After going through the Coronavirus changes made to the MOT rules relating to cars in the UK, the Government realised that there were too many unsafe cars driving around the UK and finally made changes to have vehicles follow the regular schedule for MOT tests. The UK Government ended the Coronavirus extension at the beginning of August. While this was a benefit for some, it worked the other way for others, since vehicle owners in the UK did not wait on the extension and continued registering their cars, according to their scheduled times. The months from June to August saw 1.6 million cars book MOT tests. However, many of them did hold back, which will add to the backlog as MOT garages begin opening.
Currently, they are not sure how they are going to keep up with the backlog since regular MOT checks themselves took a lot of time, which will now take even longer, with people waiting in unreasonable queues.
Are there any significant changes made to the MOT process post the beginning of the pandemic?
To assist with this, amendments made to allow people to book these appointments online so they would have a fixed date to go and get their vehicle. Furthermore, the vehicle histories leading back to 2005 are available online, allowing people to check if their cars have any specific issues and do them up accordingly. They could also check MOT online and find out the status of their vehicle, and how well they did in the previous year.
The number of MOT certified garages in the UK is not even close to being capable of handling the vehicles that need to register for their MOT, so owners are advised to fix their cars at their regular garages. Once they are up to date on their MOT requirements, apply to a registered MOT garage.
When people check MOT tests, in light of the pandemic, some garages pick up the vehicle, get it tested, sanitise it and return it to its owner at the end of the day. This service is available so people do not have to gather at the MOT garage where they could get exposed to the virus and get sick.
Are the MOT tests tougher to clear now?
The new MOT test came about less than half a decade back, and in its first year, more than 10 million applicants failed the test. The downside of failing the MOT test was that these vehicles were not considered roadworthy anymore. That’s not all they had to go through the process, solve the issues, and reapply and clear the MOT test, all within a specific period, otherwise, they would have to deal with penalties and fines.
This entire exercise only proves that many people in the UK did not get their vehicle checked regularly and only handled it when they had to for the MOT test. Some of the cars had not been back to the shop, since they were purchased, three years earlier.
