The MOT test can feel like another bit of life admin you don’t want to deal with. We’ve all had the experience of booking it in and paying for it, only to find our car has a clean bill of health at the end. It can feel like a pointless box-ticking exercise to keep the government happy, but it’s actually a vital, life-saving test! Learn more about the history of the MOT test and why it’s so important.

The History of the MOT Test

The MOT test was first introduced in 1960, as a simple voluntary check for car owners.

The 1960 MOT was very basic, only checking the brakes, lights and steering. It only needed to be carried out on vehicles over ten years old.

In February 1961, the test became compulsory. This was because of an unexpectedly high test failure rate, which also forced the government to lower the testing age for vehicles later that year – from ten down to seven years old.

As failures continued to rise, the vehicle test age was finally reduced to three years in April 1967.

Over the decades, the test has grown into an ever-longer checklist, as more holes in vehicle safety standards were discovered. But it all added up over time.

With far fewer dangerous vehicles on the road, and a significant reduction in the fatality rate since its introduction, the MOT test has quite literally made our roads some of the safest in the world.

That’s why the MOT test is so important

Simply by checking that every car has safe tyres, brakes, steering and working vital components, the MOT test is saving lives. So yes – your car may pass with flying colours every single time, but there are 37.5 million vehicles registered in the UK.

Even if just 1% of those cars were unsafe to drive, there’d be 375,000 dangerous vehicles out on the road right now. They could have completely worn tyres, ineffective brakes or no working lights to speak of.

The reality is actually much worse: in 2018, over 10 million cars failed the MOT test with major or dangerous problems. That’s almost a third of all registered vehicles in the UK. Just imagine how many lives have been spared by taking those vehicles off the road for repairs.

Having that mandatory check in place once a year is a bare minimum for safety on our roads, and it’s up to us all to make sure our cars are checked before long trips and running safely in between tests.

As cars get more advanced, the MOT test will become more advanced with them. But no matter how well you maintain and care for your car (or how well it maintains itself), the MOT test will always be a vital part of motoring in the UK – a test that we should all be thankful for.

Book your MOT today, with We Only Do MOTs. We promise to provide an impartial, independent MOT to everyone – and will carry out most minor repairs for free!
Send your message to enquiries@onlydomots.co.uk or call us on 023 8064 7180