Exemption made drivers more aware of MOT, survey suggests
Published: 30 March, 2021
Despite 9.58 million MOTs being time-shifted from Spring to Autumn last year, an unexpected positive result of the Exemption has been that 89% of drivers surveyed in a YouGov poll commissioned by The Motor Ombudsman said that they actually knew the expiry date of their vehicle’s annual certificate.
The survey of 1,303 UK drivers who own a car that is three or more years of age, showed that 92% of men knew, compared with 87% of their female counterparts being aware. Meanwhile when participants were asked about whether they were aware that the current rules regarding MOTs allow cars to be tested up to a month, minus a day, earlier than the deadline,92% of those aged 35 and over and 95% of drivers living in the Yorkshire and Humber region and the South East knew this was the case.
81% said they would feel comfortable taking their car to a garage for its MOT in person, thanks to COVID-19 safety measures. 12% of drivers said that they would still feel nervous about take their vehicle in however. Similarly, 4% of respondents would opt to use a garage’s collection and delivery service, with this being a slightly more popular alternative for the 7% who said they are retired and the 6% aged over 55 years.
Commenting on the findings of the study, Chief Ombudsman and Managing Director of The Motor Ombudsman Bill Fennell said: “With the six-month extension changing the natural rhythm of when people would have traditionally got their MOT done, it is encouraging to see that such an important annual assessment remains at the forefront of people’s minds and a key date in the diary for so many. Nevertheless, when our lives do return to some degree of normality in the coming months as lockdown restrictions are lifted, it’s still advisable for motorists to sign up for free MOT reminders and have the car’s documentation readily available to jog their memory if needed, so that they can make a booking ahead of time. The annual test is such a critical part of vehicle maintenance and staying safe and legal when at the wheel, so it really is a date that can’t be left to chance.”
For more information, visit www.TheMotorOmbudsman.org
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- Feeling the pressure
Issues with tyre pressure monitoring systems will become much more prominent and regular in the majority of workshops all over the UK. Since 2014, every car sold new in the European Union was required has to have a form of TPMS. There is no way of escaping it. As a technician you can try and hide from it if you like, but it will find you and it will make your brain engage when that little warning light ‘pings' on the dashboard.
The thing that a lot of techs don't know is that the first form of TPMS was first put into practice in the late 1980s, so it is not as if it’s a new idea. Back then, it was mainly for high-end luxury cars. Now a very high percentage of low-priced to mid-range priced vehicles are fitted with a TPMS system. You can even buy a retro-fit system and put it onto your motorcycle if you wanted to!
Types
There are two different types of monitoring systems. The first is a direct system in which the sensors are held within the wheels. These send a radio signal to the car and this is converted into a real-time display on the dashboard for the driver to keep a close eye on all of the pressures individually. The second is the indirect system. This one cannot show you a real-time value as there aren’t any TPMS sensors to send a radio signal back to the car. Instead this works via the cars wheel speed sensors/ABS sensors, to put it simply- it counts the rotations of each wheel and recognizes a fault if one wheel turns quicker than the other three. Clever or what? Well, not really, if all four tyres lose pressure.
Prod and cons
When it comes to TPMS pros and cons, my personal thoughts are that these systems, particularly the direct system will make for safer roads and therefore save lives. Not only that, the fact is that it is going to save your tyres, and by keeping the optimum pressure in them, saving your tyres will save you money, and if you save your money you will then be able to afford to buy new sensors if (when) they break... and they do break, whether it’s the core (due to bad practice when fitting tyres and not replacing something as simple as the core and the valve cap) ,a leak from the base of the stem or simply the battery going flat inside a sensor... (majority not interchangeable).
The simple fact is they do go wrong sometimes. Besides the main disadvantage of the indirect system that I mentioned earlier, if they do go wrong and it is obvious that the TPMS system isn’t working correctly, come MOT time the car will get a major fail. However, if the car is registered before January 2012, this doesn’t matter, which probably wasn’t the best decision ever made. I think any car equipped with a TPMS system from the factory should have it working. Simple as that, but that’s just my opinion.
Optimum
If one or more pressures are low and the tyres look ‘obviously Under Inflated’ then that induces a pass with a minor defect. The facts is that thousands of accidents and hundreds of deaths occur every year due to under inflated tyres resulting in tread separation and ultimately failure of the tyre.
In short, tell your customers if they want better fuel efficiency, better handling and optimum braking, they might want to check their pressures, even when the MOT is not looming.
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