MOT exemption for cars over 40 years old

Joe_Horner

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Just lights, horn, shake the suspension and test the brakes. Pop underneath and have a poke. How long does that take?

No, I was referring to properly testing:

• Lights and horn: operation, colours, and not affecting each other. Same as a modern.
• Suspension: check each joint for play, nuts etc for locking devices, bushes for play. Same as a modern.
• Steering: check each joint for play and components for security. Same as a modern.
• Wheels and tyres: Check bearings, missing nuts if visible, tyres for condition and mixing of sizes and types. same as a modern.
• Seatbelts if fitted: check. Same as a modern.
• Seats: Check security and adjusters, same as a modern.
• Compulsory mirrors: Check. Same as a modern although number may vary.
• Brakes: check for security, rusted pipes, condition of handbrake cables and roller (or Tapley) test for efficiency. Same as a modern.
• Headlight aim: same as a modern
• Structure: check all prescribed areas. Same as a modern.
• Bodywork: Check for security of panels, sharp edges and operation of doors. Same as a modern.

That's just off the top of my head - no doubt there are bits I've missed or over-simplified.

Yes, you can quite easily find an enthusiast tester to "shake the suspension and poke around a bit", but they're not carrying out a proper test doing that.

Gloomendoom

Joe_Horner wrote: »

No, I was referring to properly testing:

• Lights and horn: operation, colours, and not affecting each other. Same as a modern.
• Suspension: check each joint for play, nuts etc for locking devices, bushes for play. Same as a modern.
• Steering: check each joint for play and components for security. Same as a modern.
• Wheels and tyres: Check bearings, missing nuts if visible, tyres for condition and mixing of sizes and types. same as a modern.
• Seatbelts if fitted: check. Same as a modern.
• Seats: Check security and adjusters, same as a modern.
• Compulsory mirrors: Check. Same as a modern although number may vary.
• Brakes: check for security, rusted pipes, condition of handbrake cables and roller (or Tapley) test for efficiency. Same as a modern.
• Headlight aim: same as a modern
• Structure: check all prescribed areas. Same as a modern.
• Bodywork: Check for security of panels, sharp edges and operation of doors. Same as a modern.

That's just off the top of my head - no doubt there are bits I've missed or over-simplified.

Yes, you can quite easily find an enthusiast tester to "shake the suspension and poke around a bit", but they're not carrying out a proper test doing that.

Seat adjusters? Seat belts? Doors? You missed washers and wipers.

None of them apply to my car. The bodywork is minimal and the suspension is a simple as it gets. Also, if you are assisting the examiner with the test, it takes less time.

For comparative purposes, I use the same bloke for my modern cars, so I know how long he spends on those

Joe_Horner

Gloomendoom wrote: »

None of them apply to my car.

The thing is, they haven't announced an exemption for your car, they've announced one for all cars of a certain age, and that age is now recent enough that it includes some very fast and very complicated cars.

Have you looked at the front suspension of a P6 lately? Or the power recirculating ball steering linkage on BMWs of the era?

Even our Dafs have enough to keep a tester busy for 40 minutes if he's doing it right.

Gloomendoom

Joe_Horner wrote: »

The thing is, they haven't announced an exemption for your car, they've announced one for all cars of a certain age, and that age is now recent enough that it includes some very fast and very complicated cars.

Fair enough. Those may take longer than 15 minutes to test.

Mine doesn't.

Strider590

A lot of this probably has something to do with the way the MOT system works, I have quite a lot of trouble with my kitcar, which the tester has to put as a Lotus 7, because the reg brings up no options and when he follows the system, (despite being correctly registered with the DVLA, with a paper trail to confirm it), Lotus 7 is the only option available and then following that it doesn't like the engine size because nobody ever added 1700cc petrol against that entry, so it ends up being a 1.6 (which it was before being modified for track/sprint/hillclimb).

All the information they have relies on data supplied by manufacturers, the same data that car parts websites use when you use your reg to find parts.

marlot

Do I think there will be unroadworthy cars out there which might have been caught by a test? YES

Do I think we'll see loads more road deaths? NO. There simply aren't enough older cars out there. Apart from vehicles going to classic car events (most of which are lovingly cared for), I can't remember the last time I saw a 40-year old car on the road.

Only a tiny fraction (2.8% last time I looked) of road collisions are caused by vehicle defects. By far the majority are caused by poor driving.

CKhalvashi

marlot wrote: »

Do I think there will be unroadworthy cars out there which might have been caught by a test? YES

Yes, but what proportion of cars fail their first MoT at 3 years?

It's reasonable if in fleet use that it could have anywhere up to 200000 miles in that time (although 100-150k is far more common) and while it should have been looked after, it hasn't necessarily been so.

Do I think we'll see loads more road deaths? NO. There simply aren't enough older cars out there. Apart from vehicles going to classic car events (most of which are lovingly cared for), I can't remember the last time I saw a 40-year old car on the road.

Agree.

I've had something 'interesting' in the past (home built in the 1980s so was the only one but with an old 'P' registration from the original donor car) and it was really well cared for. It was exported in January 2009 but looking at the 2006-2008 MoT certificates online show it had gone from 81887 miles in February 2006 to 85814 miles in February 2008. It currently shows around 94000. That's much less than the 'daily' car had done in the same period as it was occasionally used for commuting in the summer but other than that only went to car shows. It was completely impractical for family use as it only had 2 seats and the boot struggled to even get a 2l bottle in there and I'd only take it out with the roof (and often doors) off if i was sure it wasn't going to rain as there was nowhere to put them if it did.

Only a tiny fraction (2.8% last time I looked) of road collisions are caused by vehicle defects. By far the majority are caused by poor driving.

Again, agree.

facade

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Yes, but what proportion of cars fail their first MoT at 3 years?

There is a large car supermarket near here, that continually advertises "All our cars are less than 3 years old" "drive away today"

You could be getting into a deathtrap, they don't even need to push them through an MOT at their friendly garage before they wave you away.

AdrianC

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Yes, but what proportion of cars fail their first MoT at 3 years?

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/603569/extending-the-period-of-the-first-MOT-from-3-to-4-years.pdf
Para 3.21 - 17% at three years in 2015, 19% at four years for class 4 (cars, vans <3t). For class 7 (vans 3t-3.5t), 36% at 3yr, 37% at 4yr. Average mileage of 32k for cars, 70k for vans.

Nearly half of all those initial failures were lights, then 1 in 3 tyres, 1 in 6 brakes. (table 4)

droopsnoot

I'm more concerned about the chances of being hit by someone driving an unroadworthy, unregistered, uninsured modern car than I am by the chances of having a problem with a classic that's suddenly exempted from MOT. I don't recall reading about a leap in collisions when pre-60 cars were exempted, though that does represent a much smaller number of vehicles.


I am a bit relieved that some aspects of my classics will be less hassle - one of mine is quite late-registered, and requires a proper emissions test rather than just a visual one, and it often struggles - but they do feel quite different to drive than a modern, so I suspect I will still have some kind of third-party check on them each spring to be sure that there's nothing hanging off, and if nothing else to check the brakes on the rollers as it's often hard to tell whether the rears are doing anything.