MOT Computerisation - PROBLEMS.

[wilf]

Well, the Crendon passed it's annual MOT yesterday, but the experience I had with the new MOT computer leads me to suspect that we Cobra replica owners (and possibly many other kitcar owners) are going to have a few problems.

My local village MOT station happens to be run by a true classic car enthusiast who knows the Crendon well - the fact that he sells proper leaded fuel means that on any sunny Saturday morning, it is worth just watching the procession of interesting cars and bikes that turn up - anything from 1920's Fiats to 80's Ferraris, and chatting with their owners (surprisingly, many are female!).

Had this been a "normal" MOT place, I would not have a pass certificate today.

The Crendon is properly registered in all respects, SVA passed etc. When the vehicle registration and VIN were input into the MOT computer system, it did not acknowledge the existence of a manufacturer called "Crendon", despite it being clearly on the V5C.

My friendly MOT man exercised some lateral thinking, and eventually, we got the MOT computer to be happy - but only by nominating the car as an "AC Cobra", date of first use from the donor vehicle, and other half truths. And that is what my MOT pass certificate says - AC Cobra. LOL
Never mind that the V5C says "Crendon".

Another Government computer system *uckup.

I cannot believe that your average MOT tester would take this care or go to the lengths that mine did.

You are duly warned that your MOT experiece may be a tad frustrating. Fingers crossed that no-one loses any time on the roads because of MOT problems - take your cars in early, you can do so up to a month before the existing MOT expires, and your new certificate will still run on from the expiry date of the old one (i.e. up to 13 months MOT).

Moderators - in view of the possible problems this may cause our members, is this worth making a "sticky"?

[Clarkson]

Wilf, I have to get mine done next week, so I will post here if any problems!

[russell_ram]

Wilf,

I assume your car wasn't previously on the database and your guy had to input the details for the first time.

I had mine MOT'd one the 'computer system' last September and was in that position exactly. However, my computer printed MOT now states

Make: RAM.

Model: Cobra.

Strange !

It also comes up as 'Emission test exempt' on the computer - result!


Russ

[wilf]

Russ - what I don't understand is that it seemed to "know" my Reg no and VIN, but would not offer anything other than "AC Cobra" as a make.

I suppose I should not really be surprised, after all, it is only OUR money that is wasted, and OUR time as well. Governments seem to make extremely free with their citizens time.

[tonym]

Wilf, i had the same problem only a few weeks ago and documented it on this site. there is a screen on the mot computer where you can manually input details such as make etc which is why my mot says pilgrim. It did take the tester some time on the mot helpline to find it but it is there hth

[stevee8]

My MOT garage were the first to acknowledge that there were some teething problems with the new system.
Some of it was due to the fact that their testers were not particularly computer literate to start with, which made the whole exercise that much more difficult for them to pick up.

Knowing that online systems can be prone to the odd problem (we've all been there !!), I asked them what they did in these circumstances. Did they have to stop MOT's until the system was restored?
The reply was along the lines of.....
They have an emergency number which they can ring for assistance but if the problem can't be sorted immediately they have to revert to paper certificates.
Each garage still keeps a batch of these under strict lock and key but the garage cannot use them without ringing VOSA for a special access code number.
Obviously a major outage of the system means every garage in the land is attempting to do this at the same time resulting in severe delays.
If and when they get the code, they then complete the cert in the old fashioned way and have to ring VOSA again to let them have details and another code to lock the paper certs away again.
This is done for every car they are attempting to test.

So just pray that the system doesn't go belly up on your test day.

[mustangguy64]

Hi - of course all these computer systems are linked so guess what the next problem is? Having your insurance cancelled 'cos the DVLA say your registration number is invalid. It's exactly the same problem of manufacturer not on the nice drop-down list so someone keys it in manually and if things are different on the various systems you are in for trouble.

So having had to sort my insurance out I'm now looking forward to the MOT.

[PeteV]

Does anybody have any info regarding how (if) the emissions testing part of the MOT has changed under the new system? I was led to believe that the new MOT would require kit cars to be checked against the emissions limits as stated on the new type V5 - and as many of these appear to have blank entries (certainly for my Cob and another kit which I own) I would be intereted to learn what the 'default' limit is that the testers are currently checking against.

I would be particularly intreagued to know if the 'manually-entered' date of first use, as mentioned by a couple of the other posters, is what happens to be driving the emissions test limits! If this were to be the case, we could find ourselves in a right pickle - as we all know, it is the date of ENGINE manufacture and not vehicle first use which has previously driven the emissions criteria for us kit car folks! If as the system becomes more 'automatic and stable' and the computer picks the 'correct' date of first use as opposed to a year based on the donor reg. , there could be trouble ahead !



I'd be very interested in your views!

Pete.

[westborne]

Gonna book mine in a month early

I'm concerned about the emissions side of things - even though my V5 is blank.

Got a friendly MOT station and Brooksey assures me I'll be OK !!!

[wilf]

My MAC and V5C are blank for emissions.

The MOT system wanted 4.5% and 1200ppm - no problem.

Wonder what the VED will be?