Your car and the MOT

The law requires that everyone who uses a vehicle on the road must keep it in a roadworthy condition at all times. Once a year, roadworthiness is checked in the interests of road safety and the environment by the test we know as the “MOT”.

The first test is required once a car is three years old. (There are different rules if you use it as a taxi or if it has more than 8 passenger seats). It should be clearly understood that the MOT is a minimum standard which your car should meet at all times; it is not a standard you should bring your car up to once a year.

The MOT looks at some important items on your car to see that they meet the key legal minimum requirements at the time of test. You should be aware that the MOT certificate is not a guarantee of the general mechanical condition of a vehicle.

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