Do You Subject Your Car to an MoT?

[kees]

There would be a lot of failures also because mainstream mechanics are not aware of the rules and regulations of the period.
E.g. if auxiliary lights are fitted they should be connected in certain ways these days while in the past these rules were different. Rear fog lights are mandatory in modern cars, many classics do not have them fitted and would fail in this respect if checked by an inexperienced tester. A break fail/handbrake on light is not fitted to older cars, another failure point, Land Rover Series often fail because there is to much play in the steering while from new they can have several inches of free movement on the steering wheel rim, Jensen-Healeys often fail because they have some play in the front wheel bearings as per WSM etc. etc.
However it is not a reason not to have the car checked periodically (MOT or other wise) by an independent mechanic.

[Steve Payne]

The problem is new cars are very different to the classics we drive, we have wheels bearings that are designed to have a bit of end float. Our handbrakes are unlikely to be able to stop the car but can hopefully hold it on a hill and as I said earlier I have heard of cars failing because the tester can not find the chassis number .

This is I suspect the reasoning behind us not actually needing an MOT as many perfectly good cars were failing for the above reasons and probably more that don't come to mind.

As far as a friendly MOT I use this term because the tester I use is sympathetic to classics, he will still fail a car if the foot brake if it is below par, there are corroded brake pipes or perished brake hoses and if the structure has rust in the places that matter. He has a certificate and if he gets caught passing a car that is deemed to be unroadworthy he will loose it, he uses his common sense. Any car that arrives filthy dirty with a pile of rubbish in the footwells is obviously not cared for and if the owner does not care about the appearance he probably does care about the maintenance, I suspect he would look over that car differently to the one that comes in clean.

Steve

[Frankoid]

From the Devils advocate office ...What if an MOT tester damages the cars brakes during the test, then bans the owner from going back ?

https://www.joc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30616" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Oxymoron]

Any car that arrives filthy dirty with a pile of rubbish in the footwells is obviously not cared for and if the owner does not care about the appearance he probably does care about the maintenance, I suspect he would look over that car differently to the one that comes in clean.

Steve

I've always washed and cleaned the interior of my cars before taking them for an mot, not that they get that dirty!...But in the hope that it has a pshycological effect on the tester!
I do tend to judge a salesman on the state of his shoes and a tradesman on the state of their van though!

[sticky]

Any car that arrives filthy dirty with a pile of rubbish in the footwells is obviously not cared for and if the owner does not care about the appearance he probably does care about the maintenance, I suspect he would look over that car differently to the one that comes in clean.

Steve

I've always washed and cleaned the interior of my cars before taking them for an mot, not that they get that dirty!...But in the hope that it has a pshycological effect on the tester!
I do tend to judge a salesman on the state of his shoes and a tradesman on the state of their van though!

Too judge mental mate