MOT Test - How Tester Discrepancies Can Cost You
MOT tests are government regulated and so you'd expect them to all be identical, right? Wrong! Unfortunately when your car goes in for its MOT test, you are reliant on the tester's judgement
MOT tests - why you are reliant on the tester's judgement
DVSA, the executive agency of the Department for Transport that deal with the MOT test, randomly complete surprise inspections at MOT test centres around the country to ensure the tests are being completed correctly.
In the most recently published survey* 1,792 MOT stations were surveyed. DVSA found a discrepancy of some kind in 23% of MOT tests, with 3.7% of MOT tests failed when they should have passed.
As the DVSA sample should represent the entire MOT market, this could mean over 26,000 cars and vans are unfairly failed every month of the year**
Testing is compliatedThe top three areas where discrepancies were found (excluding the 'other' category) were headlight aim (8.5%), steering and suspension (5.1%), and view to front (4.5%).
These numbers vary from region to region, for example steering and suspension discrepancies exceeded 9% in some regions.
With a typical cost of repairing steering and suspension failures at MOT of £529*, the steering and suspension discrepancy alone is cause for motorist concern.
MotorEasy Chief Operating Officer Matthew Tumbridge commented, "MOT testing a car is a complicated business, affecting millions of cars, so there are bound to be discrepancies. These figures, while potentially alarming to motorists, do not imply poor industry standards - far from it.'
"They do however underline the value of using MotorEasy for your next MOT. Our advanced systems, technicians and inspectors will help spot problem tests and step in to protect the motorist who won't be able to tell if an MOT result seems odd or not."
You'll also save should your car require any repairs as a result of it's MOT with MotorEasy's trade discounts.
Further reading
"MOT first", what does this mean and how can it save you money?
Protect against MOT repair costs with a car warranty
*Source: VOSA MOT Compliance Survey 2010/2011. **VOSA Effectiveness Report 2011/2012 shows 26,827,367 Class 3&4 MOT tests in 2011/2012 and 8,575,693 failures. *' MotorEasy estimate based on claims, parts, labour and MOT failure data.
