Revealed: Tips on How to Pass Your MOT First Time

Driving is certainly expensive, with costs rising significantly over the last couple of years — fuel prices have risen more than 20p over the last ten years, with the average price of a car rising by 38 per cent. With this in mind, keeping costs at a low in relation to motoring should be considered a priority and it isn’t particularly tricky.

Drive at a sensible speed, don’t overload your car with unnecessary things, don’t heavily accelerate, break, or corner — these are measures you can take to manage your fuel. Meanwhile, shopping around, fitting a black box, and paying a one-off premium — similar ways to reduce the cost of your insurance.

Around two out of five cars fail their MOT.  Although an MOT test costs, at the most, £54.85, the bill can grow quicker than Pinocchio’s nose when the mechanic begins to recognise faults within a vehicle. Regular servicing at your nearest Audi dealer can help keep your car in tip-top shape.

The five most common reasons for failing an MOT according to What Car? Magazine are:

  • The drivers view is impeded by something on the windscreen
  • Not having screen wash topped up
  • The plates don’t fit within the DVLA guidelines e.g. wrong font or wrong spacing
  • The car is dirty on the inside or outside
  • A light is out

These reasons for failure are completely unavoidable. Here, we take a look at the various ways in which can help make your MOT test day a smooth experience and one which isn’t going to break the bank. Create a checklist before your MOT, making sure you’ve covered everything.

Levels Under the Bonnet

Bonnets are surely daunting, however checking your levels is pretty easy. Top up your oil so that it sits between the minimum and the maximum marker. Following this, top up your washer fluid bottle, your fuel tank, and your anti-freeze. It’s cheaper to do it yourself than paying a mechanic to do it for you!

Clean Your Car

It’s possible that your car can be failed for being dirty or messy. Declutter your car of any food wrappers, water bottles, and generally anything that doesn’t need to be there. Following this, give it a hoover, before power washing it on the outside and on the underneath of the vehicle. What will take you an hour in cleaning will save you a re-test and a major inconvenience.

Check Your Lights

All of your lights will be checked; hazards, headlights (full beam and dipped), brake lights, and indicators. For the latter of the list we advise getting someone to help you, as you’ll not be able to them yourself.

If you have any blown bulbs, , visit your nearest reputable vehicle dealership or parts store and you’ll be able to purchase a new one.

Tyre Tread

Obviously, your tyres are imperative in safety, the only element of your car which come in contact with the road. Therefore, checking of your tyres will be particularly stringent during an MOT test.

Pre-emptively check the tread of your tyres to make sure they’re more than 1.6mm. You can do this with a tyre tread depth indicator or a 20p coin. Likewise, check the tyre for any bulges, cuts, or splits, alongside checking your tyre pressure is correct and it aligns with that of the manufacturer’s guidelines.

Obstructed Views

If your windscreen has any damages bigger than 10mm that could potentially obstruct your view, this is an automatic fail, as will a 40mm damage on any part of the windscreen. Remember to remove any air fresheners or parking permits which could be considered to obstruct vision.

Warning Lights

Warning lights on your dashboards could give you a fail. If there are any dashboard lights appearing on your car, find out what they mean and get them resolved prior to your test.

 

Although MOTs may seem like an unnecessary expense, you can reduce extra charges with these simple steps, put together by

An MOT can end up being an unnecessary expense but following these simple steps, collated by Skoda Dealership, Vindis, you can make sure you don’t succumb to hefty charges on the day!