Ripped off again

[Shayne]

Can you imagine the piles of scrap that would be driving around if we
didn't have the mot test

No MOT in the Isle of Man as long as you don't forget to tax your car for 2 years on the trot . If your involved in an accident the vehicle will be inspected by Government employed mechanical engineers (and it will fail even if its a week old car) . Regardless of this the average vehicle is in a good state of repair , fact is people don't want to crash hence they fix fading brakes , bust bulbs and change windscreen wipers because they want to see where they are going . Police will stop any car showing obvious signs of being in a dangerous condition . However relaxed this may seem it works and i see no reason to change it .

 

[dunk1]

I doubt this would work on the mainland, i'd much rather have a strict
yearly test to help keep the un serviced poorly looked after sheds off
the road.

 

[Shayne]

Perhaps not given the gentle justice system in the UK , there is no such thing as a warning in the I.O.M almost everything can result in a prison sentence and the shortest driving ban is usually 3 years minimum , 6 year ban and a 6 month prison sentence if your caught again .

 

[Dave_S]

Perhaps not given the gentle justice system in the UK , there is no such thing as a warning in the I.O.M almost everything can result in a prison sentence and the shortest driving ban is usually 3 years minimum , 6 year ban and a 6 month prison sentence if your caught again .

Bit of an overstatement, to be honest - the cops are certainly more diligent than I've seen in the UK, but there is some common sense here too. For minor vehicle infringements you generally get a warning notice and a set time to get it sorted, they don't immediately jump on you.

 

[Shayne]

Accepted Dave i was talking in more general terms rather than whats relevant to driving , still it sickens me when i read in local papers here in Wales mrs blogs was fined £150 and banned from driving for 3 months for being caught driving without a licence , valid m.o.t , insurance or tax for the 4th time in as many months ! Can you imagine that on the Island i would guess a year in prison and banned for life might be on the cards .

 

[Chas]

I shudder when I think of the wrecks I drove in the pre MOT days, but when you're young you don't worry about those things.

 

[clivehorridge]

I shudder when I think of the wrecks I drove in the pre MOT days, but when you're young you don't worry about those things.

Ha, ha!

I remember one occasion when my old 1955 A30 failed on the handbrake. The guy said everything moves OK it just doesn't hold. Adjust it and bring it back this afternoon and I'll pass it.

I took the car home and got under it to find the top leaf of one of the rear springs broken. When I pulled the handbrake, the axle was shifting backwards and forwards about an inch! He hadn't noticed the broken spring, the only thing holding the axle to the car!

"Good Old Days" eh?

 

[joinerman]

To a degree the MOT is a good thing, trouble is it's only of value on the day the car passes, next day it can be a death trap, don't know a definite answer to this problem.

 

[Dave_S]

To a degree the MOT is a good thing, trouble is it's only of value on the day the car passes, next day it can be a death trap, don't know a definite answer to this problem.

To give you a sense of the IOM testers - my 80 had a fresh MOT a few weeks before I bought it last year - not even an advisory.

The IOM testers failed it on two separate occasions before I got it passed - including a couple of items that I am reliably informed should have been MOT failures... and obviously had't broke in the last couple of weeks. Nuff said really.

 

[Chas]

A lot depends on your relationship with the tester I think, a few MOT's ago my 80 failed on the handbrake which had been tested on one of those in car measurers, the tester (The same one I use every test) said "Your handbrake is non-existent" I told him that's a job I'll be doing very soon, he said "I can see you look after it so I'll pass it, but it was working when it left here, OK"

 

[Shayne]

I think they are a lot more tolerant in the past decade Dave if the gossip is correct , they say a millionaire was so pished off at them he changed the plates on a brand new car and they failed it which could have opened a very big can of worms with regards to legal proceedings

An even better one i heard though i don't know the truth of it is as the result of complaints the UK's most qualified driving instructor took his driving test on the Island only to be told he had failed . As they say he replied "no i'm very sorry but YOU have failed" then identified himself

Obviously there is no way of knowing if such things are true but who cares when you want them to be