There could be good news for classic car owners as the government is currently reviewing the system of MOT certificates for pre-1960 vehicles to see if there could be cost savings made to both the government and the owners by scrapping the MOT service for older vehicles.

The EU rules make allowances for governments to set their own standards for vehicles which can be deemed of historical interest. It is under these rules that the new proposals are being considered.

Transport Minister Mike Penning has initiated consultations on the subject of exempting classic cars from MOT servicing. According to the transport minister, classic cars are well maintained by their owners as a matter of principle and they don’t need to be told to look after their cars with regular servicing.

Recent statistics also show that classic cars are less likely to be involved in accidents with just 0.03% of incidents which have resulted in injury being recorded with classic cars, while these vintage vehicles only make up a very small proportion of cars on UK roads, estimated to stand at 0.6% of the 35.2 million cars on British roads.

Three consultations are being carried out to review whether pre-1920 cars, pre-1945 and pre-1960 cars should be made exempt from the current MOT regulations. The consultations are scheduled to run until January 2012.

If the proposals are accepted following the consultation, then the scrapping of MOT’s for classic cars could lead to savings for both the government and the owners of the vehicles.