July/August 2020

T he biggest issue for the MOT at the start of the year was arguably the ongoing rollout of connected equipment, and the looming 31 March deadline for completing Annual Training Then Coronavirus arrived. The ability for Testers to complete Annual Training was a concern as the imposition of lockdown coincided with the last week before the 31 March deadline. Action was swift fortunately, and the Annual Training cut-off was extended to the end of April. This particular issue has now passed onto 2021’s to-do list. However, attention swiftly shifted to the six-month MOT extension granted by government from 30 March, resulting from COVID-19. Rolling With DVSA announcing that the parallel three-month extension for HGV MOTs is set to end on 4 July, just as Aftermarket went to press, speculation has mounted over the future of the six-month extension and whether it too is about to be dropped. Despite this, and the fact that we are halfway through now, there is still much confusion among consumers about how the extension actually works. “In reality,” pointed out Frank Harvey, Head of Member Services at the IGA, “this is only a six-month extension for those vehicles that are due an MOT in the next seven days. “From our conversations with the DVSA, it was done that way so they can end it when they need to. It’s not a rolling extension for six months for every car – the legislation is actually in place for 12 months, should it be needed – they are only giving extensions on the seven day, rolling basis.” “In terms of people actually getting MOTs,” observed Frank, “many of our members are saying they are still getting customers in for MOTs. They are also sending us pictures of the items that are failing those MOTs. Rightly so, they are concerned about vehicles being out on the road, and not roadworthy. The majority of the fails that we are being notified of are tyres. The user of the vehicle is probably choosing to be unaware.” Lifting With a major chunk of the independent garage sector having stayed open through lockdown, and many more individual outlets reopening each day, the IGA has been urging government to end the extension as soon as possible: “Now is the time to start thinking about lifting the extension. “It needs to be planned, as garages need to get staff back from furlough, and they will need equipment calibrated. For example, exhaust gas 38 AFTERMARKET JULY/AUGUST 2020 MOT www.aftermarketonline.net MOT UPDATE 2020 COVID-19 and the MOT extension has pushed the test back to the top of the agenda in 2020

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