wont get an MOT will do so on the grounds of cost saving and are in fact the very people who are most likely to cut corners on maintenance and so are most in need of an MOT..... seems a circular argument to me

I have several vehicles which havent needed MOT's for years but they are all MOT'd nonetheless. How long before insurance companies refuse to pay out in the event of an accident and you cannot produce one even though it is no guarantee of roadworthiness.....

I just had my 1963 Healey MOT'd 2 weeks ago, it had done 18 miles since the last MOT, of which 8 were driving to and from the MOT garage.