A Brief History of... The MOT Test

The MOT test has been part of UK motoring since 1960, and we thought it would be interesting to look back at its origins and how its developed in Great Britain over the decades. (There are slightly different rules in Northern Ireland).
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[@cloudninephoto]

Looking forward to this. As a subscriber from N.Ireland the test here is a wee bit different than rest of UK. Will you be touching on this at all? There are differing opinions on a government run test like here where I’m from or a test that’s carried out by a local garage in England,Scotland and Wales.

[@oscarsgarage447]

It doesn't touch on this but you have given me an idea for another video!

[@sibuggs8618]

This vid made me laugh i remember phoning up the garage for a m o t ready to collect different times lol

[@Rossbott1964]

Getting an MOT in my day was simple…the old certificates were in an old style invoice type book….didn’t even need to take may car in just a bottle of whiskey for the old boy with the book and a pen to fill the certificate in ! 😄

[@oscarsgarage447]

Maybe that's why the testing system now is a lot more rigid...

[@paulchamberlain6284]

In the early days it was known as the 10 year test and you could buy little stickers that said "I've been 10 year tested"!

[@cloudninephoto]

Here in Northern Ireland one can only take your car to a Government test centre. No private garage. It’s £30.50 for the test and if it fails you’ve got 21 days to re book the test for £18.50. The defect/defects must be put right and this is checked at the re test.

[@davidcannon2464]

❤

[@crabsy6452]

I cant find concrete proof how old a commercial vehicle has to be to be mot exempt

[@lesklower7281]

I live in N.S.W Australia and apart from the A.C.T both these states have yearly registration inspections and in N.S.W it is for light vehicles over 5 years old they check the usual things also the examiner takes your vehicle for a drive and does a brake test also there is no emission test l am glad about that because my 1997 Toyota Hilux has a carburettor and no cat converter it was sold and registered that way because comercial vehicles were exempt from emissions and the laws changed in 1998 and it will never change because if the N.S.W government changed the law to do with emissions laws they would be out next election so they want to remain in government for a long time same as the Federal government and we have unleaded petrol we also have E10 but l never buy it especially as my Hilux has a carburettor and our emission laws aren't very strict and every vehicle registered in N.S.W over 5 years old has to have an inspection and the inspection costs around aud$45 and there are no advisories it some thing is wrong you have to get it fixed

[@davebullen1720]

Very good but you could use allegedly! At times we'll presented

[@martspar9075]

My father had an old austin 8 or 12 not sure which model and one day we were going out and a police car pulled us up i had to sit in the police car and the police checked and tested the car and brakes. It passed and off we went my dad said its a good job i andjusted the brake cables yesterday 😅

[@oscarsgarage447]

Great story - how things have changed!

[@martspar9075]

@@oscarsgarage447 from what my dad told me the police would do roadside spot checks on passing cars if they were "elderly" before MOT test existed especially if they had cable brakes .....he was lucky to have an old car as he had been in the Royal Engineers in the war so managed to get work in a factories garage and was allowed to look after and work on the MDs Armstrong Siddley. Times were tough back then even if you had a good tech background

[@normanprice5351]

,55 pounds for an MOT test ... Yes but it can be worth to shop around... Yesterday I paid 25 pounds for my MOT test with a local garage ( in Swindon ) and my 2001 registered Daihatsu Terios passed with the sole exception of a single bulb which cost me an extra 15 pounds..🤑

[@callumthomas653]

M.O.T

[@oscarsgarage447]

I would propose the Government website as the arbitrator and they refer to it as 'MOT'...

[@ianputt2045]

Mot tests are a waste of time and money car dealers still make them up when a car should not pass

[@JohnSmith-ei2pz]

Many garages fail cars deliberately as a money maker.