Pre-1960 vehicles to be exempted from UK MOT

Itsfixed

From the Department of Transport, UK. Mixed views on this from classic car clubs, though.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dft-press-20120521a

Classic vehicles will be exempted from the MoT test, Roads Minister Mike Penning announced today.

Classic and historic vehicles are often very well maintained by their owners and have a much lower accident and MoT failure rate than newer vehicles.

The current requirement to undergo an MoT test goes over and above the obligations set out in European legislation. Following a public consultation which showed high levels of support for the proposals, vehicles manufactured before 1960 will be exempted from the MoT test from 18th November 2012 reducing costs for owners.

Owners of affected vehicles will still be able to take exempt vehicles for an MoT test on a voluntary basis.

Mike Penning said:

“We are committed to cutting out red tape which costs motorists money without providing significant overall benefits. Owners of classic cars and motorbikes tend to be enthusiasts who maintain their vehicles well – they don’t need to be told to look after them, they’re out there in all weathers checking the condition of the engine, tyres and bodywork.

“Owners of classic vehicles will still be legally required to ensure that they are safe and in a proper condition to be on the road but scrapping the MoT test for these vehicles will save motorists money.”

The response to the consultation is available.
Notes to Editors

Pre-1960 licensed vehicles make up about 0.6% of the total number of licensed vehicles in Great Britain, but are involved in just 0.03% of road casualties and accidents.
Evidence shows that the initial MoT test failure rate declines by the age of vehicle after the vehicle is 13 years old.

Itsfixed

The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport (Mike Penning): Today I am announcing the Government’s plan to exempt all vehicles of historic interest (vehicles manufactured prior to 1 January 1960) in Great Britain (GB) from statutory MOT test, as allowed under Article 4(2) of the EU Directive 2009/40/EC. I am also publishing the outcome of the consultation (with Government response) on our proposal to exempt historic vehicles from the MOT test which closed on 26 January 2012.

The EU Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council, Chapter II, Exceptions, Article 4 states: “Member States may, after consulting the Commission, exclude from the scope of this Directive, or subject to special provisions, certain vehicles operated or used in exceptional conditions and vehicles which are never, or hardly ever, used on public highways, including vehicles of historic interest which were manufactured before 1 January 1960 or which are temporarily withdrawn from circulation. Member States may, after consulting the Commission, set their own testing standards for vehicles considered to be of historic interest.”

Whilst the pre-1960 manufactured vehicles made up 0.6% of the 35.2m licensed vehicles in GB they were involved in just 0.03% of road casualties and accidents. Two-thirds of them are driven under 500 miles a year and their initial MOT test failure rate (10%) is only a third of that of post -1960 manufactured vehicles.

Following consultation, the Government has concluded that we should proceed with exempting all pre-1960 manufactured vehicles from the MOT test. The Government believes that the exemption will reduce regulatory burden on owners of historic vehicles, meet its Reducing Regulation agenda and the desire to remove unnecessary burdens. It will also bring the age of vehicles requiring the statutory MOT test in line with The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) Regulations 1988, which already exempts unladen pre-1960 manufactured Heavy Goods Vehicles from the roadworthiness test. Owners of pre-1960 manufactured vehicles will still retain the option to do voluntary MOT test on their vehicles.

The outcome of consultation with Government response can be found on the Department’s website.

An amendment will be made to regulation 6 of The Motor Vehicles (Tests) Regulations 1981 to enable the MOT exemption. It is my intention that the changes come into force by 18 November 2012.
Related documents

macplaxton

Thanks, I knew they were discussing it / consulting on it / etc.

Interesting note is the quote:

"Evidence shows that the initial MoT test failure rate declines by the age of vehicle after the vehicle is 13 years old."

I'd be interested to see the whole stats they have on that. It certainly adds weight to the argument of less frequent test for vehicles past a certain age.

hi5

Yes, they have increased the test to annualy here for cars over 10 years,so what is that based on, making more money?

charlie1966

hi5 wrote: »

Yes, they have increased the test to annualy here for cars over 10 years,so what is that based on, making more money?

We are exempt here from 1980. So we have it better but you have to hope it is not changed here to 1960. I'm not a fan of the NCT but it does have it's uses.

carchaeologist

hi5 wrote: »

Yes, they have increased the test to annualy here for cars over 10 years,so what is that based on, making more money?

No, safety, surely the government wouldnt want to squeeze more out of the poor motorist....

Diabhalta

It's not about safety or making more money... It's about helping the economy to recover.

If your car fails an NCT test, you will have to go somewhere and get it fixed. This means you will spend some money in garage. Mechanic will tell you something like: "replacing those brake pads with springs and shocks took me sooo long.. It will be 200 euro+the pads and shocks" ... And then he will probably spend the money somewhere.. buys himself a new big screen tv, new phone..

I think this is the main idea doing the NCT test every year.

btw. I don't understand why NCT tests in neighbouring country matters here? What about Norway or Russia?

macplaxton

Diabhalta wrote: »

btw. I don't understand why NCT tests in neighbouring country matters here? What about Norway or Russia?

Without getting involved in politics, it's because you share a border with this particular one and they may (or may not) alter the legislation in NI to suit

Diabhalta

macplaxton wrote: »

Without getting involved in politics, it's because you share a border with this particular one

So? ...who cares? What they do in England is their business... I'm sure you won't find similar thread on English forum... "No MOT for cars older than 30 years in Ireland" ... well, I don't think so

macplaxton

Did I mention England? Er, no, because the Ireland shares a border with Northern Ireland. :pac:

The DOE NI had the same consultation, in their paper they refer to what's going on in the Republic...

http://www.doeni.gov.uk/index/information/foi/recent-releases/publications-details.htm?docid=8478

Whether or not the DOE NI take the same view as the DfT has in GB is another matter. But I would guess they'd follow suit, considering what their neighbours in the South do.

Diabhalta wrote: »

I'm sure you won't find similar thread on English forum... "No MOT for cars older than 30 years in Ireland" ... well, I don't think so

Don't encourage me! :P (Besides, it's "No NCT for cars first registered before 1/1/80")

Sam Russell

Diabhalta wrote: »

So? ...who cares? What they do in England is their business... I'm sure you won't find similar thread on English forum... "No MOT for cars older than 30 years in Ireland" ... well, I don't think so

The point is that they are following EU directives, which have an application here. Also, the stats quoted here could have validity here, and could be used as an argument for reversing the change to annual testing of cars over 10 years old. This government is not open to listening to advice from any quarter, but this might be worth putting to Leo.

Who in their right mind does serious mileage (more than 20,000/year) in a car over 10 years old? Most cars over 10 years do less than 5,000 miles per year and some do very much less than that. It would make more sense to include the two year old cars in the test as many (well some) do horendous mileage with no checks on anything. They could go through many sets of tyres, brakes, etc. in the first four years before they are tested, and many have never seen a service. According to the NCT test site, 28% of cars registerd in 2007 failed their first test. That is more than on in four! The stats from the NCT also show that 4% of the 2007 cars presented for test fail and never to return a pass.

To me, it would make more sense if the insurance companies were put in charge of nominating when cars should be put through the NCT. After all, they payout on the failures.

I would also like the NCT to be required prior to a car being sold. At the moment there is no obligation on the seller for the car to be tested, and the test is not valid beyond the next test date (related to first registration date) meaning there is no incentive to test a car before sale.

And another point, the NCT has no 'on demand' service. Dates can be months away, which is total nonsense. They should be required to have more throughput to satisfy demand.

As is so often said, a system designed to fleece the motorist.