After years of following the same standard test, the MOT rules slightly changed to encompass all the new changes taking place in the vehicle industry and all the updates made to cars since they started. The new updated MOT test, launched at the beginning of 2018 saw more than 10 million vehicles across the UK fail to clear it. Around the same time, there was a survey released mentioning that people in the UK only check their cars when they realise that something is wrong and currently in time for the MOT test. Otherwise, they do not worry too much about it.
The MOT is a mandatory test in the UK that has to be handled by vehicle owners on their cars, annually after the car turns three. Any vehicles that are plying on roads defined by the Road Traffic Act 1988 have to have a valid MOT licence. The test makes sure that the car is in good driving condition, safe, giving out the right amount of exhaust.
However, with the coming in of the Coronavirus, there were a few more changes made to the MOT test. Vehicles that registered between 30th March to 31st July were allowed an extension on their MOT tests in compliance with the Government rules about social distancing a staying home as much as possible. However, it was mandatory for all vehicles with or without the test to be roadworthy, which is one of the reasons why the Government marked garages as essential services, and they stayed open throughout the lockdown.
Cars not registered between the mentioned dates had to make sure they had an MOT registration to be driving around, otherwise, there were fines and penalties they had to face. The same applied to cars that were not roadworthy, with or without the MOT test, it stays in good condition was a mandatory requirement. Even with all the restrictions, the months of June saw more than 1.3 million cars register for the MOT test since people foresaw that there would be a lineup post the lifting of the delay and this would cause more of an inconvenience later.
If people needed an MOT test and could not leave their house for various reasons like entering the UK from another country, or they might have COVID, some garages were sending representatives to houses to pick up the vehicle, test it, and drop it off at the end of the day. They
were doing this in compliance with all Government protocols of wiping it down, and wearing masks and so on.
Furthermore, people could book MOT online for their vehicles and only go on the day that they needed to get the vehicle tested. With the backlog, people did not want to spend an entire day at the garage waiting for their car to get done. They could even stop at the garage to book MOT appointments for another day if they didn’t want to use the MOT website.
