Morris Minor Owners Club

Firstly, Merry Christmas to all. Hope Santa was kind!

So, what do you think of the new MOT papers? The pass or fail certificates are now just a printout on plain A4 paper.

The chap who just tested my van was saying how all the garages are now stuck with boxes of the old red and green ones!

Merry Christmas to you too! Well, it is as you say just a printout, nothing special or even remotely resembling a 'certificate'. I suppose it's the pass or fail marker that counts though! They have to change the MOT cert paper to guard against fraud, but they could at least make it look better than this.

They should certainly make it difficult to fake, what is one to do when buying a car, check it online?

A fake MoT is useless now. ALL MoT test results are entered via the VTS Device (vehicle test station computer) at the time of the test. The result is uploaded live to dvla computer the police and the relevant authorities also have access to this computer, thats why you normaly don't need to produce the actuall paper document when taxing your car or when plod give you a tug. They certainly can tell via thier number plate recognition cameras wether you have a current one or not.

If the VTS is testing in a "computer breakdown mode" the results are uploaded as soon as it's fixed, hence why occaisionally there is a delay in data being "live" but it is eventually on there!

the police and the relevant authorities also have access to this computer

That's all very well for them, what about us when we buy a car?

I think the simple answer is caveat emptor or don't buy from anyone remotely dodgy...

You can also do a Vehicle Identification Check online which gives you loads of data like MOT expiry, tax expiry, whether the car has been recorded as stolen or in an accident etc. It only costs 20 quid and when you consider you might be spending 2 grand on a car, it's money well spent.

Look at the DVLA web site and check the vehicle on the database you either need the VRM or the MoT Certificate No. that will then pull up all the MoTs the car has had since the VTS data base was set up. The paper used to print the new certificates i'm lead to believe by the ones i am lead to obey have imprinted anti fraud measures.

All very good for us computer literate folk... but I'd hate to be of the 40+ generation that don't use the internet and still get on with life without a pc. They wouldn't even know the change has taken place.

Yes those poor old people over fourty however do the poor things manage

customjob wrote:Look at the DVLA web site and check the vehicle on the database you either need the VRM or the MoT Certificate No. that will then pull up all the MoTs the car has had since the VTS data base was set up. The paper used to print the new certificates i'm lead to believe by the ones i am lead to obey have imprinted anti fraud measures.

Nope Just standard plain A4 paper, min req is 80g iirc

had one of these a month ago - very shoddy looking but yes the point is that the paper isn't very worthwhile as people will just fake it (and have been doing ever since there was a paper based MOT system)

My MInor van passed its MOT today and the new MOT certificate is horrible and MOT tester does not like the new one and when my MG passed two months ago I had to ask has it passed because with the old one you knew it had passed.

there's ways around it just like everything else in this day and age. this computer system they use, isn't bullit proof as they like to make out. same old saying applies..... "it's not what you know, it's who you know"

I was told, by a MOT tester, that the main reason for the new type cert's is that the advisorys get printed on the mot, so car dealers can't hide what the car needs, like it's got a full ticket guvn'r . but now you can see that things that may need replacing etc. so quite useful IMO

James