Should We Get Rid of the Required Yearly MOT Test?

Strider590

GothicStirling wrote: »

I may be a little smug as my car passed its MOT first time with no advisories (2009 Toyota IQ). I'm all for yearly MOTs, because a lot of the time we don't realise that our cars are developing serious faults, and aren't road worth. An MOT gives us the heads up, or advisory to get minor problems fixed before they become major problems. Which is what happened to me this year. Three advisories in 2016 (one of them the brake pads), got the jobs done, pass straight away.

:rotfl:
My Vectra was 12 years old and never had a single fail or advisory on MOT in the 8 years I owned it, until it's last MOT where they told me I needed to polish out the yellow haze from the headlights.

The MOT is nowhere near often enough to catch faults before they become a major issue and I hate to say it, but your brake pads are fine until the warning light has been on for a hundred miles or so.

What people need to do is look after their cars properly, do weekly checks, "feel" changes in the way the car drives, turn the radio off and listen to the car occasionally so that they spot the tell tale signs before they become a minor fault, never mind a major one.

Richard53

Strider590 wrote: »

I would argue it's the drivers limitations rather than the car, knowing what to do when a car starts to loose stability. For example most people stand on the brakes if they start to slide, worst thing you can do.

Agreed that I missed out driver limitations. I would suggest road environment + vehicle limitations + driver limitations = "conditions", loosely.

bigadaj wrote: »

Vast majority of accidents are driver error, this far override any other factor.

I'd agree - given that one of the main errors committed is misjudging the safe speed for a manoeuvre.

patman99

In Spain, their ITV test (their version of the MOT) is carried-out at a Govt. test centre and anything fitted to the vehicle must workas intended.

South Africa have a 3-yearly MOT. Again, this is carried-out at a Govt. test centre and actually includes a full service at the same time.

Robisere

Case for the MOT test:
My son has an '02 Mondeo 2.0 TDCi estate. Because of his work and his hobby (buying, rebuilding, maintaining and showing Stationary Engines) his car has now done 200K+ miles and shows it, in the scruffy appearance, inside and out. (That's the car, not my son... No, wait a minute...:) )

But it has just passed another MOT test, with Advisories.

He was already looking for another vehicle, this time a van, so he had it tested a month before due date. He wanted to see how it would fare and made three plans:
1 - if it failed miserably, scrap it and move onto a van.
2 - if it failed but was economically viable to repair, carry out the repairs and sell it for whatever he could get or use it in part-ex for a van.
3 - if it passed, take a month to find a suitable van, then one of the alternatives in ( - 2)

The advisories noted in this year's Test told him that any test in 12 month's time would require uneconomical amounts spending on the car, to make it pass. He is still looking for a van.

AdrianC

patman99 wrote: »

In Spain, their ITV test (their version of the MOT) ... and anything fitted to the vehicle must workas intended.

Really...?

So let's say the electric sunroof doesn't work...

Car_54

AdrianC wrote: »

Really...?

So let's say the electric sunroof doesn't work...

Very few cars in Spain have sunroofs.