In the UK, maintaining your car’s roadworthiness is an essential duty for all drivers. A crucial aspect of this involves making sure your car passes its yearly Ministry of Transportation (MOT) examination.
There are several ways to get MOT-due reminders, which can help you remember to fulfill this crucial responsibility. To assist you in making the greatest decision for maintaining your car’s safety and legality while driving, this article will go over each of these choices of MOT Due Reminder in depth.
The MOT test is a vital safety inspection that verifies your car satisfies the minimal environmental and safety requirements specified by the UK government. The test includes a number of your car’s components, such as the tyres, brakes, suspension, steering, and emissions.
Cars older than three years old must have a current MOT certificate, and the owner must make sure their car is inspected every year.
If the MOT deadline is missed, there may be serious repercussions, such as:
- Higher insurance rates
- A fine of up to £1,000
- A point system with a maximum of six points for operating an unroadworthy vehicle
- Possibility of endangering oneself and other drivers
How to Get an MOT Due Reminder?
Thankfully, there are several methods to obtain a reminder for your MOT, so you never forget the deadline:
1. DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) Reminder: Providing a free MOT reminder service, the DVSA notifies you via email or letter 28 days before your MOT’s due date. On the GOV.UK website, you may register for this service.
2. MOT Centre Reminder: Upon scheduling your MOT test with them, a lot of garages and MOT centres provide a reminder service. A letter or email reminder will be sent to you before the expiration of your MOT.
3. Online MOT Reminders: Several websites, including MOT Checker and MOT Reminders UK, provide online MOT reminders. With the help of these services, you may input the registration number of your car and get a reminder when it’s time for your MOT.
4. Calendar Reminder: To make sure you don’t miss your MOT due date, you may create a reminder on your calendar, whether it’s digital or paper.
Additional Advice on Maintaining Your MOT
Apart from scheduling a reminder for your vehicle’s MOT, here are some other suggestions to make sure you maintain it properly:
- Keep your car’s service history current, including records of routine maintenance and servicing;
- Frequently inspect your car for wear and tear, like bald tyres or faulty brakes
- Take quick care of any problems to prevent more expensive repairs later on
- Think about putting up a vehicle maintenance schedule to stay on top of routine inspections and maintenance.
Why would I require a reminder for my MOT?
MOT reminders are especially helpful around that time of year because they provide you with a month’s notice to contact your local MOT testing facility and also give you some leeway if there are urgent problems with your vehicle that you know need to be fixed before it passes its MOT.
Is it necessary to get your car ready for an MOT?
Although it is not required, it is advisable to ensure that your automobile is ready for its MOT as it might result in significant financial savings. Some MOT flaws that might cause an immediate failure can be quickly found and fixed with a quick inspection before your test, saving you the trouble of perhaps having to have your car retested.
What happens if I don’t get my MOT?
If you don’t have MOT reminders set up and discover that you’ve missed your MOT, you risk receiving a £1000 fine or, worse, having your car declared “dangerous,” whether it has a valid MOT or not.
It is forbidden to drive your automobile after your prior MOT expires unless you have a scheduled appointment to drive it to an MOT testing facility.
If an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system detects that your licence plate is out of current, it will update the national database to reflect this as well. As a result, you may receive a notice via the mail stating that you owe a significant sum of money.
How much time is needed for a MOT?
A MOT test typically lasts 45 to 60 minutes, but there are a few more factors to consider.
Initially, this will take longer if your car fails the test and repairs are required.
Until the issues are resolved, a test facility is not permitted to release you in a vehicle that has failed a MOT, unless you are bringing the vehicle to be repaired or your current MOT certificate is still valid.
Secondly, the test may take an hour or less, but this does not guarantee that your car will just need to spend an hour at the garage if no repairs are required.
Test facilities may require you to drop off your car as soon as possible in the morning and pick it up whenever it’s ready.
You should thus be ready to spend the day without your car.
How to check the MOT history of a car
It is usually a good idea to look up the MOT history of a used car you are considering purchasing to see how well-maintained it has been. Fortunately, you can check the history of a car, van, or motorcycle’s MOT by looking for the vehicle’s number plate on the Government website, just as you would with your car.
It will tell you whether it has passed or failed any MOTs, how far it has traveled since the last test, and send you the next MOT Due Reminder, and you may obtain a copy of the prior and current MOT certificates.
