MOT tests

by Leyla [Thisdayilove] - 13:35

This is a featured post in conjunction with Iverson Tyres Ltd.

As we walked through the car park at swimming last week my daughter saw a car for sale. A piece of paper displayed in the window and the words ‘Full MOT, service history’ This confused my daughter, ‘What’s a mot she asked’ saying it as one word rather than individual lessons. She looked confused and I began thinking about how to explain an MOT to an 8 year old.

I began to explain to her that an MOT is a health check for a vehicle, in the same way a person could go to the Dr for a check up to make sure everything is working correctly. There are multiple checks to be done and each one can give a better understanding of how the car is functioning and prevent any issues in the future.

In England when a car is over three years old it must have a yearly MOT check. MOT stands for Ministry of Transport test. Within the MOT there are dozens of different checks that are carried out and according to research published by What Car? Magazine in April 2014 the top five reasons a car failed an MOT are:

Screen wash not topped up. A very quick check that can be done before the car goes into the garage for the MOT.

The car was dirty or full of clutter.

A registration plate problem. If you have a personalised plate, make sure it follows DVLA rules.

Stickers on the windscreen blocking the driver’s view. Remember not to stick anything such as parking permits within the wiper area.

Lit-up warning light on the dashboard.

There are over 21,000 authorised MOT centres and all can be recognised by the blue sign with three white triangle logo. Some centres such as Iverson Tyres Ltd offers customers a convenient way to MOT a vehicle, visit their website for further details of MOT in London. Some garages will allow an MOT to be booked online but others must be booked in person or over the phone.

An authorised MOT centre will charge a fee for an MOT test, this can be anything up to the maximum fee for a car of £54.85. The MOT test itself takes under an hour however if any repair works need to be carried out then this will obviously slightly longer. Provided the car doesn’t need any repair work to be done, it may be possible to sit and wait whilst the MOT is carried out.

An MOT is nothing to be feared and can be undertaken quite quick. Making sure the above five issues are taken care of before the MOT is carried out will also help speed up the process. All that really needs to be worried about it remembering to book the MOT test every year!