14: Your MOT checkup should be fun and fast.
Checking a car's functionality and safety is a matter of 10 minutes; on a production line probably a lot less. Getting an MOT should not take much more time then getting petrol.
The problem is that nowadays people have to make appointments for the MOT, wait in line for a long time, get failed on minor technicalities, wait some more for the papers to get ready and in general spend a whole morning getting the bloody thing done...For one car...If all goes well...
The sad thing is that nobody cares to do something about it. The checkup is compulsory and your insurance will default without an MOT. So MOT stations nor its governing bodies are motivated to give you the best service possible. Why work more efficiently? Why open up more capacity or why should we create a healthy situation of supply and demand? There simply is no reason.
Solutions:
From an organizational/political point of view, the goal should be to have a certain amount of MOT stations per 100,000 inhabitants and this number should increase over the years up to a point where getting an MOT approval really will be only a matter of 10 minutes. How many car service centers would be willing to also function as a MOT station?
But also practically a lot of measures can be taken to immediately speed up the process without interfering with the overall goal of getting unsafe cars off the road.
For instance:
*No periodical checkup for motorbikes.
Have you ever seen a bad bike? Driving a faulty bike almost equals committing suicide. Nobody drives a unsafe bike. Driving a motorbike is already dangerous enough.
*No checkup for cars up to 4 years old.
These cars are in such good condition that a checkup is superfluous.
*A separate checkup for cars from 4 until 8 years or less then 100,000 km. It is highly likely that these cars will still be in very good condition and can therefore get an accelerated checkup
*A separate checkup for oldtimers and cars registered as hobby cars. These cars should be in mind condition and can therefore get an accelerated checkup.
*Don't bother with changes to the car unless it directly interferes with the safety of the car or people. You waste everybody's time. For instance:
-LED lightbulbs instead of halogen,
-a bulbar,
-sidesteps,
-different exhausts,
-bigger tires/wheels,
-different engines
-different brakes
-spoilers,
-etc., etc.
Unless these items directly interfere with the safety of the car or people, there is no reason to fail the car. Now people will go home, do the required changes, get the MOT, go home again and put their beloved accessories back on the car. Insurance companies also should not be allowed to decline a claim when a non-original part wasn't the principal cause of an accident/claim.
