The MOT computer system went live in April 2005. No payments were made in respect of the service prior to this date. During the year 2005-06 payments totalled £30.02 million and the forecast for 2006-07 is £29.9 million.
Testing stations can charge any fee for an MOT test up to a set maximum. The maximum price that testing stations could charge for an MOT for a car during this period is given in the table as follows:
Effective date £ 1997 1 August 1997 29.42 1998 1 August 1998 30.87 1999 1 September 1999 32.11 2000 1 October 2000 34.00 2001 1 November 2001 37.60 2002 1 August 2002 39.25 2003 1 August 2003 40.75 2004 1 August 2004 42.10 2005 1 August 2005 44.15 2006 7 November 2006 50.35
The maximum charge is set after an evaluation of the time taken to conduct an MOT test.
It is very difficult to quantify the contribution of the MOT test to road safety since it is the combination of a wide range of road safety policies that gives the UK its excellent road safety record. MOT testing is part of that overall strategy, and the test detects around 8 million defective vehicles every year.
We will be consulting in the spring on options for the future conduct of the MOT scheme—specifically the frequency of testing—following a recommendation that we do so in the Davidson Review of the implementation of EU legislation. This consultation will include a fuller discussion of the merits of the MOT testing scheme.
Average times for carrying out MOT tests were last checked in a comprehensive study in 2006. The observed average total time for carrying out an MOT test on a car was 58.37 minutes.
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency records show that on 8 February 2007 there were:
15,723 garages in England;
1,194 in Wales; and
1,727 in Scotland offering MOT tests.
18,644 in total.
It is very difficult to quantify the contribution of the MOT test to road safety since it is the combination of a wide range of road safety policies that helps to lead to a lower number of road casualties than would otherwise be likely to occur. In turn, it is not a straightforward matter to assess what might be the road safety implications of changing the frequency of testing.
We will be consulting in the spring on options for the future conduct of the MOT scheme—specifically the frequency of testing—following a recommendation that we do so in the Davidson Review of the implementation of EU legislation. This consultation will include a fuller discussion of the potential advantages and disadvantages of making any change to test frequency.
The items to be tested in an MOT test are set by Directive 96/96/EC. The principal purpose of the test is to ensure that a vehicle meets at least minimum prescribed standards related to road safety and environmental performance.
In general, this means checking to ensure that components which are liable to wear have not deteriorated to a level below these minimum standards, and that a vehicle is otherwise not in such a condition that its use on the road would represent a danger either to the driver or to any other person. The test is also designed to ensure that a vehicle meets minimum standard levels so as not to cause avoidable damage to the environment.