First MOT vehicles failing on minor issues

20 March 2014  

According to research by consumer publication What Car?, motorists spend almost £500,000 a year on first MOT test fails caused by ‘ridiculous reasons’.

Research shows that nearly 4% of the 285,236 MOT test failures recorded between August 2012 and August 2013 were on vehicles having their first test. More than 4,600 cars failed because owners had not topped up the screenwash, 2,852 failed due to the car being dirty and full of clutter, while a further 800 failures were down to warning lights which had been ignored.

With an average MoT test price of £45, the 10,753 cars that failed their first test amounts to £483,885** wasted by UK motorOsts. Overall, the most common reasons for MOT failure are tyre tread depth being below the 1.6mm limit, brake pads being worn down to less than 1.5mm thick and headlamps being wrongly aimed.

What Car?’s consumer editor, Emma Butcher, said: “There are some really simple things that every motorist can do to help a three-year-old car pass its first MOT test, but it’s amazing how many people don’t do them.”

“Many people probably don’t even realise that MOT testers can refuse to test your car if it’s too dirty or full of clutter.”

“However, most know there are rules about having a standardised registration plate and yet we found 29 people whose car failed because their numberplate was the wrong colour, and 114 who presented their car without a number plate at all.”