Lifting the lid on the MOT

Point of view: the MoT system is regulated by VOSA but there are concerns over how safe some cars on the road actually are
10 April 2012

The results of a new survey will have you worried if - like thousands of motorists - you rarely carry out safety checks on your car, have only a sketchy knowledge of what goes on under the bonnet and tend to rely on the annual MoT test to pick up faults.

Mystery shoppers from What Car? magazine visited six MoT garages within five days with a "doctored" six-year-old Vauxhall Corsa that the RAC had inspected and rated as an MoT failure.

Problems that should have been picked up included issues with the track rod end ball joint, parking brake, exhaust, a windscreen chip, brake pipe securing clip, registration plate bulb and rear foglight bulb.

The car was inspected before and after each test and was in the same condition each time, except for two replacement light bulbs.

Worryingly, the mystery shoppers uncovered what the magazine called "alarming disparities" between testing centres up and down the country. Here's what happened.

A chain garage in the Midlands was rated as a "fail" when it missed the windscreen chip and broken brake pipe-securing clip. Next, an independent garage in the Midlands failed on precisely the same problems, as did an independent garage in south-east England.

There was better news in case study number four when a garage chain in south-west London spotted the faults. An independent garage in south-west London also spotted the problems, but this was followed by an independent garage in south-east England which failed to spot the track rod end joint, windscreen chip and broken brake pipe-securing clip.

"With so much disparity between different garages, we think the Government should scrap its plans for
bi-annual MoT tests, and focus instead on tightening up the current system to ensure motorists stay safe in their cars and on our roads," says What Car?'s editor in chief, Chas Hallett.

"If the current MoT system was working properly, all of the test stations we visited should have come up with the same results for our mystery shop vehicle. Not all of the faults that our RAC engineer found were simple pass-or-fail points, but we have to be concerned when some were missed altogether. Motorists should be able to rely on the expertise of the tester."

As What Car? points out, the MoT system is run by government agency VOSA and requires vehicles aged three years or older to be tested annually. Some MoT testing stations are monitored only every three years.

VOSA says: "MoT testers must be experienced mechanics and must hold a relevant qualification. Parts of the MoT test do have to be subjective and
therefore rely upon testers to exercise judgment. It is refreshing to see that, when tester discretion is included, there is a large degree of consistency between the garages in your survey. However, a number of your findings have caused VOSA some concern, which we will address."

VOSA might find it refreshing but if you're one of those relying on the expertise on an MoT station to ensure your safety when you're driving, you might not be so impressed.

I turned to MoT expert Jim Punter, who is chairman of the MoT Trade Forum, and publisher of the MoT
Testing journal, for advice.

"The problem stems from VOSA," he says. "They are responsible for ensuring the effectiveness of MoT stations but they are seriously under-resourced and undermanned. VOSA are good at providing information to MoT stations, but not so good at providing help when you ask for it.

"I do not think that this is necessarily linked to the issue of the MoT going to every two years instead of yearly however; that would be very dangerous in any case."

MoT Testing recently reported that MoT testing stations were keeping more than 2,200 "killer cars" off the roads each day.

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