BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?

Subject: BS: MOT in UK - what happens eslewhere?
From: GUEST,Dazbo
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 10:30 AM

My car is in for its MOT today (MOT = Ministry of Transport: which is used as a short hand for the annual examination of road vehicles over 3 years old). In England they do a fairly thorough test of the roadworthyness of the car (lights, brakes, exhaust, steering, windscreen wipers, seat belts, wheels, tyres, chassis etc).

I was wondering what (if any) tests were done where you live along similar lines?

Darren

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Peace
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 10:32 AM

Alberta: If you purchase a car that is over 15 years old, it must go through a very thorough inspection. Othere than that, nope.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: gnu
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 11:02 AM

Yearly in New Brunswick, Canada.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Amos
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 01:24 PM

Annual or bi-annual smog checks in California; the rest is routine maintenance in the driver's sphere of responsibility.

A

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 06:15 PM

Here in Idaho (at least the part I live in), nothing. Other places in the US, annual inspections, especially in urban areas for smog control.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 06:36 PM

Bi-annual emissions (smog) test in Ontario. Has to be certified roadworthy in all respects if you're selling it to someone, unless they don't plan to drive it.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Burke
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 06:42 PM

Annually in New York State.

The governor just shelved the idea of telling us we had to get it done within a 2 week period instead of anytime in the month due. Most auto repair places can do them and are swamped the last week of the month.

When I was a kid in Louisiana, there was a required inspection every 6 months (as I recall). We'd drive to this govt. garage where we drove in, Mom slammed the breaks, we stopped in the set zone & got a new sticker. They might have checked to make sure your headlights worked. The whole think took just a couple of minutes. The stickers were always called "brake tags."

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 06:59 PM

Just a regular inspection here...brakes, lights, insurance, seatbelts, basics....annually. Then they give you a sticker that says you are good until a year from the date you had it done. This year they put the wrong sticker on my car. It was inspected in January 06 and that's the sticker they gave me. I took it back and the guy must have gotten chewed out as he was ever so apologetic. No matter to me...a little bit of an inconvience..but I didn't get a ticket or anything.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: artbrooks
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 08:18 PM

New Mexico is about the same as California. Every state in the US has different inspection requirements, and some areas within a state have additional pollution inspections.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: gnomad
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 08:35 PM

Mine just had its MOT test yesterday.

Quite a change from last year, the garage guy was telling me: all the instrumentation is now connected up on line to the relevant authorities, brake efficiency and emission data goes straight to wherever (DVLA Swansea, I think) and they control whether or not the certificate gets issued, updating the Police National Computer in real time.

Big Brother-ish I grant you, but it could keep quite a few un-roadworthy vehicles out of circulation, which can be no bad thing IMO.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 09:39 PM

Florida had annual inspections starting around 1965, but discontinued them around 1980. Too much hassle for too little benefit, and way too much opportunity for fraud, graft, bribery and all those other things our public officials are so fond of.

I believe some municipalities still maintain inspection stations, but they're only used to inspect vehicles that have been cited by the police for equipment violations.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 09:43 PM

....currently driving 20 year old Nissan Micra Rustbucket.

while I've ownd has passed 2 MOT's.

Anyone know when it'll be exempt from/reduced road tax?

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 09:45 PM

btw- what does it mean - 'eslewhere? '

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 09:46 PM

I just failed my state inspection (annual) in several ways... I live in the Virginia, USA.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 04 Mar 06 - 08:27 AM

Mine failed its MOT due to a broken rear light cover and dud bulb. I took it back a week later, went off to kill time while they did it, when I came back was told that the wrong part had been sent so they'd done a temporary repair and issued the MOT. They had stuck some tape over the broken bit where it would have shown white light instead of red. What I didn't realise was that they hadn't replaced the bulb.
So they'd given an MOT to a car without full rear lights

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: alanabit
Date: 04 Mar 06 - 01:43 PM

In Germany there is the HU, which I would translate as the main inspection. Most Germans refer to it as the "TÜV", which is actually just the name of one of the organisations, which is authorised to carry it out and issue certificates. It is similar to the MOT. There is also an emissions test, which you have to have annually. I think some cars need a HU annually, but I got one for two years in January and I drive an old Golf II.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: ragdall
Date: 04 Mar 06 - 02:16 PM

In British Columbia, Canada, there are yearly inspections in major centres, but there are none in the city where I live. In the 34 years that I've been driving here, I've never had a vehicle inspection.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 Mar 06 - 08:08 AM

In Australia, you have to have a 'Certificate of Roadworthiness' to be able to sell the car, unless you sell it to a 2nd hand dealer, who has to get one before he can sell it.

Used to be some rackets there too.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: JennyO
Date: 05 Mar 06 - 08:23 AM

Actually, in most states of Australia - definitely NSW where I live, you need a yearly "pink slip" before your car can be registered for another year. The severity of the rego inspection varies a bit depending on where you take it, but the brake testing has to be done properly with a printout of the reading. Foolestroupe in Queensland is in one of the few states that doesn't require a rego inspection certificate - possibly the only one - I'm not sure. If a car is under 3 years old, the inspection is not required.

At the same time, we have to buy compulsory 3rd party insurance (against personal injury to other parties), which is a green slip. This actually costs considerably more than the registration itself. This, along with the cost of the repairs that are often necessary with old cars, makes 'rego' time something that many car owners do not look forward to.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: number 6
Date: 05 Mar 06 - 10:01 AM

As gnu stated yearly in New Brunswick ... but I must add there are quite a few illegal safety stickers acquired.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 05 Mar 06 - 10:10 AM

In most parts of the US, liability insurance to pay for damages to someone else's property or for injury to someone else, in an accident where you are at fault, is mandatory. You usually have to show an insurance certificate or card from your insurance company to register a vehicle. I believe there are states that don't require insurance but I haven't run into one.

Enforcement after you get your registration is so lax in most areas that most people carry "Uninsured Motorist" coverage in addition to the required liability insurance, to pay for your own injuries and damages if an accident is caused by someone without insurance. In a few states, including Kansas, the uninsured motorist coverage is a required part of the policy you need for your own registration.

Kansas has a bill in the current legislative session to require insurers to notify the DMV if someone cancels an insurance policy or allows it to lapse, with an automatic suspension of the Driver's License of the registed owner. It probably will pass(?). Some other states have similar laws, but it's variable.

How much good this law, if it passes, will do in Kansas is a bit of a question, since some reports are that 15% or more of drivers don't have a valid driver's license at any given time. No unlicensed driver is likely to be insured. (I'll continue to carry my uninsured motorist coverage.)

Insurance rates are variable depending on vehicle type, equipment, owners' driving record, miles driven, and location. In some low-density areas, a vehicle might get minimum required insurance for $100/year or a little less, but in high traffic areas, it can run to $1,000 or more. With a poor driving record, it can go very much higher. If you want to insure the vehicle itself, for replacement purposes (required by most lenders if you finance a purchase), it can get "really pricey."

The only inspection of vehicles here (Kansas) is when a "foreign title" (from another state, usually) is presented for a first-time title and registration. About the only thing checked is that the "VIN" number on the vehicle matches the paperwork, although the inspectors do have the authority to cite for defective equipment. For "odd vehicles" like trailers, trucks, or RVs, they may look for a "gross weight" tag, since that affects which tables they use for tax purposes.

Since you have to carry the insurance, and many people pay monthly or semi-annually, most people don't see it as a cost of registration. The big "bite" here is that you pay the "property tax" on the vehicle at the time of registration, as part of the registration process. The tax rates are extremely variable by vehicle type, but are theoretically based on the value of the vehicle. My two >10 year old vehicles together cost me about $300 (US) per year. Some new cars may pay a couple of (or a few) thousand dollars initially, and generally all depreciate in actual value faster than the tax does.

(Note: if your purchase contract shows a "list price" and you later get a "rebate," the list price before the rebate is what is taxed, and is the amount depreciated for subsequent years. A 5% rebate, for a vehicle that you keep for 10 years, will cost you nearly 3 times the rebate amount in additional taxes over the life of the vehicle, when compared to the tax if the "real price after rebate" had been on the sale contract. Aren't those rebates a really great deal?)

John

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Mar 06 - 09:25 PM

Go to pub. Find dodgy looking bloke in darkest corner. Buy one. Fill it in really carefully. No refunds for spelling mistakes. Tooooooooo risky.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: GUEST,Murray MacLeod
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 03:45 AM

Bee- dubya- ell, surely Florida still had compulsory emissions testing right up until 2000 ?

I was living there when Governor Bush abolished these tests, much to the dismay of environmentalists (and rightly so)

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 07:18 PM

I used to take it in for testing myself and it used to druve me carzy - I found they always failed you for something. One time I took it in for another test at another garage, and they passed me on all the things I'd failed on in the first one, and failed me on a bunch of things that had passed down the road.

These days I just run it in to my mate Colin who runs a repair garage (when he's not playing the bodhran or singing), and he takes it round to the MOT garage, and fixes anything that needs doing and I getb it back before the day is out.

Over in Ireland they've got a diabolically bureaucratic system for doing it, with a handful of official testing centres, and you have to book in well in advance and all. It seemed that you had to have an existing unexpired MOT equivalent in place, plus road tax and insurance, before you could get the car tested for the new certificate. If the car has been off the road a while there didn't seem any way of getting it back to being legal to use it.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: JennyO
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 09:38 PM

Here in NSW, a number of garages are "Authorised Inspection Stations". They aren't hard to find, and I've had a lot of experience of the kind of inconsistencies that McGrath described. A car can be inspected at one of these places for up to three months after the registration has lapsed. If it is lapsed more than three months, it has to go "over the pits" at the RTA (Roads and Traffic Authority) This is a much tougher inspection, and often means the end of the line for old unregistered cars.

At one stage, there was a garage I went to fairly regularly which seemed to pick ONE thing each time, then offer to repair it. It seemed to me that they were just looking for a bit of extra income to make it worth their while.

Now I have a very regular place where I originally bought my old Holden in '99. They did any repairs that needed to be done, and when rego time came, they already knew the car and it was no drama to get it passed. They don't sell cars now, only do repairs, but just over a year ago, they helped me locate the Fairmont that I drive now, looked it over, got a much better deal for me as they knew the dealer, and I now have a well maintained reliable car which is a pleasure to drive.

If anything needs fixing, which is inevitable from time to time with a 12 year old car, I just take it to Frank's place and I know he will do the repairs expertly and as cheaply as possible. Rego time last June was a breeze, and will be again this year. Dunno what I'll do when Frank retires - he's sorta become a friend of the family!

Jenny

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Gurney
Date: 07 Mar 06 - 03:37 PM

In New Zealand we have a WOF, = Warrent of Fitness. It is almost exactly like the MOT. Annual for the first 6 years, bi-annual thereafter. All 'passes' computerised to the Ministry on the net. They do NOT, however, send reminders, as I found to my cost. It was due 21 December, and.....
Thats when I found that my van was registered as a diesel (despite being a petrol) and I 'owed' stacks in prepay fuel tax.....
It seems it was my fault that their secret records (no access for me) were incorrect.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Mar 06 - 06:40 PM

"Prepay fuel tax?" - that sounds a really weird idea. What's the problem with just having you pay the tax as part of the price of the fuel when you fill up? I mean, you can't put diesel in a petrol engine or petrol in a diesel engine, so there's no problem with having a differential tax rate if that what the government wants. (Well you can, I did it once - but you won't get too far.)

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: melodeon king
Date: 07 Mar 06 - 10:14 PM

MOT the hoople - didn't they sing that long drawn out boring song "No Wheels To Ride"?

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Mar 06 - 08:10 AM

In Western Australia there are no mandatory checks, provided that one doesn't let the vehicle licence
run out by - I think - more than a month. What I would like to see, but don't ever expect to happen,
is an official comparison between states such as ours and those which DO have inspections, to try to
establish whether inspections cut the accident rate or whether it's just another way of soaking the
motorist and keeping bureaucrats - and mechanics - employed. No prizes for guessing my personal opinion.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: GUEST,Dazbo
Date: 08 Mar 06 - 11:58 AM

Guest

Funnily enough I found such a report from, or for, the Aus Govt (I can't remember what I googled but it was something like periodic vehicle checks). It seemed to conclude that generally they didn't make much different to the overall picture.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: GUEST,Dazbo
Date: 08 Mar 06 - 12:08 PM

Found it:

Here

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Mar 06 - 08:15 PM

Thanks, Dazbo. Good one!

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 Mar 06 - 08:43 PM

Seems to work in Sweden, from those figures. Maybe all these Australians putting dodgy tyres back on their cars after the test, as recounted in that report, distort the Australian results:

It was not unusual for a driver to look at his car before he took it in and think, 'Oh, three bald tyres; what will I do?', ask the fellow down the road, Hey, Bill, can I borrow your tyres?, be told, 'No problem', and slap them on, go to get his roadworthy, come back and swap them back over.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Alice
Date: 08 Mar 06 - 09:40 PM

Nothing here in Montana. We have loads of classic cars on the road, like my friend's 1951 Chevy pickup and the 1949 Buick Dynaflo in which I went on a road trip from Montana to Central America and back.

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: Gurney
Date: 09 Mar 06 - 03:12 AM

McGrath, it is compulsary to pre-pay tax on diesel here, but I'm not sure why. One possibility is that farmers have a lot of 'pull' as well as their own storage tanks, and as their fuel is delivered to them tax free, they COULD be using it-tax free-on the road. So prepaying by mileage makes sure that they are using (road)taxed fuel in their road vehicles. This would apply to contractors who use heavy machinery, too. Anyone who has their own storage tank and gets fuel delivered directly by tanker.
Large fines are visited on anyone who goes over their prepay mileage.

Petrol roadtax is included in the price. Rumour has it that you can claim back the tax if you use it off-road, for instance in a boat, but I've never met anyone who did it, and most heavy users use diesel anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 Mar 06 - 08:09 PM

So you can't just go down to a garage and fill up with diesel with the tax included in the price like you do here?

All sounds a bit unwieldy. But then all countries seem to come up with things that sound pretty daft to foreigners.

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: GUEST,HughM
Date: 10 Mar 06 - 03:30 PM

Mr. Happy, I assume you're in the U.K. because you use the term "MOT". Unfortunately your Micra will never be eligible for a free tax disc. At one time these were issued for any vehicle over 25 years old, but what Mr. Blair & Co. didn't tell you before they were elected was that they were going to freeze the date of registration for the tax exemption at 1973. Therefore you need a 33-year old car!
   
    I'm not looking forward to this year's MOT's. Usually I take the car in, it fails on something or other, I take it away and fix it, and the garage does a free re-test. Now the test is monitored by Big Brother I suppose I'll have to pay for two tests. Doubtless some of the fee goes to the government to pay for all this. Clever, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: MOT - what happens eslewhere?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Mar 06 - 01:00 PM

The funny thing is "MOT" means Ministry of Transport and that hasn't existed under that name one for years. But the form is still called the MOT test certificate. At least the one I got last July was.

First I've heard about any abolition of the free re-test - and when my son got his last one only a couple of months ago and it failed on some minor thing that needed adjusting, the re-test was feree. I think and hope you may be worrying unnecessarily GUEST Hugh.