Shocking number of vehicles not yet retested following MOT extension

To help slow the spread of coronavirus, vehicles were granted the six-month exemption from MOT testing in March 2020, with mandatory MOT tests for cars, motorcycles and vans in England, Scotland and Wales restarted from August 1, 2020.

 

However, according to latest data from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), just under one in five (19.5%) of vehicles previously granted an MOT extension during the UK lockdown last March, have not yet been retested.

Data via Kwik Fit suggests that the latest vehicles to have received their extensions have now surpassed their extended MOT expiry date, yet an incredible 1.86 million of these vehicles have still not been tested for a new one, to the point where the average vehicle has now not had a valid MOT pass status for 3.4 months.

Kwik Fit has also had a substantially lower MOT failure rate than in previous years, (in some cases up to a 10% difference) which now suggests that its these particular vehicles, which are more likely to fail their MOTs, that simply have not yet been tested. In fact, considering that the average overall failure rate of one third of cars, this would also indicate that at the very least 600,000 of these vehicles are not currently deemed roadworthy.

Of course, this is a major concern for businesses operating vehicles as they must ensure they pass their MOTs before resuming use, but it’s also a risk for garages too as they could risk losing their MOT certificates.

Kwik Fit believes that a number of garages risk losing their certificate to offer MOTs within one week to the DVSA training and assessment deadline.

CEO of the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), Steve Nash, said “the increased volumes they faced as a consequence of the 2020 MOT extension have made it difficult for them to find the time to complete their training and assessment… if they’ve missed the 30th April deadline they will lose an important revenue stream, not just for MOTs but for the other work that being able to offer MOTs enables.”

Nash also suggests that those industry professionals who have not yet taken their assessment may find that, with the higher pass rate now required by the DVSA, they will have little time for retakes, adding even more pressure onto the businesses themselves to ensure business can return to normality once lockdown measures are lifted, without disruption.