Prepare for your MOT

It’s that time of year again, the dreaded MOT. Hopefully you have been taking perfect care of your car, or at least saving for this rainy day since last years’ service, to avoid crippling yourself financially in order to pay for costly repairs that could have been easily avoided. Here at Britannia we like to help drivers save money, so here are our top tips for pre-MOT tests you can do at home:

– Lights: Alost 1 in 5 of all MOT failures are due to a simple dead bulb. Test all of your lights; main beams, dipped beams, front lights, rear lights, brake lights, for lights, hazard lights, even your reverse lights (not essential to pass an MOT, but this should be taken care of anyway!) Also ensure that all lights are the correct colour… you don’t want to fail your MOT because your rear light isn’t quite red enough!

– Tyres: The legal limit for tyre tread is 1.6mm, any less is not considered legal on UK roads, and this will cause you to fail your MOT. Also ensure that your tyres are not damaged – small scratches, abrasions, and cuts that would otherwise not be noticeable can be cause enough for a failure on your test. Also check that your front two wheels are the same size, and your back two are the same size – if you’re not sure, measure… the MOT providers will!

– Windscreen: Ensure that there are no chips or scratches on the windscreen that could potentially obscure the driver’s field of vision. Small chips can be easily repaired by many companies that provide a service free to most motorists with fully comprehensive insurance, so there really is no excuse for allowing minor damage such as this fail your MOT.

– Brakes: Whilst testing your brakes does require some technical know-how, you should test them yourself regularly anyway. Ensure that the pedals are not worn away and can be easily pressed and depressed, the handbrake should hold the car steadily on a hill, and if you have ABS, the warning light should disappear after the car is started.

– Other common causes of fail: Check that your steering wheel and windscreen wipers are working effectively and without issue, and that your horn is loud enough to attract the attention of other drivers, that your exhaust is not too loud or damaged in any way, that all of the mirrors on your car and secure and untarnished, and the bodywork needs to be safe and secure, i.e. without particularly sharp edges or sections missing, and all doors need to be able to be opened from the inside as well as the outside, all seatbelts need to be fastenable without problems.

Check all of these points prior to taking your car for an MOT, to be on the safe side, and potentially avoid wasting valuable money on repairs that could have so easily been avoided if you had followed these simple steps.

Safe driving from Britannia!

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