Aftermarket June 2022

Right: Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps IMI Head of Business Development Steve Scofield said: "The IMI isn’t convinced that a saving of around £50 per year really justifies the increased safety risk of vehicles not being MOT’d annually. We know that motorists often rely on the MOT to pick up small maintenance issues. If the MOT does not happen annually, some of those issues could become bigger risks and potentially mean a greater cost to fix defeating the object of the cut in the first place. While some car users may be doing less mileage than pre- pandemic, the increased mileage on light commercial vehicles is another factor that the Minister should seriously consider. Steve added: "Representing the interests of those whose livelihood is to a greater or lesser degree dependent on the annual MOT, we would also want the Minister to fully understand the economic impact to those businesses and individuals." Monitor and maintain GEA Chief Executive Julian Woods said: “The GEA are 100% against the government proposal to extend the MOT testing period to 24 months after the first MOT, as this could increase the potential of serious accidents on the roads and increased breakdown of vehicles which could cause traffic delays and further congestion on the already busy road network. We have seen statically when the government extended the MOT period to help with controlling the spread of the Coronavirus that in 2020 that the number of reported faults increased when vehicles were presented for the MOT. “An MOT is a safety check/inspection to ensure a vehicle is roadworthy we do not believe that in trying to save the average household £54.85 per year by not having a safety check is a logical or sensible approach by the government as the potential increase in NHS workloads, cost and traffic delays caused by accidents and breakdowns will simply outweigh any savings. Currently, the UK have over 23,000 MOT stations. Reducing the MOT period by 50% will also put these businesses and the employee’s livelihoods at risk. That is before you consider the knock-on effect on all the supporting businesses supplying parts and servicing of vehicles.” He added: “This being said, our main concern over this proposed change is for the safety of the public. The majority of issues picked up on during an MOT are items like worn/damaged tyres, lights not working, window wipers not working braking issues etc. This does not only put the vehicle driver at risk of injury, but also other road users and the public in general. We need the government to monitor and maintain the current MOT scheme, supported by the Police, to ensure vehicles without an MOT are taken off the road as soon as possible.” Headline-grabbing According to Karen Rotberg, Co-founder of BookMyGarage.com, there could be a wide knock-on effect that government has not considered: “Research by BookMyGarage.com shows 67% of motorists book a service at the same time as their MOT. This means there is a high chance of many vehicle services being missed out on too, which could also lead to increased costs to motorists due to accelerated engine wear and greater fuel consumption. “We are very much in favour of ideas which ease the cost of living, and we understand there is genuine hardship at the moment. However, headline-grabbing proposals 10 AFTERMARKET JUNE 2022 BIG ISSUE www.aftermarketonline.net from the government mask the fact that motorists could end up paying even more than they need to. Shopping around for the best prices locally is genuinely the best way to save money. In the long term, having an annual MOT is vital to the cost of motoring and safety. When it comes to the cost of living, this proposal won’t help at all.” Ill-advised nonsense If that was not clear enough, NTDA Chief Executive Stefan Hay was even more blunt: “If this latest alleged ‘innovative thinking’ from Grant Shapps is accurate, it is truly ill- advised, Groundhog Day nonsense. How many times do we have to revisit this same tired subject? “Time and time again, government ministers, with no consideration for motorist safety, target the MOT frequency as a low hanging fruit ‘crowd pleaser’ in the absence of any genuine, innovative, strategic thinking on how to better improve the cost of living. With the maximum chargeable MOT fee for a car set at £54.85 and with most garages and fast-fit centres charging a lot less, the saving is far less than the cost of fines for faulty lights or tyres, and the repairs that will accumulate due to the lack of servicing and maintenance resulting from the fact the vehicle is not being inspected on an annual basis by a DVLA-qualified, professional MOT Tester.” Stefan added: “The safety of motorists must be the first and last consideration at all times. The government must learn from history and listen to facts, logic and professional opinion and stop the knee-jerk, shoot-from-the-hip, let’s- float-an-idea-on-social-media approach it seems to have adopted. Governing the United Kingdom via Twitter does not work. Let’s get back to soundly researched, consultative professionalism.” Major and dangerous While the proposed move has been characterised as the government looking to do something crowd-pleasing, as AA Head of Roads Policy Jack Cousens pointed out, many motorists value the yearly mandated check-up: “Only recently the government stepped away from switching the MOT to every two years on the grounds of road safety, while AA polling shows overwhelming support from drivers who like the security that an annual health check provides. “Though well intended, moving the yearly £54.85 spend on a MOT to every two years could make costs worse for drivers with higher repair bills, while putting safety and jobs in the garage industry at risk. The MOT now highlights major and dangerous defects too, showing how important