Tag Archives: BIVA

‘Scaremonger’ (One who spreads frightening rumours; an alarmist).

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It’s easy to claim that news is nothing more than scaremongering; you can then push it away as irrelevant to enforce your viewpoint on others and drive a campaign against that news to enforce your own agenda. Believe us when we say this happens. So often on forums we hear the voices of those who wish to knock ACE for their own reasons.

ACE is well aware that its articles are not always good news. It’s common to see other forums and websites feeding off articles we have presented and readers of those concluding that it’s scaremongering. The nature of the Internet is one where answers are demanded instantaneously, when readers don’t get them, they often wrongly conclude conspiracy and scaremongering.

But let’s wind the clock back a bit:

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Good news for a change

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SVA for N1 light goods ceased in April 2012 with BIVA replacing it. However it now contains the C class that allows the testing of a production vehicle modified to pick-up, or modified production pick-up both of which could not be tested previously ( see http://www.the-ace.org.uk/biva-pickup-problems/ )

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Existing registered vehicles, The 8-point rule and retrospective BIVA

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It’s a well known fact that when a vehicle is modified, the changes must be notified to DVLA.

Looking at a V5c, there is a section to notify a change to the Wheelplan, Body Type, Chassis number, CC Engine etc.
What doesn’t appear on the V5c is the requirement to notify any changes to the Suspension, Axles, Steering or modifications to the body or chassis.
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BIVA Glass concession extended

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ACE reported in July 2009 that concerns were raised about the requirement, for BIVA, that vehicles be fitted with ECE 43 spec windscreen glass and the difficulties that would be faced in replacing such glass on a ‘Production’ car that was submitted for the test.

ECE Glass concession

When we first published this piece, a 12 month concession had been granted to allow projects that were in the final stages of completion to be put through the test with BS (British Standards) marked glass. This was later extended for a further 12 months to April 2011.
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How did we get here? The whys and wherefores of where we are today with SVA/BIVA

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To understand how we have got to where we are with SVA and BIVA, we really need to understand where the legislators who dreamed all this up were coming from. In the end it all comes down to safety, with a touch of identity thrown in for consumer protection along the way.

Type Approval was introduced across Western Europe in the 1970s as part of an effort to ensure the car buyers’ safety by the fledgling EU (known then as the EEC for those who can remember that far back). As it was originally envisaged Type Approval would have, from 1977, banned any modifications at all and had it not been for the work of Rodders and the fledgling kit car industry that resulted in a consultation period, that led to the introduction of SVA, who knows where we would actually be now?

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Importing Modified vehicles

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The ability to source vehicles via the Internet means that many are choosing to import ready-built modified vehicles at realistic prices.

Many may be spurred on by the statement that BIVA (Basic Individual Vehicle Assessment)only applies to post 1998 vehicles and that an older vehicle won’t be a problem.

If anything that appears to be too good to be true ever true?
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Harmonised IVA - HIVA

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The EU Council have released the draft Harmonised Individual Vehicle Approval document and it’s caused a storm.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24592411/Draft-Harmonised-Individual-Vehicle-Approval

The document appears, as with the original SVA, to have completely ignored the fact that there are classes and types of vehicles that do not fit the ‘Global’ definitions the the EU likes to deal in.
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BIVA Pickup problems

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The new BIVA test has a class for modified production cars(group M1) which is a big step forward from SVA and enables many more to legally modify their cars outside of the DVLA 8 points system.

However there is an anomaly in the application of the rules,which needs pointing out before you rush into building a pickup from your production car.
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BIVA Under Threat

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We had heard worrying rumours that BIVA was under threat as the number using the scheme were considerably down on the projections in the VOSA 2008/9 Business strategy, resulting in them adjusting their projections downwards from 5000 to 3500 tests carried out:-
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BIVA - Amendment

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After the introduction of the new BIVA test at the end of April it had become obvious that issues were occurring with finished builds that didn’t comply with the new EC43 only glass specifications. Currently an amnesty, for a period of 12 months, been granted to allow current projects to be completed without the need for purchases of replacement glazing.
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