Motorists could be driving uninsured cars without | Tech News

Motorists could be driving round with no car insurance coverage without even realising, attributable to a little-known MOT challenge. According to specialists at Halfords, the quantity of ‘ghost’ MOTs has elevated, with the quantity of incidents doubling.

‘Ghost’ MOTs are mainly faux MOTs. It means a go certificates has been issued to a vehicle, regardless of no inspection happening. The drawback can be devastating, with car insurance coverage claims prone to be rejected if a vehicle is concerned in a collision however is discovered to have a faux MOT.

New figures show the quantity of circumstances has doubled from 976 to 1,809 in simply 12 months. However, motoring specialists at Halfords have instructed that the figures solely ‘scratch the surface’ with more circumstances seemingly in a main blow.

Andy Turbefield, MOT professional and Head of Quality at Halfords, defined: “Ghost MOTs are a clear example of rogue garages and MOT Testers taking advantage of the system. The only way to be 100% sure an MOT has been conducted is to do another one, via the DVSA Appeal process. This difficulty in spotting if a car has had a ‘ghost’ MOT means the official figures likely only scratch the surface.

“However, the impact on motorists can be huge in terms of safety – MOTs check key safety components like tyres and brakes. It’s a matter of time until someone is killed. The reality is that we may have already had accidents and deaths as a result of ‘ghost’ MOTs and we simply don’t know.”

Car insurance coverage insurance policies often requires a legitimate MOT check for the settlement to be totally legitimate. Driving without an MOT sometimes invalidates the coverage, which means highway customers are usually not coated for if they’re concerned in any accidents.

Andy pressured that highway customers can bear a collection of ideas for lowering the risk or recognizing after they could have been a sufferer of ‘ghost’ MOT. He urged highway customers to do checks themselves after the MOT – for instance, measuring tyre tread to see if the storage has flagged any points.

Andy advised motorists to all the time be cautious of the MOT historical past on a second-hand car, with an unusually clean MOT historical past on an older vehicle prone to raise crimson flags.

He additionally urged highway customers to be cautious of a fast turnaround on the MOT evaluation. He defined that a correct MOT ought to take 40-50 minutes. It means garages that inform drivers to return back in half an hour to gather their car is a clear warning.

He additionally urged highway customers to make use of established, trusted garages because it was extremely unlikely that a respected storage or chain of garages would risk their complete business for the sake of making a fast buck.