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Government says it will give you a say on the future of classic vehicle testing

The Department for Transport has this week confirmed it will be launching a
full consultation on proposals to end annual roadworthiness tests for tax-exempt classic cars.

It follows a speech given at the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs’ annual conference on 17 October where legislation director Bob Owen said he was expecting three possible options to be given for how – or if – classics are tested when the MoT is phased out in 2018. The Federation is expecting the options to be a system closely modelled on the status quo, a very basic road test for Historic Vehicles or a rolling exemption for tax-exempt classics. It believes the latter is the most likely option, despite concern from experts and MoT testers about unsafe vehicles. 

The department told CCW that while it was unable to comment on the nature of the options presented in the consultation, it confirmed the FBHVC’s assertion that it will be published either before Christmas or early in 2016. DfT spokesman James Gosling said: ‘We are preparing options for a consultation on exemptions from testing for classic vehicles. The consultation will be launched shortly.’

CCW columnist and Classic Aware scheme founder Fuzz Townshend said he was still expecting the outcome to be a full rolling exemption for Historic Vehicles but said he would support any option for an annual test. He said: ‘I already know what’s going to happen – they’re going to whip away the safety net from beneath thousands of classic cars, because it will cost too much to train the people necessary to make sure these older cars can carry on passing the test. I know the vast majority of classic car owners are well intentioned, but human nature will prevail. If you don’t have to do something, then a lot of people won’t do it.

‘Of all the classic cars I’ve looked at I’ve probably seen two that are completely 100% roadworthy – and that includes cars with valid MoTs. A classic can easily do 30,000 miles in a year and the deterioration from that wear and tear can be phenomenal.’

Ken Perrin of Northamptonshire-based classic specialist City Call Garage said he is in favour of a test as close as possible to today’s MoT, but added that a minimum safety test would be better than nothing.

‘I still think the idea of Historic Vehicles being given a total exemption from MoT testing is ridiculous – most classic owners have the best intentions and maintain their vehicles, but it’s inevitably things will get missed or put off. We all know classic cars don’t get used as regularly as modern ones, so brakes seize up and exhausts rust from the inside out. 

‘These cars need some sort of safety check – it can’t be right they can be allowed to go for years on end with no checks at all.’ 

What are the proposals?

The EU’s Roadworthiness Directive, which will abolish the current MoT and replace it with a new testing regime, must be implemented in the UK by May 2018. However, it’s up to the UK Government how it happens. 

The FBHVC and the Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group – which are keen to ensure ‘no safe and roadworthy historic vehicle’ is banned from being used as a result – have proposed a system where vehicles that reach tax-exempt status are also exempted from roadworthiness testing, similar to the arrangement brought in three years ago for pre-1960 cars. 

If it were launched tomorrow it would affect around 645,000 historic vehicles. However, if the FBHVC’s eventual aim of recognising vehicles older than 30-years-old is achieved, that number would swell to around 970,000 vehicles.