I for one would dread to see what happens if they extend the MOT test to two years.I currently do several MOT tests for a local car dealer.Some of the vehicles still have a current MOT test,as much as 6 months in some cases & several of them have got serious defects.As a result of the vehicles that they bring in ,my average failure rate has gone up to 60% approx with the national average being around 30%.I don't think that i am very tough when deciding to fail a vehicle & will most times fill a sheet of advisories,because VOSA say that if there is any doubt, then you should pass & advise.I had one vehicle in last week which i told the customer to scrap & i almost aborted the test,because it was so rotten.
The worrying thing is that when i advise on items,(which in my opinion are quite dangerous,but i am unable to fail because of the VOSA guidlines/rules) the car is then sold & the poor customer that buys it is totally oblivious to the advised faults, because the salesman has binned the advisory sheet & not made the customer aware that there is a little box on his pass certificate stating that there has been an advisory notice issued.
Another worrying thing is that quite often the car saleman takes the car away to repair & brings it back only to fail again on the same items & more(usually brake imbalance & performance).I had another vehicle this week that had had a cv boot replaced after mot failure , only to find that when jacked up & the wheel turned, the boot popped off & i also noticed that the castleated nut for the lower suspension arm had no locking split pin fitted & was not completly done up.I also then decided to remove the wheel trim, which strictly speaking , i'm not allowed to do, & found that the driveshaft split pin was also just about to fall out.
My point is, that with idiots like this about & your local diy repairing his vehicle at home , then i think it would be extremely dangerous to extend the test intervals.
I also find that most people expect their car to fail on something & alot of them consider that the mot is their annual service/check.I do try educating these customers by telling them that the MOT test is the minimum standard expected for a vehicle on the road & that if serviced properly, the vehicle should far exceed the minimum requirements.
Sorry for the long post,I expect that alot of people generally see a higher standard of vehicles compared to me & i must admit that this one particular customer is currently the only one that i have like it.
Rant over.
Kind regards , Andrwe