Status report Page 2,370

The cost was actually only $14.50. I guess that's about 11 of them there sterling pounds? I'll bet MOT stickers/badges/whatever don't have an illustration of a cowboy riding a bucking bronco.

The top sticker is the yearly registration. Texas doesn't have any expiration information on the front or rear license plates, so the only way a cop can tell if your registration is expired is to look at your front windshield. They'd like to change the law but the citizens don't mind inconveniencing the cops a little bit ...

The registration was $75. I guess that's about 55 pounds; what do you pay in the UK?

It's quite complicated !

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_10012524

The initials MOT are taken from what used to be the Ministry of Transport in the olden days.

Now any car over three years old has to have this annual certificate before it can be insured or taxed (as above)

Usual cost is about £35.

Plus the inevitable repairs !

Quote: Oldrocker @ June 17 2010, 11:47 PM BST

Usual cost is about £35.

View original

That's cheap, mine cost £44 and that was with a tenner off!

Quote: Nil Putters @ June 17 2010, 11:52 PM BST

That's cheap, mine cost £44 and that was with a tenner off!

View original

I wondered why they all looked Eastern European and the certificate had a picture of Radovan Karadzic as a sign of authentication !

Quote: bigfella @ June 17 2010, 7:58 PM BST

What exciting things have been happening on BCG today?

I got an email today from Amazon advertising Mr's P latest book. Anyone else get it or were they just picking on me?

View original

I didn't get it.

Quote: Marc P @ June 18 2010, 12:00 AM BST

I didn't get it.

View original

Nor me.

Only the usual 'Add 3" to your manhood.'

Why anyone would want to double in size is beyond me !

Quote: Oldrocker @ June 17 2010, 11:47 PM BST

Plus the inevitable repairs !

View original

I've never known anyone to be hit with repairs. They check the lights, make sure it has 4 tires, honk the horn and off you go.

http://www.mottest.net/home/mot-tested-items/

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Mot/DG_4022109

That's alright Oldrocker - it just means that there are more dangerous cars on American roads, and thus at some point more dead Americans.

Quote: Oldrocker @ June 18 2010, 1:09 AM BST

http://www.mottest.net/home/mot-tested-items/

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Mot/DG_4022109

View original

We appear to test the same things. But none of it really matters and most states have done away with inspections because they're a waste of time and money and do little or nothing to keep unsafe vehicles off the roads. It's easier to let the cops charge motorists for unsafe vehicles than it is to maintain the inspection regime for the vast percentage of vehicles that are newer and safe.

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/vi/inspection/veh_class_list.asp?class=Passenger+Car&classsubmit=Go

Quote: DaButt @ June 18 2010, 1:35 AM BST

We appear to test the same things. But none of it really matters and most states have done away with inspections because they're a waste of time and money and do little or nothing to keep unsafe vehicles off the roads. It's easier to let the cops charge motorists for unsafe vehicles than it is to maintain the inspection regime for the vast percentage of vehicles that are newer and safe.

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/vi/inspection/veh_class_list.asp?class=Passenger+Car&classsubmit=Go

View original

MOTs in our country can still have an unsafe vehicle on the road (to some extent) but they are a good way to indictate to someone buying a second hand car that the brakes work, the lights work and various things that can go wrong are right (or set down as an advisory to get repaired).

I personally think MOTs should be every 6 months for cars over a
5 years old or of a certain age anyway. I've bought some pieces of shit cars in my day and a 12 month MOT doesn't mean an awful lot to a car that's 15 years old.

Quote: Paul W @ June 18 2010, 10:16 AM BST

MOTs in our country can still have an unsafe vehicle on the road (to some extent) but they are a good way to indictate to someone buying a second hand car that the brakes work, the lights work and various things that can go wrong are right (or set down as an advisory to get repaired).

I personally think MOTs should be every 6 months for cars over a
5 years old or of a certain age anyway. I've bought some pieces of shit cars in my day and a 12 month MOT doesn't mean an awful lot to a car that's 15 years old.

View original

MOT is just an additional Tax and a nice earner for the garages.

Quote: Gavin @ June 18 2010, 11:05 AM BST

MOT is just an additional Tax and a nice earner for the garages.

View original

My feelings exactly.

Quote: DaButt @ June 17 2010, 9:58 PM BST

Waiting to have my vehicle inspected. What a waste of time and money - especially with a car that's a year old. Texas is one of the few states that still require inspections.

View original

UK has annual road worthyness inspections, colloquially called MOT tests (Ministry of Transport), but they are not required for the first 3 years of a vehicle's life.

I think 3 is right, since I've never bought a brand new car, I've never encountered that.

===
When they computerised the vehicle licencing not long ago, they fixed it so that each year you must EITHER licence a vehicle OR declare a Statutary Off-Road Notification (SORN, which lasts one year) OR produce a vehicle destruction certificate (normally issued by a scrap yard or vehicle breakers).

This makes it easier for the police to track & stop unlicenced vehicles, because ANY vehicle must be in one of those 3 conditions so anything not on the computer must be unlicenced. Police here were recently given powers to stop unlicenced, or uninsured vehicles and impound the vehicle with a fine/fee of hundreds of pounds to get it back. Or as happens in many cases the bewildered impoverished owner is persuaded to sign a form relinquishing all rights to the vehicle and it is taken away and crushed.

The theory is that this gets the unsafe vehicles and uninsured drivers off the road, but in my opinion its a dangerous right to give to the police it can so easily be misused or applied too strictly by an officious policeman and have another restorable classic car crushed and lost forever.

=========

Our road licences are shown as a small 3" round paper disk displayed on the inside of the windscreen, not by changing number plates each year as in the USA.

===================
>The registration was $75. I guess that's about 55 pounds; what do you pay in the UK?

LOTS more expensive in the UK!

MOT tests currently £54.85. ( 79.82 US dollars)
Road tax registration depends on how much CO2 your vehicle is expected to emit.
My big Renault car was £215 this year. (312.87 US dollars)

Quote: billwill @ June 18 2010, 2:32 PM BST

Our road licences are shown as a small 3" round paper disk displayed on the inside of the windscreen, not by changing number plates each year as in the USA.

View original

We don't change plates every year, it's more like every 5 or 10 years. Every year we just get a sticker to place on the plate or windshield (depends on the state) that shows the expiration month and year. I just took care of mine because everything was going to expire while I'm traipsing around Alaska.