If you own a classic car then you will no doubt be aware that if your vehicle is more than 40 years of age it does not require an MOT. However, it would appear that a lot of owners of such cars are still choosing to have an MOT, presumably to provide them with extra peace of mind that their vehicle should be roadworthy.

Well, BookMyGarage has obtained some interesting figures from the DVSA that reveal a large percentage of classic cars that are in excess of 40 years of age failed their MOT between January 2019 and June 2021. Of the 121,204 classic cars that had an MOT in that period and of that age, over 18% unfortunately failed the MOT. It is to be hoped that any that were re-tested passed the MOT.

We are sure that you will agree that is a high percentage. There were some people who expressed their concern when it was decided that classic cars over 40 years of age did not need an MOT. Some felt that was the wrong decision and this statistic may add “fuel to the fire”. Perhaps one of the reasons for the government making the above decision was that it was felt classic car owners would take care in making sure that their cars were kept in good, roadworthy condition.

The three makes of classic car that had the highest percentage MOT failure rate were Dodge at 55.2%, Austin-Morris (BMC) at 39.3% and Volkswagen at 31.9% where at least 100 tests were undertaken.

If you are new to classic cars and are looking for classic car insurance or you have owned a classic vehicle for many years and your existing cover is shortly coming up for renewal why not get in touch with us today with a view to obtaining a competitive quotation without any obligation. We look forward to hearing from you.