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Vehicles older than 40 years will not need to be MOT tested from May 2018



Currently, only vehicles built or first registered before 1960 are exempt from the MOT test - accounting for almost 200,000 cars in use today.
The Department for Transport confirmed on Friday that it will loosen the restriction from next year with a rolling scheme that will mean any vehicle more than four decades old won't need an MOT certificate.



The DfT estimates that it will mean an additional 293,000 UK cars and motorcycles will no longer need to have the mechanical examination every year under the rule change.









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I wonder just how many of those vehicles are actually in use on the public on a regular basis? The taxation class is Historic Vehicles which by their nature are A)cherished, maintained and not put at risk and therefore cover low mileages,and B) not always reliable and liable to do more miles on a low loader. My '63 Tiger 90 is in the first category and does more miles to and from the MOT station than the rest of the year on public roads. The tester doesn't have a scooby about old bikes or anywhere near my own level of expertise or experience of thing mechanical and although there is always bacon butties and tea on offer it's a waste of £29 and an hour of my day. I understand this is a voluntary scheme which an owner has to sign up for and one can still put a vehicle into the test if desired. I will certainly still have my elderly Spitfire tested every couple of years despite the minimal mileage she covers, but the bike - very unlikey.

I deal with DVSA through work. They can be truely clueless. Men with inspection lamps and toffee hammers trying to work out if collision mitigation radar is working. They need to join the 21st century and this is a step towards it. Draw a line under stuff that causes no trouble and bring in the automation that will let them inspect the vehicles that do the miles.

Andy