We’ve been making further enquiries, especially with regard to insurance consequences and we are pleased that the latest news from VOSA is more positive.

The July 2012 ‘Matters of Testing’ magazine, for authorised examiners and testers, page 4, holds an article stating “ … But owners of affected vehicles will still be able to take them for an MoT test on a voluntary basis. So, if a customer requests a test on a pre-1960 vehicle, you will still be able to carry out a test and issue a certificate in the normal way. And, of course, owners are still responsible for keeping vehicles roadworthy and legal, even if they don’t need an MoT test! “

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/MoT%20-%20Issue%2054%20-%20Jul%202012.pdf

This appears to suggest that, contrary to initial statements concerning removal of pre-1960 details from the VOSA database, that voluntary MOTs would still show up on the VOSA system.

To ensure that this apparent breakthrough wasn’t down to publishing deadlines curtailing updates, we spoke with VOSA press office asking them to clarify.

They replied “Although pre-1960 vehicles will become exempt from the requirement to have an MoT test, we know that some owners may wish to voluntarily continue to obtain MoT’s for their vehicles. The VOSA system will allow this. There is only one MoT computer system so there is no way that pre-1960 vehicle MoT tests can be excluded from the database once a test has been conducted. If voluntary MoT tests are undertaken they will remain on the database and form part of the provenance of that vehicle“

Hopefully this will allay insurance company worries and stop the need for an external engineers report. Our only remaining question is, “will this lead to a two tier insurance system with more expensive rates for non MoT’d cars, or will premiums simply rise across the board to cover possible issues?” If that is the case then we will all have lost financially by our latest legislation ‘gift’?

We will continue our dialogue with Insurance brokers and external consultants.