40+ year old cars exempt from MOT?

Author
Discussion

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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Allan L said:
No it won't but it wouldn't have to. On the whole the MoT judged cars by the standards of the day they were built.
Quite.

If only the gov't in their wisdom put the MOT standards public, then we wouldn't have to put up with all this bullst guessing...

What's that, Skippy?
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mot-ins...
Well, I never.

It'll never catch on.

GoodOlBoy

528 posts

102 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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lowdrag said:
Once again the people who have had their heads buried in the sand for nine months come back to life and find there is "something new" to query. This has been discussed ad nauseam, and I refute the inference that this will lead to considerable amount of unsafe cars.
Based on the most recent statistics, approximately 120,000 cars over 40 years old will fail their annual MOT. Or rather they would if they weren't exempt from taking it.

Or to put it another way they won't meet the required safety and roadworthiness standards which were the sole purpose of introducing the MOT in the first place.

What a shame that the OP and other enthusiasts couldn't be given a more considerate reception on a classic car forum irked


Chuggy

337 posts

162 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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Need some help here. I have a 1975 motorcycle whose mot runs out early May. The 'bike is currently taxed (free) and insured. I'm unlikely to use it before June. So, do I need to mot it or not?

gothatway

5,783 posts

169 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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An impression I get from many of the posts on this thread is that owners of classics are surprised that their MoT tester cannot relate to their car. I made sure that my tester was sympathetic to old cars - in fact he competes with similar age cars in hillclimbs and sprints, so is also understanding of motorsport requirements. Unfortunately, he has retired this year - but it hasn't been difficult to find that I have a choice of at least another three local-ish, "old-school" testers.

I have always had my pre-60 car tested largely because I have neither a lift nor a rolling road - and it's always good to have someone else check it over anyway.

Allan L

779 posts

104 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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gothatway said:
I have always had my pre-60 car tested largely because I have neither a lift nor a rolling road - and it's always good to have someone else check it over anyway.
Likewise and if, as many of us do, one works on ones own it's not so much good as essential.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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Chuggy said:
Need some help here. I have a 1975 motorcycle whose mot runs out early May. The 'bike is currently taxed (free) and insured. I'm unlikely to use it before June. So, do I need to mot it or not?
Not unless you use it between the MOT expiring and it becoming MOT exempt.

Chuggy

337 posts

162 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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Thanks. I clearly had a misunderstanding. I thought it had to have an existing mot up to the date it became exempt.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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Chuggy said:
Thanks. I clearly had a misunderstanding. I thought it had to have an existing mot up to the date it became exempt.
I think you might be confused with continuous insurance.

Chuggy

337 posts

162 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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That's just given me further confusion. What on earth is continuous insurance and what's it got to do with mot's.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Sunday 22nd April 2018
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Chuggy said:
That's just given me further confusion. What on earth is continuous insurance
If it's taxed, it has to be insured.
If it's not insured, it has to be SORNed.

Been the law since 2011.

Chuggy said:
and what's it got to do with mot's.
Nowt. But it might have crept in as "Must be MOTd if it's taxed..."

lowdrag

12,868 posts

212 months

Monday 23rd April 2018
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Rather off topic, but I had to giggle when I read the new MOT rules from the 20th May. I quote:-

"brake pad warning lights and if brake pads or discs are missing

This apparently a new requirement. God help us up until then!

eccles

13,720 posts

221 months

Monday 23rd April 2018
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Old Merc said:
Almost all classic car owners are very sensible people and would not dream of using the car if it was defective.
That's just it, they're not.
I know several 'classic' car owners in work and the majority of them can barely open the bonnet. The cars are treated like modern cars in that they are driven now and again with no maintenance, just the annual MOT check to see if anything is wrong.

I've been around pre war/ vintage cars all my life and my late father restored the cars himself and I maintained my own cars myself. We were both regular autojumblers in the hunt for parts, and we'd both noticed over the years the decline in the classic/vintage car owner willing to have a got at fixing it themselves. I would say these days that the self maintainer will be in the minority, and I bet most of them will be over a certain age.

lowdrag

12,868 posts

212 months

Monday 23rd April 2018
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To emphasize a point made earlier, this was found when my car was rebuilt in 2014. The car had received a clean bill of health at its MOT not long before.



I was damned lucky; this could have been fatal. Interestingly, I had heard a rumble while on a trip around the UK, and stopped at a very well-known Jaguar specialist for help. They had a bearing in stock and fitted it for me. They had vastly over-tightened it, it seems. So, if you aren't mechanically gifted, just who do you trust? But the car had its ticket, so everything was fine, now wasn't it?

Edited by lowdrag on Monday 23 April 07:33

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Monday 23rd April 2018
quotequote all
lowdrag said:
Rather off topic, but I had to giggle when I read the new MOT rules from the 20th May. I quote:-

"brake pad warning lights and if brake pads or discs are missing

This apparently a new requirement. God help us up until then!
But try passing the braking tests with them missing.

I bought a GSA once that turned out to be missing a rear disc. It came with a fresh fail sheet, including imbalance on the rear brakes (which I assumed was just the usual sticking caliper). The disc simply isn't visible without removing the wheel - there's no holes in the face of the wheel to allow visibility, and a full-size dirt shield on the inside. Mr MOT can't remove the wheel. So he still couldn't fail it on that missing disc.

lowdrag said:
To emphasize a point made earlier, this was found when my car was rebuilt in 2014. The car had received a clean bill of health at its MOT not long before.



I was damned lucky; this could have been fatal. Interestingly, I had heard a rumble while on a trip around the UK, and stopped at a very well-known Jaguar specialist for help. They had a bearing in stock and fitted it for me. They had vastly over-tightened it, it seems. So, if you aren't mechanically gifted, just who do you trust? But the car had its ticket, so everything was fine, now wasn't it?
And, short of dismantling the hub and bearing, how would Mr MoT (or, in your case, M. le CT?) identify that?

lowdrag

12,868 posts

212 months

Monday 23rd April 2018
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Exactly my point. Suspensions collapse, wheels fall off, merde happens, and no MOT on earth is going to save you. You can put a case for and against the MOT, as in any debate, but we are all in the same boat. In 27 days, the new rules apply, like it or not.

steveL98

1,090 posts

179 months

Monday 23rd April 2018
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TooMany2cvs said:
Chuggy said:
That's just given me further confusion. What on earth is continuous insurance
If it's taxed, it has to be insured.
If it's not insured, it has to be SORNed.

Been the law since 2011.

Chuggy said:
and what's it got to do with mot's.
Nowt. But it might have crept in as "Must be MOTd if it's taxed..."
If a vehicle is classed as 'historic', then at each tax (free) notification you get after May, you'll need to declare it then as in a 'roadworthy' condition which means all the time, not just on the day of an MOT test. This is a formal declaration.

As the onus is on you to keep it roadworthy, your insurance will depend upon this too, again, all the time and not just on the MOT day like before. So if you have an accident, and its found to be unroadworthy, that could be a difficult time and a potentially uninsured situation.

If you MOT it anyway and it fails, its still a valid fail and the problems must be resolved before for continued use.



TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Monday 23rd April 2018
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steveL98 said:
If a vehicle is classed as 'historic', then at each tax (free) notification you get after May, you'll need to declare it then as in a 'roadworthy' condition which means all the time, not just on the day of an MOT test. This is a formal declaration.
For VHI MOT exemption, yes.
For Historic £0 VED, no.

steveL98 said:
As the onus is on you to keep it roadworthy, your insurance will depend upon this too, again, all the time and not just on the MOT day like before. So if you have an accident, and its found to be unroadworthy, that could be a difficult time and a potentially uninsured situation.
Yeh... It's got to be roadworthy all the time anyway. MOT or not. Even <3yo cars can be unroadworthy...

steveL98 said:
If you MOT it anyway and it fails, its still a valid fail and the problems must be resolved before for continued use.
That applies even if you didn't take it in for the test. Even if it's got several months of ticket left on it. Because it's gotta be roadworthy all the time it's on the road, just like every other vehicle.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Monday 23rd April 2018
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Five years of experience so far, and counting.

And that's just in this country. Plenty of other European countries have lots of similar experience to draw on.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 24th April 2018
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silverfoxcc said:
Following the first MOT there was a great influx of cars to the local scrapper. Jones at Waltham Cross had them piled 6 high, and in those days you went in and removed bits yourself. Today breakers no fun at all!
There was an old Enfield comment "think you need to drop it off at Jones's" when the car you were driving had seen better days.

lowdrag

12,868 posts

212 months

Tuesday 24th April 2018
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
It has already happened, and it seems there is no reaction at all.

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/londo...