MOT

2 articles

Preparing a classic for the MOT: what fails most, what the test checks on an old car, and the exempt-car question
A quarter of all defects are lights and a fifth are suspension, and a classic fails on the same cheap things as everything else. The national failure figures, the emissions rule that spares a pre-1975 car the gas analyser, the items the manual exempts by first-use date, and why an exempt car is still worth testing.
Classic car tax and MOT exemption: two different forty-year rules
The two exemptions run on different clocks and are constantly confused. Vehicle tax works on a fixed annual cliff, MOT exemption rolls with each individual car, and a car can easily qualify for one and not the other. What the dates are now, and what changes in 2027.

British Classic Cars

An independent, UK-based guide to the cars Britain built, from the marque histories to the paperwork. Researched and written in-house.

Every guide is researched against period road tests, club registers and official guidance, then edited by Paul. No sponsored content, no paid listings. Read how we work or tell us what we got wrong.