Today’s the day, MOT exemption! How it works...

this is very bad advice (unless of course you want to see your van in the crusher)

 

It's still open to people's interpretations.

 

What constitutes acceptable modifications and what doesn't is not made sufficiently clear and specified at this time to enable the van owner to make the right decision.

Without clear rules the matter would be open to interpretation. It looks a bit of a minefield at the moment, but may improve later when the new system has bedded in.

 

Even if it was clear what was acceptable and what wasn't, people would just ignore it like they have with the 8 point rules.

 

Might just have opened another can of worms there

 

It’s always been left to a human that’s what they don’t like , now they just want computers to do everything so they can blame a machine and hold their hands up and keep to their petty little targets set by so called people who reckon they know

 

40 years old or more is exempt from MOT, 30 years or more is exempt from vehicle tax. You have to make sure there's no substantial changes to the vehicle, or make it look like there hasn't been.

Referenced from https://www.wcshipping.com/blog/uk-vehicle-tax-on-classic-car-imports

 

all this stuff has been on the go for ages, but most classic owners and modifyers have chosen to ignore it or at least bury their heads in the sand. Its the same with folk who cherished the free road tax and VHI status.. be carefull what you wish for ... Its also worrying to think that with most bays now being MOT exempt just what rusty, unserviced garbage will see its way on the road . Folk will take advantage of the fact they dont need to test a vehicle and these rusty pieces of crap will be used on the road .. The drivers of said death traps completely oblivious to the fact that the vehicle is still subject to construction and use regs ... despite it being MOT exempt ..

BEWARE if you are in the market for a VW camper, or any 40 year old classic for that matter.

Subaru motors will see a VW in the substantially changed category and definitely not MOT exempt . Independent front ends will affect the points but may not require a declaration for the MOT exemption however cutting the chassis for any reason ( except rust repair) will net it as RADICALLY ALTERED and could ( will ) loose its current reg and could be Q plated .. HOWEVER to get the Q plate it will have to be BIVAd .

The market for heavily modded busses will just have crashed ..

anything bagged is a no no.. red 9s could be questionable but IRS changes to splits could be OK providing there are no chassis alterations by cutting the rear of the chassis.. you can add bracetry.. Now you might ask why this could be the case .. Well you can replace old with new if original parts are no longer available, and the parts used to replace the originals were available within 10 years of the end of production of the original vehicle... basically if you had a 1960 split, you can fit an irs rear end from a VW up to 1970.. Now we all know they didn't change beyond that 1970 date, so you can in fact fit a rear suspension fro a 1975 air cooled to a 1960 split as they were the same parts available on a 1970 vehicle .. PHEW... Ive never converted a split screen van so I have no idea if parts are sourced from T2 vans or T1 bugs or ghias..

Bagging and tubbing, narrowed beams, subaru conversions, are all potentially no nos for MOT exemption..

Steering rack conversions would reduce the points for registration purposes but not sufficiently to be outwith the 8 point rule, they would also be within the scope of safety upgrades, as would the likes of fitting disc brakes on the front where drum brakes were present... that's an acceptable upgrade ( safety) fitting fuel injection could be seen to be an environmental upgrade... as indeed could turbo charging or supercharging !! Fitting a 2.1 litre flat four from the range of VW vans of the period would also be OK.. as would a waterboxer .. its still VW you could even fit a Golf / polo engine as per the last of the van range .. and not cause a stir.. fitting replacement type parts such as adjustable spax shocks in place of original type is also fine, they are a bolt on fitment.. its a telescopic shock with the added benefit of adjustability.. is not a major change and could be argued as a safety upgrade..

There are loads of variables you just need to be sensible and take off the rose tinted specs....

 

A well worded take on the subject there but all thrown into the crapper if mods were made withon 10 years of the end of production. When did type 2 production end?

Changes of a type that have been made when the type of vehicle was in production or in general use (within ten years of the end of production).

 

One could argue type 2 production ended in 2013, not exactly the same as German built ones but possibly close enough.

 

Im not sure. its a type2 for sure, made by vw? Indeed much of my bus was made in brazil and thats where many replacement parts come from.

 

Depends what you're talking about. . .

VW Brazil stopped production of bays in 2013.

 

Thank you, someone that knows what they are talking about, laying it out in simple terms.

Bet the hand wringers in our 'community' are literally itching to dissect this with 'expert' knowledge and will still be wrong.

The government want anything over 40 years off their books...it simplifys training, disputes, and the IT systems....I don't believe they have an agenda past that. A billion pound industry the UK that has comparatively rarely used vehicles isn't a target. The manufactures are mostly all working to have historic sections to their current offering....dedicated historic Jag, Merc and BMW have all been set up, so why would they push to get their heritage off the road?

From reading the classic press, MOT stations aren't well placed to interpret original in period equipment, and simply can't check horsepower etc so the legislation is pretty ambiguous deliberately.

Most of it was set up to protect high end cars values....so 'specials' made up from a chassis here, engines there but suddenly appear as an in period Jag D type with age related plates are blocked.

My Mk2 Golf has Porsche 944 door handles, engine block and indicators. The K jet tronic FI was shared across BMW and various others, the gearbox shared with a Maestro....all of this from how and when it was made.

2013 Bay windows had straight 4 air cooled engines....I'd argue you can have ANY VW group 4 cylinder engine made across a manufacturing period from 72 to 2013 be it air or water cooled, inline or 4 cylinder and fit it with no arguement, only a change in cylinder count would cause an issue.

Alternative capacity of the same basic engine....its doesn't mention anything about manufacturer and I'd still warrant that a flat 4 is still a flat 4 (as opposed to rotary, straight or V configuration) and water cooled is still covered by wasserboxers being made at the same time as bays.

If I'm wrong IM STILL GETTING MY VAN MOT'd anyway and never planned to do anything else, as is true for most of us FFS.

Btw, if you can buy new beams and steering boxes from VW then an alternative replacement could be seen as unnecessary...fact is you can't (zero obligation to fit aftermatket stuff) so I can't see the issue.

I think people are getting themselves in a knot over this. The government isn't out to get us, they want an easy life.

If in doubt, choose to get your van MOT'ed.

 

Stop being ridiculous...engines are categorised by being flat, inline, V or rotary....you could argue that orientation matters but there is no other description of an engine that is industry recognised.

Is it a 4 stroke flat 4 engine...?

Yes it is.


Do I think the MOT guy will notice....no I don't (he's not noticed or cared in any of the last 7 years of MOT's).

Do I think the DVLA will want to Q plate my van because I couldn't get a new VW engine to replace my knackered one, no I don't!

Why....because they aren't daft...they literally want us to all f*ck off and declare all this to our insurers and maintain road worthy vehicles that they don't test independently for roadworthyness 1 DAY a year.

I'm VERY HAPPY to get mine tested each year and will carry on modifying it for better performance and safety.....why this bothers complete strangers is beyond me.

 

When my van passed today with no advisories - yaaaay! - the tester said he’d been asked for exactly this already. His reply was ok, but it’ll cost you £500.
His reasoning was that insurance companies will turn themselves inside out to find a reason not to pay in the case of an accident. A certificate of roadworthiness is not legal proof of it. An MOT is. If said van was in a prang the money would cover all the time he’d spend giving evidence.

 

MOT is only valid for 1 day as a statement of roadworthyness.

I've spoken to a couple of friends in the trade and their thinking is same as your mechanics...they would charge for a certificate that tested up to all relevant MOT checks and only valid for 1 day, same as an MOT.

 

I've just read that the DVLA expert says a Red 9 front end meets the requirements.

 

Your numbers don't match what that sits say anyway, not that I'd trust an American shipping company for UK info.

 

its your responsibility if you decide to make false statements, just dont encourage other to do same.