Fleets urged to book MOTs early to “avoid disappointment”

Fleets are being urged to book MOT slots now with centres expected to be maxed out in the coming weeks.

November will be the busiest month for MOTs this year, due the spread of new vehicle registrations and legacy MOT deferrals caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to analysis by AA Prestige.

James Hosking, managing director for AA Prestige, said: “The number of MOTs due this November is going to be incredibly high, so drivers should book early to avoid disappointment.

“With MOT centres already starting to fill their diaries for the coming weeks, the peak is set to hit throughout November as drivers were able to defer their MOT by six months during the pandemic.”

Recent DVSA data shows that 28% of all cars and vans fail their MOT, while the failure rate for Class 7 vehicles sits at 36%.

Hosking continued: “Vehicles on the roads are getting older, so it’s more important than ever to regularly check them throughout the year, and not just before its MOT.

“Keeping an eye on tyres and bulbs takes five minutes but can save against a costly repair bill and spread the cost of vehicle maintenance across the year.”

Analysis of data from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), carried out by the RAC earlier this year, revealed that non-working headlights, indicators and reflectors accounted for just over a quarter (25.5%) of all MOT failures.

Faulty or broken suspensions represented just under a fifth (18.3%) of all failures, while problems with brakes (17%) and tyres (12%) were the third and fourth biggest reasons for an MOT failure.

Bad visibility – likely cracks on windscreens – rounded up the top five, representing 8.7% of all MOT failures.

Appearing on September’s Fleet News at 10 webinar, Paul Hollick, chair of the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP), said: “I say this every year, every September, August and July - plan, plan and plan.

“If you go back to lockdown, everybody effectively pushed all their MOTs back to October and November, so you've got the entire nation getting most MOTs done in the space of about 10 weeks.”

Hollick added that the scramble for MOT slots was also being impacted by the network size, which he says is reducing in size.

“You just need to be planning at least four to six weeks in advance for MOTs and servicing,” he concluded.