On Thursday 7 March, NFDA attended an MOT stakeholder meeting in Birmingham in which NFDA and various stakeholders were able to contribute to the area of governmental legislation surrounding MOT test regimes.
It follows a consultation launched by the Government in January 2023 on moving the first MOT test after registration from 3 years to 4 years. NFDA provided a response to the consultation urging the Government to maintain the current regime alluding to various safety concerns, particularly from members, if the proposed changes went ahead. Feedback was also received from a wide range of stakeholders including testers, garage owners, vehicle and equipment manufacturers, road safety organisations, fleet operators, motorists and many others.
In January of this year, the Department for Transport (DfT) provided their consultation response to announce that the first MOT test was to remain at 3 years from registration and annually thereafter. For more information and NFDA’s press release on the announcement, please refer to the link.
The consultation response did identify several distinct areas in which there is scope for improvement in the MOT regime. The DfT as well as the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and TRL are looking to work with and engage priority stakeholders to continue the discussion on these areas of improvement.
The key focus areas for topics of discussion in structured working groups were:
- Enhancing the service for vehicle owners and providing additional value.
- Improving support for testers and garages.
- Enforcement and compliance.
- Emerging technology and the future of the testing regime.
With such a wide variety of stakeholders present the discussion groups generated some varying responses, with individuals prioritising the benefits and outcomes from their own areas of business. NFDA being able to represent the franchised dealer network at these events gives the opportunity to engage the decision makers as to what will be the best outcome for our members.
