Insurance against MOT Failure

[carnut13]

Last year I had my car service & MOT done by MB Oxford ( part of the Inchcape group) and they gave me a free insurance policy for any MOT failure costs this year. Im happy to say its just passed its MOT yesterday with no need for the Insurance,but nevertheless a useful peace of mind policy. NB Id taken the front Cats out due to the dreaded breakup rattle...it still passed MOT OK.

However as I had taken my car to MB Taunton, a different franchise, they didnt give me another years insurance, so Ive been online and found out that there are companies who do this insurance for about £50. This is something to take into account when having MB do your service or maybe its worthwhile to take out this insurance seperately.Some failures , for example leaking struts/balljoint failure on say a SL500 could be expensive to fix and covered under this policy. Dont forget to read the small print though

 

[Rory]

I've had this for a couple of years from my Inchcape dealer, MB Chester.

I wonder if having the cover helps it pass, as they're less likely to pick up on something marginal?

 

[d215yq]

Don't have direct experience of this sort of thing but given an MOT failure can in some cases write off a car's value and easily exceed a few hundred quid (even with relatively simple items such as suspension bushes, springs, etc), i would be very sceptical of someone offering me such a "warranty" for £60.

My family all use the local garage we trust who is very fair, knowledgable and ingenious with fault fixing. He charges full price for an MOT and there is no negotiation, but charges £50 an hour labour all in for any work that needs doing, allows me to bring my own parts, or will source them for me as cheaply as possible at a £10 mark up per part (he doesn;t just phone the dealer and order unless its a cheap part). He has also made exhaust brackets rather than order new ones, etc and generally recommends against changing things unessecarily.

I think I would rather my cars were MOTd and repaired in this honest manner than having some policy with loads of ifs, buts, get out clauses and the possible incentive to pass potentially dangerous things or do bodge jobs to repairs that may be needed if they will have to be fixed under warranty.

The only pain with the local garage is he's usually fully booked for a week to two weeks in advance, but that is a sign of how good he is...he also prioritises broken down vehicles over MOT/servicing in his schedule which again seems reasonable.

 

[antijam]

The whole concept of insuring against MoT failure seems a little odd to me.

"The purpose of the MOT Test is to ensure that cars, other light vehicles, private buses and motorcycles over 3-years old are checked at least once a year to see that they comply with key roadworthiness and environmental requirements."
(MOTTesting.org.uk)

The implication is that owners, knowing their vehicle will be checked once a year, will carry out regular checks to ensure their vehicle is roadworthy. While admittedly this is not done by many - or even a majority - of owners, the idea that you can insure against failure must surely encourage owners to take even less interest in the condition of their cars? Why bother to get that rust in the suspension mounts, that dead bulb, that knackered 'cat' or that bulge in the tyre sidewall seen to, when, if it's picked up at the MoT, the insurance will pay?

Surely the concept could logically be extended to other areas where the individual can abdicate responsibility to an insurer. Why not be able to take out insurance against failing to get a university degree, or failing a job interview for example?

But what do I know - maybe you already can?

 

[Triv]

Or health insurance, so you can smoke / drink / eat yourself to death...

 

[Rory]

... that knackered 'cat' or that bulge in the tyre sidewall seen to, when, if it's picked up at the MoT, the insurance will pay?

I wouldn't pay for cover, it came free. I must admit £500 doesn't seem much cover, but even I couldn't complain about something that didn't cost anything! In fact mine was arguably a negative cost, as the MOT at the dealer was only £35. For our other cars I use the village garage as it's convenient and I trust him. But he charges the full whack.

It excludes cat and tyres. Although bulbs are included.

Certainly if a couple of bushes, track rod ends or brake pipes were found to be in need of replacement (not things many owners would pick up betwen MOTs) then it would be nice to have them replaced FOC.