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Opinion : Was the 6 month MOT holiday a good idea?

| April 27, 2020

As everyone knows a six month MOT extension has recently been granted to certain vehicles as a result of the pandemic.

At the end of March 2020 it was announced that drivers have been given a 6 month MOT extension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The extension applies to any car, motorcycle or van due for a MOT from Monday 30th March 2020.

However, even if an MOT extension is applied the vehicle must still be kept in a roadworthy condition and prosecutions could still be possible for unsafe vehicles found on the roads.

Surely granting the MOT extension is a sensible move as, due to the lockdown, motorists are unlikely to be using their cars as much. Of course when the six month extension is over the vehicle will still need to get a MOT.

Presumably later in the year the affected vehicles will have to be taken to a garage for a MOT, which will of course will last for a full 12 months.

However who is going to renew their new year long MOT after just six months to bring the expiry date back in line with the original pre-extension expiry date? Nobody of course!

Therefore my good self fears this may cause problems as the MOT expiry dates for an awful lot of vehicles may permanently move by six months meaning that next year, 2021, very few MOT’s will be due between April and September as most vehicles will end up having MOT expiry dates falling due between October and March as a result of the ‘Covid-19 MOT extension’.

Unless the vehicles that are normally due a MOT between October and March have their MOT expiry dates extended too surely it will affect the work loads of MOT testing stations and garages who carry out work on vehicles to get cars ready for a MOT or carry out repairs on failed vehicles?

If nearly every car, motorcycle and van ends up needing a MOT between October 2020 and March 2021 will there be enough capacity at the MOT testing stations and repair garages to cope?

To every action there is a consequence and my good self fears the consequence of the 6 month ‘MOT holiday’ is about to hit the country starting in October 2020.

Are MOT testing appointments about to be in short supply just like toilet roll and food was a few weeks ago?

What do you think?

My blogs are published regularly here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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