February 2019

T he MOT continues to be updated to stay relevant and effective in a changing world. Now that we are coming towards the end of the 2018/19 MOT Annual Training period, focus will inevitably soon be on the requirements for the new training year that starts this upcoming April. IGA Director Stuart James explains: “While the DVSA have not yet published the syllabus officially, we have had discussions with the DVSA regarding the subjects and the reasoning for the choices. “It would appear that the DVSA wish to revisit several subjects that have been covered in the first three years of the MOT Annual Training, to enhance the training previously given based on information they have on where Testers may need to improve. This information has been collated from the assessments conducted by the awarding bodies (ABC, IMI and City & Guilds) during previous years in analysing the areas where Testers answered incorrectly. They are also taking into account the results of their own compliance checks where they randomly re-inspect recently tested vehicles. “Unfortunately, this is showing that the common problem areas, where the VE’s assessment varies from the Tester, such as headlamp aim, tyre assessments etc, have not improved despite them being subjects of previous years training.” Correct identification That’s not all. Stuart continues: “They also want to address an ongoing problem that is causing problems for the DVSA, other agencies, consumers and ultimately the VTS themselves. Here, Testers are not correctly identifying vehicles for test, or potentially the Tester is using information from a source other than the vehicle such as job cards or previous MOT certificates. “The DVSA said they checked a two-month sample in 2018 and identified that in this period 29,667 tests registered in error, with a single individual Tester managing to mis-register 41 tests by himself within those two months!” The DVSA is acting to deal with this, as Stuart explains: “The importance of getting this right has been emphasised by the fact that the DVSA have recently changed the disciplinary sanction of the MOT Testing Guide. They have added specific shortcoming for this, and in certain circumstances the disciplinary sanction they will look at would be 500 points, potentially a five-year cessation. “If a VTS does identify that a test has been finalised, and the incorrect vehicle had been logged and issued with a certificate, it is imperative that they inform the DVSA of this fact. The ultimate sanctions applied could vary depending on whether the error is reported by the VTS or if the error has been detected by the consumer. In this instance, either the customer can’t tax their vehicle because the MOT they had has been issued to another vehicle and they have been driving illegally, or indeed a person unknown to the test station who has just had a test record added to their vehicle.” If this happens repeatedly at your VTS, it could get serious: “Repeat offenders who have reported these errors and hence only received an advisory warning in the first instance may not be dealt with so leniently on repeat occasions.” Current topics Looking at training going forward, the current topics for 2018/19 include: Group A (Classes 1 & 2) Updates to testing standards since the introduction of EU Directive Use of the MOT Testing Service to improve Test Quality and to update user profile details Use and analysis of Test Quality Information Vehicle Identification, Tyres, Lighting, Brakes and Introduction of Testers Manual Group B (Classes 3,4,5 & 7) Updates to testing standards since the introduction of EU Directive Use of the MOT Testing Service to improve Test Quality and to update user profile details Use and analysis of Test Quality Information Vehicle Identification, Tyres, Lighting, Drivers View, Suspension, Brakes and Introduction of Testers Manual 50 AFTERMARKET FEBRUARY 2019 MOT Above: MOT Annual Training changes are on the way www.aftermarketonline.net THE MOT WAY All the latest on the test, what you need to know to can stay on top of the MOT requirements and how to keep customers on the road