Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I checked 2 things before posting this
1) the date (No it's not April 1st)
2)whether this was already being discussed here..... used the search, lot's of stuff about MOT's but nothing about this new EU Directive. Perhaps the search doesn't work very well

Here's a link to a good article about the directive http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/news/general/800023295/eu-directive-to-exempt-pre-1984-classics-from-mot-test-is-lunacy/

Here's an extract from the article

A new European directive calling for almost all pre-1984 classics to be made exempt from MoT tests has provoked an angry response from industry experts.

Classic car specialists told CCFS that the newly agreed European Roadworthiness Directive, which argues that vehicles over 30 years old should be exempted from safety testing, will put drivers? safety at risk.

Malcolm Gammons, managing director of Hertfordshire-based MG specialist Brown & Gammons, said: ?The lunatics have escaped. We don?t even agree with pre-1960 classics being exempt from testing, as no one benefits.

?We even had one customer in recently saying that his car wasn?t handling very well and we discovered the reason ? he had 42-year-old tyres!?

Obviously this affects all of our cars, I won't be at all upset if my Spyder modified cars don't qualify as I think the annual safety check is very important and makes sure that the cars are maintained properly.

The annual MOT is a chore and sometimes our cars get failed against things they are exempt from such as emissions, also it can be difficult to find a testing station where you can be confident that they know where to jack the car for testing the bearings and ball joints, but I would hate to buy a car that hadn't been tested and wouldn't feel safe driving without the annual ticket.

I do tend to agree.....
the MOT should be on all cars although the tester needs an education too...
they do keep trying to fail the cars on emissions......and other such non applicable rules

structural integrity and stopping capabilities I would say are a must.....

as for the chap with the old tyres.......prat......

Having moved from the UK I see the MOT as more and more important, the testing here is so lax I have a hard time calling it testing. Pretty much is does it have wheels, decent tryes, wiper blades and working brakes?

Hence you have to be very careful with other cars and assume they aren't fit to be on the road.

Personally I feel the older the car the more important the MOT is. All this will do is bump the price of <1984 bangers at people know they don't have to fix them or bother with the MOT.

certainly agree that MOT should be kept for classics, but why not bring it in line with our neighbours in France, i.e testing every two years.........

fred

In Australia what is required differs from state to state in terms of a roadworthy inspection ( i.e.MOT)

In NSW it is required each year once a car is 5 years old in order to register it.
In Victoria it is only required when a car is sold second hand in order to transfer its ownership.

Despite this difference the accident rate is similar in each state. The states are broadly similar in their population , vehicle fleet ( the age of Australia vehicles is older on average compared to Europe as little corrosion issues) and road network and the rate of accidents caused by vehicle faults is also similar.

So it does not look like the annual inspection achieves much except transfer of money from car owners to inspection stations.

The real issue is old bangers with owners who don't look after them - how do you set up an inspection for vehicles worth less than say $5000 and with stupid owners as its this group of vehicles that have no maintenance because of their low value and are a risk on the road.

cheers
Rohan

I've often wondered whether the MOT is just there as "government support" for a garage industry that would otherwise be in considerable decline with more reliable cars having less and less need of their services. As regular breakdowns diminish more and more artificial breakdowns get added to the list of things to be checked and, occasionally, failed.

I'm sure that wasn't the case back when the "10yr test" was introduced back in 1960 when (based on the cars my parents had back then anyway) you could hardly get to the end of the road without something breaking or falling off but now it's a rare sight in my street to see a car bonnet open (Elan excepted!). Not surprising I suppose when it was something worthy of celebrating if I ever got our Austin A40 much over the open road 60mph limit whereas all I see these days on my 15 mile commute to Oxford are 150mph cars idling along in 40 and 50mph restricted roads littered with cameras and speed vans. It's only going to be pothole damage and rust sending you to the garages these days if it wasn't for the MOT.

Salut

Elanconvert wrote:certainly agree that MOT should be kept for classics, but why not bring it in line with our neighbours in France, i.e testing every two years.........fred

Actually for a 'voiture de collection' it's every five years. There's also an MOT chain that has specially trained (or at least informed) testers for older cars.

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Vernon

vernon.taylor wrote:Salut

Actually for a 'voiture de collection' it's every five years. There's also an MOT chain that has specially trained (or at least informed) testers for older cars.

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Vernon

I vaguely seem to remember reading (some time ago) that if you went for the voiture de collection option the down side was that you were restricted to only driving in your own departement and the neighbouring ones - or have I got it mixed up with something else?

there was lobbying to remove that restriction but I think it still remains, you are only allowed outside of your own departement with autorisation from all the pr?fectures of the ones to be visited which with the usual paperasse is only given to organised rallies.

In my opinion that is whats hiding behind this change in the UK law, that in time they will ban or severely restrict the everyday use of vehicles over a certain age.

At least in France the voiture de collection registration is optional, you can keep it as a normal vehicle and have the usual 2 year testing cycle and no restrictions, I reckon the UK one will be compulsory.

Salut

69S4 wrote:I vaguely seem to remember reading (some time ago) that if you went for the voiture de collection option the down side was that you were restricted to only driving in your own departement and the neighbouring ones - or have I got it mixed up with something else?

No, you're not mixed up - just out of date When the plate format changed so did the restriction - probably because it's now impossible to know where a car was registered by looking at the plate.

I can:

- drive anywhere I want
- have old-style white/silver on black plates (rivet-on digits on the intake grill are also sort of legal)
- take the MOT every five years

I was going to add cheaper insurance but most older cars can get that here.

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Vernon