MoT Changes – what you need to know Owners of Classic Mercedes models over 40 years old will no longer have to take their cars for an MoT in the biggest shakeup of the annual testing regime for several years.
New MoT rules came in on May 20, under which all cars over 40 years old no longer need anMoT in order to be driven on the road.
However, the rules have seen some backlash, with critics suggesting that older cars still need a thorough annual inspection, not least because they’re much more likely to be prone to corrosion and deterioration of parts due to age.
Road safety charity, Brake, was especially critical of the move, saying: “The decision to allow untested vehicles to be driven on UK roads is simply wrong and flies in the face of good road safety practice.
“All vehicles, whether ‘historic’ or not, should be required to prove their roadworthiness.
“We urge government to reconsider this decision and put all road users’ safety ahead of the desires of a few ‘historic vehicle’ owners.”
But the Department for Transport defended the decision from suggestions it was an unsafe move, by saying owners of older cars usually keep them in the good condition and don’t use them regularly enough for an MOT test to be necessary.
However, owners wishing to take advantage of the MoT exemption do have to declare their vehicle as MoT exempt by filling in a form, available from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/declarationof- exemption-from-mot If the car isn’t declared MoT exempt, then it must still be tested and owners risk a fine of up to £1,000. When declaring an exemption, you will be required to confirm that it has not been substantially changed. This process will be applied to pre-1960 registered vehicles, as well as newer vehicles in the historic vehicle tax class, and changes the existing MoT exemption rule by insisting that any vehicle which has received a new engine, chassis or body (such as a kit car or heavily modified car) needs to remain fully MoT’d as per the current rules.
Meanwhile, owners of newer cars may find it tougher for their vehicles to to pass the test, with several new items being included in the annual inspection.
These include failures for nonfunctioning reversing lamps and illuminated engine management lights, which were previously exempt from testing. Other more obscure failure points include uprated high definition headlamps and ‘dirty’ brake fluid, though as testers aren’t allowed to remove any inspection covers, this last one seems particularly difficult to manage…
The current advisory system is also being given a shake-up, with ‘Advisories’ and ‘Fails’ being replaced by ‘Dangerous’, ‘Major’ and ‘Minor’ faults. A car with minor faults will still receive a pass certificate, with the other two categories being equivalent to a current MoT failure.
