- Thousands of motorists could be unaware their cars are currently unroadworthy.
- Following the Government announcement that MOT will receive a six-month exemption, thousands of motorists may now believe their vehicle will benefit from the exemption when actually they are still due an MOT test.
- Only cars with MOT due dates on or beyond the 30/3 will benefit from the exemption. Cars with due dates prior to that will be still required to pass an MOT test to be legally used.
On 25 March 2020, the Government announced all cars, vans and motorcycles which usually would require an MOT test will be exempted from needing a test from 30 March 2020. The exemption will last six months.
Legal changes needed to be made to allow the exemption to be put in place, so, although the exemption was announced on 25 March, the exemption is effective from 30 March 2020.
This means that only cars with MOT due dates on or beyond the 30/3 will benefit from this exemption. Cars with due dates prior to that and have not passed their MOT test will still be required to pass an MOT test to be legally used - even if the MOT test happens after the 30/3.
Vehicles that have MOTs due from 30/3, will have their date moved 6 months forward – so tests due on 30 March 2020 will become due on 30 September 2020, and so on. The government will keep this under review to manage the spread of COVID-19.
The dates will be moved in batches, so that after a few days they are working 7 days ahead. That will mean, say, that every Tuesday – the following Tuesday’s tests are moved 6 months ahead. The new ‘due date’ will appear in the MOT History Service when it is amended.
This process provides a degree of flexibility which will allow the Government to keep the changes under review as the Coronavirus emergency unfolds.
