The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) motoring trust has found that 21.6 per cent of cars (or one in every five) submitted for a first MOT test fails.
The main reason for cars failing their MOTs are lighting or signalling failures – which should be covered by the new car warranty – which has lead to the 2007 IAM Trust survey questioning whether garages are carrying out the three-year service after the MOT, costing the motorist extra in repairs.
"The high UK failure rates may argue against relaxing our MOT testing regime from three to four years [the European minimum] on road-safety grounds. But do we have the full picture?" said Neil Greig, IAM Trust Director.
"A Treasury-sponsored review in 2006 suggested that the UK practice of ‘gold plating’ the European minimum for roadworthiness testing was costing motorists £465 million a year. Do manufacturers’ service schedules not cover all the points needed to pass a MoT test – if not, why?"
Germany and Austria also exceed the EU requirement by testing after three years, not four, but their test failure rates are lower than ten per cent – Germany’s is lower than 5 per cent. Only Spain’s test failure rate, measured after four years, is higher than in the UK – at 32 per cent.
