The public has their say on MOT reform– and they don’t like it either: Kevan Wooden, chief commercial officer, LKQ Euro Car Parts

Date: Wednesday 05 April 2023

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It probably wasn’t a surprise to see the aftermarket come out in almost unanimous opposition to some of the more radical reforms to the MOT system being proposed by the DfT.

These being the recommendation to move MOTs the year in which a vehicle has its first MOT from its third to fourth or even fifth year, and also potentially changing the frequency from 12 to 24 months.

That being said, I think the industry has shown an ability to put to self-interest to one side and argue forcefully about the potential risks to safety, negative impacts on environmental sustainability and potential costs to motorists.

Major roadside assistance bodies and road safety campaigners like the AA and RAC have also spoken out about these risks.

The SMMT has now bravely asked UK’s motorists what they think about these proposals. And they too have delivered a damming verdict.

The organisation surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,784 UK car owners. More than two thirds (67%) support keeping the first test at three years because they were concerned that extending it would put lives in danger.

Almost three quarters (74%) say the typical MOT expense of £35-45 is a price worth paying for safety. A massive nine out of ten said they’d rather find other ways to save money.

This is particularly interesting because the government has made a lot about the potential savings to motorists from these changes. Those of you who read my blog from last year might remember that these MOT proposals originally stemmed from a long list of measures the government could introduce to support people through the cost of living crisis.

The government reckons its proposals would save owners of three-year-old cars between £91m and £117m. That’s about £35-45 per driver over the first three years of ownership.

Leaving aside the fact that owners of new cars are probably not the most in need of financial support here, the SMMT’s study points out that 66% of motorists spend about this amount on a tank of fuel every fortnight.

The study comes at a critical moment as the DfT’s consultation closed in March. We shared our own evidenced-based submission based on the arguments around safety, sustainability, and a false-economy for motorists.

Our points on safety, echoed by the SMMT, bears repeating here.

The DfT says that as modern vehicles are by their nature safer, thanks to major technological changes, then they need fewer MOT checks.

But this ignores the natural wear and tear to things like tyres and brakes, which are less affected by tech and the most common cause of MOT failure. Today, 300,000 cars still fail their first MOT at three years on safety grounds.

Of course, we already have evidence of what happens when MOT deadlines are extended. As the SMMT highlights in its media release on its survey, MOT failures increased after the COVID-extensions were granted. And this coincided with an historic fall in mileage.

We are not against reviewing and reforming MOTs entirely. Modern vehicles are evolving at a rate probably unseen since the first mass produced cars came onto the market in the early 20th century.
As we suggested in our submission to the consultation, for example, there are no tests within the MOT to ensure that the safety critical systems of ADAS, which is now part of the type approval requirements for all new vehicles in the UK, are functioning properly.

But the DfT has over-reached in its proposals to change the timing and frequency of MOTs. The industry has got plenty of data to prove why its unsafe.

It’s now clear that motorist can see these arguments for safety themselves too.

These are changes that nobody wants. Not even the people the government says they will benefit.

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