In the U.S. cars need to be registered with the state every year. (I had a car that was registered in Oregon that had a registration that was valid for two years.) In addition, cars in some parts of the country need a smog certificate. Cars must be “smogged” (tested for emissions) every two years where required.
But it seems the MoT certificate requires a more thorough inspection including brakes and lights. What does an inspection entail? How often does it need to be renewed?
List of tests that form part of the MoT certification. You need to have your car tested annually once it’s three years old.
That’s quite a list. After seeing some clunkers on the local roads, I’ve often wished we had “roadworthiness inspections” here (much as aircraft have annual airworthiness inspections).
But £39.25 for the inspection works out to about $64.00. I think that such an expense would be seen as unfair to poor people.
Thanks for the info.
Some US states have (or had) “real” inspections. I know NJ used to have a full inspection process including lights, brakes, and various other items like cracked windshields, although I believe they have replaced that with a straight emissions test. Not as involved as the MoT list, but enough so that an old car would invariably fail something, so that most people dreaded inspections.
It is worth mentioning that without a valid MOT certificate, one cannot obtain a renewed road fund licence (‘tax disc’), which must be displayed on the vehicle
Yes, it is expensive to own a car and drive (legally) in the UK. Many people don’t bother to get their car tested which not only means they can’t tax it (even if they wanted to) but also they are driving without insurance. Which is unfortunate for those law abiding people who have been involved in a crash with them for example.
It is true though, on the whole there are not so many old unsafe “bangers” being driven around our roads since the test was introduced. Driving legally in the UK is not for poor people 
V
Texas does that, too.
Triva: You don’t need a windsield to pass inspection, but you are required to have windshield wipers (although the cops don’t like it when you wave at them through the place where the windshield should be…).
Well I paid £26 for my last MOT only a couple of weeks ago. Im not sure if the pricing scehme on this site is an official guideline or not, but £39.25 seems steep compared to what I usually pay.
But… oh rats, we’re in GQ. Better hold my comment until this thread gets moved.
In the UK you are not required to have a front windscreen either, but if this is the case, you are not allowed to have a rear windscreen either, due to the risk of it being blasted out by the airflow through the car.
I have heard apocryphal stories about people whose front windscreens shattered for whatever reason, and they have pushed the back window out so they could finish their journey.
Regarding the cost of the MOT. At about £32 this is the equivalent to one tankful of fuel. So it us this does not seem expensive when taken in the context of the overall cost of motoring.
Had my front windscreen from an old car stolen once whilst it was parked up (the whole thing, mirror and tax disc too).
They just cut through the rubber seal and unpeeled it, removing the screen.
Drove back home through the town with no problems with the back window intact; providing amusement to pedestrians on the way.
I just picked up the September issue of Classic Cars. They explain the MoT test, starting on page 104.
The article says the test costs £39.25 and takes about 45 mintues.
Some garages do not charge the full £39.25 but a lower price as a “loss leader” on the principle that, if there are any faults on the car that need to be fixed ,then that garage will get the business. My wife paid £32 the other day and I have seen a main dealer charging only £29.
Just for information, it is now a requirement under an EU directive that member states have vehicle inspection regimes in place. This is what caused Ireland to introduce a scheme (NCT - National Car Test) a few years ago. Unlike the UK, the running of the scheme is contracted to a single operator who conducts the tests at a number of centres. The upside of this is that they don’t do repair work so there’s no incentive for them to find marginal faults. The downside is that there’s no competition on price.
This is going to sound like a dumb question, but I’ve searched the site linked above, and can’t find an answer. What does “MOT” actually stand for? The website assumes that one knows that already, and never spells out the acronym.
MoT = Ministry of Transport
Ah, thank you, WotNot! I’d gone through every combination of “motor,” “transportation,” “maintenance,” etc., etc., that I could think of. Being a U.S.-type person, the acronym didn’t ring any immediate bells for me, the way “CIA” or “DoD” would! (Well, not bells perhaps - more like shrieking alarms.)