Prepare Your Car For Its MOT And Pass First Time

The MOT or Ministry of Transport test is a test required in the UK for annually checking vehicles that are more than three years old. This test is conducted to ensure that the national road safety and environmental standards are maintained. The MOT must be conducted before three years have passed after the vehicle's registration, or before one year of its last MOT. It is possible to prepare your vehicle for passing the MOT. Here's how!

Clean up the vehicle

The vehicle, when presented for inspection, must not just be in excellent shape, it must appear to be in excellent shape. One way to ensure this is to keep it clean and tidy at all times. This helps to show that you do indeed take care of your car and it gives an excellent first impression. Sometimes testers even refuse to check a dirty vehicle. So make sure that you give the car a thorough cleaning before the MOT test.

Basic essentials

The brakes and steering must function properly as well as this will be one of the first things checked. Check the exhaust and make sure there are no leaks when the engine is started. The same goes for the shock absorbers. Check the seatbelts for damages and make sure that they are easily put on or off. 

Check the bodywork

All the doors in the car must be functional and easily opened without effort. The same goes for the boot, the bonnet, and the windows. They need to operate smoothly in order to pass the test, and to give access to the tester to other parts of the car. The body must not have any sharp edges that can potentially injure pedestrians.

Check the windshield and wipers

The windshield must be in good shape and the wipers must operate properly. Since this is the criteria on which many vehicles fail the MOT test, it is worth your while to give this some extra attention. From the viewpoint of road safety, it is also important for the front view to be clear and uncluttered with objects or stickers. Check the rear view mirrors to make sure there are no cracks and make sure that nothing in the car is obstructing your view. 

Check the lights

An important component of road safety are lights. All the lights in the car must function properly. Check everything before presenting the vehicle for inspection. The side lights, headlights including dipped beam and main beam, indicators, fog lights and hazard lights must all be checked to ensure that the lighting is proper.

Check the tyres 

The allowed tread depth for tyres is 1.6 mm. So if your tyres are wearing out, it is a good idea to replace them before the test. Also, check for tyre pressure and damages such as cuts on them. If there is the least doubt, it is better to replace.