Majority have driven without MOT

16 August 2013  

A NEW study by the SMMT has found that almost two thirds of motorists admitted to have driven without an MOT at some point. The Society’s survey found that of the 1,000 UK motorists in the survey 67% admitted driving for up to a week before the test, 24% for up to a month, 7% for up to six months and 2% for more than six months.

These numbers didn’t come as much of a shock to some garage owners. Peter Miles of Polson Hill Garage in Devon said: “These figures don’t surprise me at all. What normally happens is that people forget and remember when the tax comes up for renewal.”

Former garage owner and industry advisor Mike Owen thinks that most garages could do more with their existing database to remind customers before the test is due. “I think garage management software has a role to play in this” he said.  “It’s another example of where the garage owner’s attitude is important. If they are pro-active, they will contact the customers and the work will come in. I went to a garage the other day which had a system that would automatically contact the customers to remind them and the garage said that they were only getting a response from about a third of the customers. I asked them if they tried ‘phoning the rest and they looked surprised and said ‘we couldn’t possibly do that!'”

Not all garage owners agreed with the SMMT’s figures, however. Steve Reynolds from Reynolds of Selby said: “I’d be interested to see where they got their data from. Perhaps there was a time where you could drive around without an MOT for a while, but now with all the ANPR cameras around, there is very little chance that anyone would get away with it. I think if you did, then within days a letter and a fine would drop on your doormat”

The research suggested men are more likely to continue driving after their MOT has lapsed – 35% of all male drivers say they have done so, versus 31% of female drivers. The research was done as part of a promotion for the SMMT’s ‘Minute or Two’ campaign to raise the public’s awareness of pre-MOT checks.

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