Dealer’s Diary

MOT mayhem?

► Those of us who were in the retail motor trade prior to 1999 will probably remember the madness that occurred every August, when the new year registration came out. Everyone and their dog, it seemed, wanted to buy a new car that month – and, if possible, on August 1 itself! Some dealerships did 60-70% of their total year’s sales in just one month. Most in the trade were therefore relieved when, in 1999, August’s peak was effectively split, and replaced with two ‘new’ marks per year, in March and September.

But it wasn’t just the retail side that rejoiced at this change. MOTs are supposed to happen from the third anniversary of a car’s first registration, and though this does drift as a car gets older, August was always a mad month for testing as well as sales. This carried on long after the change too – it’s only been in the past ten years or so that, with numbers of pre-1999 cars having declined, August test numbers have dropped back.

Now, though, ‘bunching’ is back, and the cause is COVID. Last year, during the first big lockdown, everyone whose MOT expired between March 30 and July 31 was given a six-month extension as most test stations were closed. Testing resumed on August 1, but motorists whose test had been extended were encouraged to renew as soon as possible, to avoid the rush, and an awful lot,