16 April 2016

The Government has abolished the MoT for ‘old cars’. The justification for this seems to be that we owners take much more personal care of our beloved vehicles and use them far less than their modern counterparts. 

My first reaction was that this is another confidence trick, similar to the ones we have seen from all political parties over many years. 

 Brief journalists on a measure that would be popular with a reasonably large section of the public; accept the plaudits and brownie points which accrue (and hopefully linger); forget you ever said it and so avoid the costs and the brickbats from non-beneficiaries. But they did it by George!

   My second reaction was to question the assumption that we all mollycoddle our vehicles and restrict their mileage for whatever reason. My 40-50 does get all the maintenance it needs (well most of the time anyway) and in return I expect it to take me wherever I need to go, be it to a rally in Italy, or to Sainsbury’s.  

    Yes it does drink a lot of petrol, but then I do not pay road tax; my insurance is very reasonable compared to modern cars; and it has actually appreciated in value significantly whilst in my possession/custody (not that this is really relevant as I have absolutely no intention of selling it).  Added to all these, in fact greater than them all, is the pleasure I get behind the wheel.

    So, saving me £50 a year is not a great vote winner in my opinion. An MoT is not a great challenge anyway, as most of us make sure we go to an ‘understanding’ garage. That is not to say they ignore the rules, they just interpret them intelligently. 

   I do however remember one engine restorer who stated “I do not insult my MoT man by presenting a vehicle which would not pass the test and he does not insult me by testing them”.

TTFN