Four-year MOT exemption for new cars proposed - BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38708925

I'm sure they've looked at dong this before but the plans were dropped.

I guess given that the vast majority of new cars are covered by at least three years of warranty and and increasing number have servicing included (or a relatively cheap add on) at time of purchase delaying the first MOT test until year four should be a major issue in terms of road worthiness.

Obvious question : what percentage of three year old cars fail their first MOT? If it's approaching 0%, then the whole thing is a waste of time. We need to start MOT checking at the point where there is a realistic probability of something being wrong with a vehicle which may present a risk to either the driver or other citizens which an MOT test of reasonable thoroughness (i.e. less than day's work) may actually find.

With 21st century cars that's almost certainly NOT after three years. It's probably not even after five years. It may actually be something like 10 years...

The problem IMO is that whilst most things won't fail an MOT, there will be some things that would irrespective of how good the vehicle is eg tyres. I know SWMBO drove around on bald tyres without ever realising until I picked it up and made her get them changed. That's something that could realistically fail an MOT (but you'd hope would be picked up at service time).

My own Golf GTI is now over eight years old. It has passed its MOT on every occasion. I get the car serviced every six months. I've had two advisories in all the years I've had the car. The current advisory is parking brake efficiency is on the limit. When I go to get the car serviced in a couple of weeks, I'll get it attended to.

I reckon a mini-MOT for cars under the age of five years, to cover things like tyres, brakes etc would be worthwhile.

Additionally, at the moment, cars have three years' warranty (some have more). Would this be extended to four years as well to match the MOT?

We have a Hyundai so that had a 5 yr warranty (expired now)
He have it serviced annually and so far not failed on anything on the MOT

My old Ford had a 5 year extended garantee and the Hyundais have 5, Kia 7. My Nissan has 3 and I could pay for an additional 2.

My 1984 Golf ran from 1990 through 1996 without having a single note from the MOT test. I did replace the starter motor and the radiator grill (pidgeon flew through the damned thing and shredded it!). The Golf had a bunch of other problems, which I posted somewhere on these forums, but that is a different story.

Same with my 86 BMW M535i, I bought that in 2002 and it passed the MOT with flying colours. My Mondeos both had clean bills of health throughout their time with me (the first one did have to have a new exhaust system after 8 years) and never had problems with the TÜV. Same with the Toyota and Citroen, both passed the TÜV with flying colours every time.

Here, cars go the three years without needing a TÜV and then you need to get the TÜV and HU done every 2 years. You then get a new seal for your number plate that is colour coded (year) and the circumference is broken down into 12 months, with a notch taken out of the month when the next MOT is due. It makes it easy for the police to see from a distance, when the next TÜV is due. In addition, you get a state seal to show the car is registered (and therefore insured). If either seak is missing, you can't drive the vehicle on the road (same for an out of date TÜV). And if you fail to insure your vehicle, the insurance company or the council will send somebody round to either remove the number plates or to scratch off the insurance seal.