Do classic cars need an MOT?

If you’re the owner of a modern or relatively recent car, you’ll be familiar with the annual ritual of putting it in for its MOT. Once a year your car goes in for this standardised test to assess its capability across several key safe driving requirements.

The test typically takes somewhere between 45 and 60 minutes. Barring any complications, it costs no more than £54.85 – and often significantly less.

What about if you own and drive a classic car, though? Does your lovely old vehicle still need to go through this test every year?

In this piece we’re going to look at when classic cars become exempt from the MOT. We’ll concentrate on Japanese cars, as classic cars from Japan are very popular – and many of the best are approaching the age at which they will become MOT exempt.

We’re big fans of Japanese cars here at Lancaster Insurance Services, and are only too happy to arrange classic car insurance for Japanese imports and UK-spec cars alike.

The MOT: key facts

Let’s run through the essential facts of this annual event that is so familiar to British motorists. When a car reaches three years old (or four in Northern Ireland), the law states that it must be tested each year, in order to verify that it meets road safety and environmental standards.

The test is administered by the Ministry of Transport – hence the popular name ‘MOT’.

MOT tests must be carried out at authorised test centres. You can recognise an authorised MOT test centre by the official designation: three white triangles, each touching at the centre of the design, on a blue background.

The test itself includes many small checks around the vehicles, including but not limited to:

• brakes
• lights
• mirrors
• seatbelts
• windscreen wipers
• exhaust emissions

However, the car’s engine, clutch and gearbox are not assessed.

Can you still drive your car if it fails the MOT?

If your vehicle passes the MOT, you will get a certificate and it will be recorded in the online database.

If your vehicle fails the MOT because of a dangerous or major problem, you might have to get the problem fixed before you can drive the car again.

You can drive your car away with minor or advisory faults, but you should get these fixed in the future. In any case, the vehicle must always meet the minimum standards of roadworthiness.

If your vehicle fails the test, you’ll be given a ‘Refusal of an MOT test certificate’. The failure result will also be recorded in the MOT database.

You can be fined up to £2,500, be banned from driving and receive 3 penalty points for driving a vehicle that has failed an MOT because of a dangerous fault. Don’t take the risk!

Classic cars and the MOT

But the key question for classic car owners is: does my car still need an MOT? Is there an age at which cars no longer need this annual test?

In a word: yes, there is. When a car reaches just over 40 years old, it becomes exempt and no longer must be submitted for an annual MOT.

In fact, we need to be a little more specific here. Every year, on 1st April, cars that were registered before 1st January of the year 40 years previously become MOT exempt.

In other words, on the 1st of April each year, another cohort of 40-year-old cars passes over into exempt status.

MOT exemption: what you need to do

However, your car won’t automatically become exempt on 1st April of its 40th year. There is something you need to do to formalise the exemption.

You need to declare the car as a Vehicle of Historic Interest, or VHI. This is fairly easy to do. You simply need to go along to a Post Office that deals with vehicle tax.

You’ll need to bring along:

• the car’s logbook, or V5C, in your name.
• if you have one, a vehicle tax reminder letter, or V11.
• an MOT certificate that is still valid when the tax starts – or evidence that your vehicle’s exempt from the MOT. The latter is form V112, and you can download and print it from the relevant page of the gov.uk website.
• If you’re in Northern Ireland, you will also need an insurance certificate or cover note.

Handily, this process will also give your car exemption from road tax (or Vehicle Excise Duty, to give it its formal name). In this case, it’s important to note that – although you no longer pay any tax – you still must register it for tax each year.

It’s just that that tax is now set at zero. There’s more information on how to do this on the Government website.

And why are classic cars given this exemption? For a couple of reasons, really.

Firstly, the government is keen to encourage the owners of older cars to look after their vehicles and maintain them to a safe standard. These cars are, after all, of historic interest – hence their official ‘VHI’ designation – and a key part of our national culture.

What’s more, the classic car industry has been shown to be worth an estimated £18.3 million per year. It follows that anything that encourages classic car owners to keep looking after their vehicles must be worth doing – and exemption from MOTs and road tax clearly comes under that heading.

Secondly, the thinking is that owners of classic cars tend to enjoy maintaining their vehicles and are more likely to keep on top of any mechanical issues. They shouldn’t need the reminder of a formal test to tell them when, say, a cam belt isn’t functioning efficiently or the seal on an oil reservoir is broken.

So, does this mean that no 40-year-old classic will ever need an MOT again?

Not necessarily. In certain cases, your car might still require an MOT, even past the age of 40.

One obvious example is any car that hasn’t yet been registered as a Vehicle of Historic Interest. The car may have passed the magic four-zero, but until you have the relevant certification you are not entitled to stop sending it in for those annual tests.

There’s another scenario, though, in which cars aged 40 and older still must go through with the test. This is when the car has undergone ‘substantial alterations’ in the last 30 years.

But what exactly comes under this ‘substantial alterations’ heading? You can find some useful guidelines on the gov.uk website about the kinds of changes to your car that are considered substantial enough for the MOT to remain mandatory.

These changes come under three main headings:

• Changes to the chassis, including sub-frames.
• Alterations to the axles and running gear. Suspension and steering system changes would come under this banner.
• Engine alterations. This would obviously include a complete engine overhaul – but it also extends to changing the number of cylinders in your engine.

You might not be exactly sure what alterations your vehicle has undergone over the past 30 years, especially if you’ve just taken ownership or the history is a little patchy.

This is another reason why it’s so important to get all the paperwork you can when buying a used car. Records of previous work done on the car are essential in many ways.

They will help to determine the car’s value, for example. We will ask to see this kind of documentation when carrying out the Two Year Agreed Valuation that we offer with our classic car insurance policies.

Documentation will also be important in helping to show that your vehicle has not had these ‘substantial alterations’. If you are unsure whether work of this kind has been carried out, you will still need to have the vehicle MOT tested until you can prove that it hasn’t had alterations.

There are a few occasions, however, when cars that have had these relatively major changes will be granted exemption when they reach 40. Examples of these admissible changes include:

• Changes made to preserve a classic or historic vehicle – if none of the original parts were available at a reasonable price.
• Changes carried out when the car was still in production, or even in general use – which means within the next 10 years after the end of production.
• Alterations made to improve either safety or efficiency. However, only changes to the axles and running gear are permitted in this loophole.

By the way, you can still carry on putting your car through the MOT after it turns 40. You may not be legally required to do so anymore: but many classic car drivers will want to continue taking the MOT to be sure that their car is safe to drive and working properly.

Alongside this, a full annual service is still recommended to all classic cars in regular use.

Japanese classics: some common problems

As we mentioned above, we’re huge admirers of many of the classic Japanese cars from yesteryear. Our wide range of contacts within the industry allow us to arrange classic car insurance for Japanese imports, as well as cars from Japan that were made for the international market.

Let’s look at a few iconic Japanese classics, and at some of the problems they can have that an MOT may or not pick up on.

In general, Japanese cars have a well-deserved reputation for reliability. This is partly achieved through some relatively simple mechanics and drivetrains that are often less fallible than their British, European and American counterparts.

Japanese cars have been known to break the million-mile mark without the need for an engine rebuild – without even suffering a major breakdown. Impressive stuff.

That said, even Japanese cars will have their problems from time to time. Here are three common problems that Japanese cars can suffer.

Engine leaks

The engines of most Japanese cars (and vehicles in general) feature rubber seals on gaskets and valve covers, oil reservoirs and so on.

Rubber shrinks when it gets hot, reverting to its normal size when it cools again. This means that rubber seals in the engine tend to deform over time and won’t provide the perfect seal that they are required for.

This can cause a fall in oil levels. Insufficient oil, in turn, can mean that key parts aren’t getting lubricated – and that can lead to serious engine failure. For this reason, it’s essential to check your rubber seals frequently.

Rust

The problem of metal corrosion, or rust, is no longer a major issue for cars today. Since the 1980s, rustproofing has become ever more sophisticated.

That’s chiefly down to two areas of progress. On the one hand, cars are now built using a lightweight, high-tensile steel that is less prone to corrosion. On top of that, the bodywork of modern cars is electrocoated with a rust-proofing solution.

The story in the 1960s and 1970s, however, was somewhat different. Plenty of cars were prone to rust. The Alfa Romeo Alfasud is perhaps the most infamous example of so-called ‘tin worm’, as we discuss in our memories of this iconic ‘70s car.

Certain Japanese cars from the era were also highly susceptible. In fact, some continued to have a reputation for corroding into the 1980s and early '90s, when the Japanese marques were developing their own rust-proofing solutions.

We would advise checking over any Japanese classic for signs of rust before you commit to buy.

Thumps and rattles

Classic car owners may become familiar with unexplained bumps and rattles in their vehicle.

Usually, these noises are produced by two neighbouring parts bumping up against each other. Older Japanese cars can be susceptible to this. That’s because the 1970s and 1980s Japanese car industry was often centred on building affordable cars.

As part of this economy drive, some of their interiors weren’t as beautifully fitted and finished as some European counterparts.

Japanese classics that are MOT exempt – or nearly there

As we outlined at the top of the article, classic cars become eligible for MOT exemption at around the 40-year mark. That means that a mouth-watering range of 1970s and 1980s Japanese classics are now becoming MOT exempt, or well on the way there.

Not having to set money aside from an annual MOT (and road tax payments) will leave you with more money to spare for other expenses, such as the ongoing maintenance of your vehicle and your annual classic car insurance for Japanese imports

Here are just five of our favourite Japanese classics now enjoying – or approaching – a permanent MOT holiday.

Mitsubishi Colt

In fact, there were two Mitsubishi Colts arriving on British shores in the middle of the 1970s. Both are well worth remembering and conserving as classics to this day.

The first arrival was the Colt Lancer, which went up against other exciting new Japanese arrivals such as the Datsun Sunny and Toyota Corolla. The Colt Lancer had much to recommend it: it was affordable, reliable, and well-equipped.

It was also something of a looker, whether in two- or four-door saloon form (a similarly good-looking small estate arrived a little later).

You could specify your Colt Lancer with a 1.2, 1.4 or 1.6 litre engine. I

This was the car that earned Mitsubishi a sporting reputation that cars like the Starion, FTO and Lancer all maintained. Then came the Celeste, aka the coupé form.

Suddenly, the Colt’s looks went from merely pleasing to head-turning. The Celeste’s swooping looks were oh-so ‘70s and were an excellent way for buyers on a budget to get sports car looks.

The first generation of the Colt Lancer and Colt Celeste ceased production in 1979. That means any Mk1 owners can get straight onto filling out that V112 form and enjoying MOT exemption.

Datsun 240Z

Across the 1970s, UK car buyers were able to acquire genuine sports car or grand tourer glamour for the price of a family saloon. This was perhaps most evident in Ford’s hugely influential Capri and its close competitor, the Opel Manta.

The Datsun 240Z also hopped on the affordable-GT bandwagon. To look at, this beautiful car had something of a junior Jaguar E-Type to it. There were also traces of the sporty Triumph TR6 in the Japanese car’s graceful lines.

Happily, the sporty little Datsun had the performance to match its good looks, too. Unsurprisingly, the 240Z and its successors, the 260Z and 280Z, soon won a devoted following over here.

Many of the cars are still in use, and the owners’ club, the Z Club, is a great place for owners to find expertise, parts and restoration advice, and possible discounts on their classic car insurance for Japanese imports or UK-market Z cars alike.

Toyota MR2

We’ve discussed elsewhere what a major impact the Lotus Esprit made when it emerged onto the motoring landscape in the mid-1970s. The new Lotus’ extraordinary ‘folded-paper’ design changed the way we all thought about adventurous yet affordable sports cars.

Soon enough, the Esprit’s boxy, futuristic looks inspired a whole host of wedge-styled coupes across the late 1970s and 1980s. The Japanese marques jumped determinedly onto the wedge bandwagon.

The Mitsubishi Starion, the Mazda RX-7, the Mk3 Toyota Supra… all these cars went down the ‘beauty through angles’ route. Few did it more distinctively, though, than the MR2, a brilliant rear-wheel drive coupe from Toyota that looked the part and drove rather well, too.

The first MR2s began to be seen on our roads in 1984. If you own one of these iconic machines, your days of compulsory MOTs may soon be over.

Mazda RX-7

Rear-wheel drive was a common feature across Japanese sports cars of this era. And one of the most famous cars to harness the RWD format for sensational handling was Mazda’s RX-7.

The first generation of this handsome coupé emerged in 1978, and quickly made a name for itself with some very individual driving dynamics. Those exciting driving manners came about through two factors: rear-wheel drive, of course, plus the car’s very distinctive rotary engine.

The latter can make the RX-7 a complicated car to maintain, but don’t worry. There’s a community of RX-7 enthusiasts out there, centred on the busy RX-7 forum. If you’re an owner with any nagging repair, restoration or parts-sourcing headaches, this excellent site should be your first port of call.

With the car’s first generation in production from 1978 to 1985, increasing numbers of Mk1 RX-7s are now passing the magic 40-year MOT exemption point.

Classic car insurance for Japanese imports

We love our classics here at Insurance Services. And we’re serious about helping owners to preserve their little pieces of history.

Our extensive contacts mean that we can arrange classic car insurance for Japanese imports, or UK-market Z cars alike. famous old British marques, Italian supercars and almost any other classic you can think of.

Go online for a quote or request a call back at a time to suit you.