Northern Ireland Adopts MOT Exemption For 40 Year Old Classics
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When, on 20th May 2018, the rest of the United Kingdom adopted the new rules that allowed classics that reached 40 years of age that had not been substantially changed in the last 30 years to become MOT exempt, Northern Ireland was left behind due to the individual political situation that then applied.
In 2020 the Northern Ireland Government announced it was going to follow the rest of the UK in adopting the MOT exemption and this came into effect on 12th October 2020. As part of the announcement, the Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon said,
“I announced in July that after carefully considering the results of a public consultation and listening to the views of elected representatives in our community with a keen interest in vehicles of historic interest, my plans to bring forward legislation to exempt private vehicles of historic interest from annual MOT testing.
“I am delighted to announce that the necessary legislative process has now been completed and the new legislation comes into effect from today. This will be welcome news for all owners of classic cars and other eligible vehicles qualifying for this exemption. I commend my officials for working at pace to enable this change to take place.
“It is also important that owners and drivers of all vehicles are reminded that they are responsible under the law for the roadworthiness of their vehicle at all times.”
Nichola Mallon, Infrastructure Minister, Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland Executive
Of note there is no mention of the aspect of significant changes being done over 30 years ago being disregarded for consideration whether the car can claim exemption as it is in the mainland. However, another Northern Ireland Government web page does mention this – https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/mot-scheme
The MG Owners’ Club welcomes this change as it “ensures that all of the United Kingdom shares the same rules.”
A version of this article originally appeared on the MG Owners’ Club website on 2nd November 2020.
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